Running in Cameroon

Whenever you need a pick-me-up, going for a run in Cameroon is the best. The village paths are filled with smiling people waving and cheering in French and the local language “Good job!” and “Keep it up!”. Every once in a while along the way, you get a clan of school children who start running with you. One time I had about 20 of them following me for a good mile. You can’t help but smile and wave back, repeating “Merci, merci!” to everyone like it is a huge accomplishment to go running.

Scenes from the Village

View of Bangang



This is the NGO, called ACREST, which I am working with in an attempt to harness the power of the waterfall in town to generate cheap electricity to the villagers currently living without electricity. Other things that ACREST does is sell fuel-efficient stoves, natural water filters, solar fruit dryers, and electricity generated from the waterfall, wind turbines, and solar panels, as well as using biogas for stoves.



This is the microfinance institution, called MC2, which I am advising. They are all over Cameroon.



You can sort of see the waterfalls in the top right hand corner of the picture on the rock face.

Tu es la?

It is extremely common in Cameroon to ask someone if they are there (“tu es la” in French). This question is always asked when you are clearly right in front of the person posing the question, so at first I didn’t really know how to respond other than a quizzical expression. Eventually, however, you are no longer annoyed at the many obvious questions people ask and not only start to get used to them, but actually begin to enjoy them. It’s one of those things I can really only enjoy while here in Cameroon.

My new home

This is my new house! I am on the second floor. The goats live on the first floor.








This is my bedroom. You can sort of see the hot pink silk sheets I got made for $5. Everything you buy here is custom made because they don't have really stores, just tailors and carpenters.

I’m a Volunteer!

After 3 months of training, the Peace Corps thought we were finally ready to be volunteers. After swearing-in as volunteers, we all left the next day to our various posts scattered across the country. I loaded up a bus with my 3 huge suitcases, a water filter, and a bike and trekked across country. It took over 7 hours and multiple forms of transportation, but I eventually made it to my site.

Once there, I had to turn around to go back to the nearest city to buy everything since I can’t find much in my village. There I bought a stove, a gas tank, a broom, pots, pans, plates, etc and then attempted to bring all of that back with me to my village on an hour long moto-ride in the rain. The ride is a really pretty one with great views of the mountains and waterfalls, but it is also terrifying as the dirt roads get super slippery and the road is narrow.

Eventually, I made it with everything to my site, but then I had to set up my gas stove. It took an hour to get the hose to the gas tank on the stove and then 5 minutes into cooking dinner, there was a small explosion underneath the stove. Apparently I didn’t get the hose on well enough and there was a gas leakage. Never fear, another hour later of trying to fasten the hose to the stove, I finally safely got the stove to work sans explosions.

Goodbye Bafia

This is the barber shop in town that was always blasting out Tupac.

The dreaded Forage

I no longer boil my well water, but instead go to the forage (a pump) about 15 minutes away to get my drinking water. The good part is that I only have to filter the water without boiling it. The bad part is that carrying all those gallons of water back to my house is nearly impossible. The forage is only open in the morning, so I have to wake up around 5:30 am. There is always a line, which I used to get preferential treatment because I am a foreigner, but now I have to wait like everyone else. Then, there’s the challenge of bringing the water back: do I carry it in my arms or go native and put in on my head? Well, the first time I just carried it and couldn’t really feel my arms the next day since it took my about 45 minutes to get back to the house. The second time, I put in on my head and almost threw out my back.