Some things are apparently universal…
The time I have stayed here in Douala, it seems just the same as at home bathroom-wise. Gawd forbid somebody replace the empty toilet paper roll with a new one. Maybe that’s a universal thing rather than a cultural thing-lol.
At the apartment…
At the beginning of February, the house help returned to the apartment. Apparently she had been absent for quite a while due to a broken leg. Her name is Myjolie, which means “my pretty” in French. She’s looks to be in her early 20s, and she works 8-5 Monday-Saturdays. She does the laundry, helps prepare meals, cleans the apartment and helps with the baby when needed. The work ethic here is rather odd because I’ll sometimes come home to her Myjolie on the floor or watching TV (with Georgette around and sometimes even Akobe), and this seems to be acceptable. I can only imagine how much that behavior would be rejected in the U.S.
Akobe doesn’t have a vacuum, so a “balet” is used for sweeping dirt off the carpets and on the floor. A balet is a bunch of palm tree stems that have been tied together. They are only about a foot and a half long, so anyone using it has to constantly bend over to sweep/brush. Myjolie mops the floor with a rag, bending over. I can’t tell you how much I’d love to introduce these people to a mop and small vacuum…
Speaking of floors, decorative, sticky flooring is very popular to use here. If the previous owner had an ugly plastic floor or it was damaged, sticky flooring is the way to cover it up. It’s a real pain when Boo Boo zooms around in his walker because he always gets caught on it and pulls it up. I guess it beats having to pay to have flooring replaced and is much cheaper I’m sure!
Clothing
I have noticed that gender and what people wear here really doesn’t matter. For instance, Boo Boo will wear pajamas with pink flowers on them or wear Hello Kitty underpants. At the orphanage, I’ve noticed both the boys and girls wearing something of the opposite gender whether it’s pants or a t-shirt. Same thing goes for people out in public. I’ve seen men wearing pink helmets or powder blue helmets. Now you know that if that were back in the states, a man would catch hell for wearing a pink helmet…
Another popular thing that motorbike drivers like to wear are toboggans or some type of fuzzy, winter hat. This is hard for me to comprehend since they live in tropical weather year round, and it’s just hot here! Why you would want to wear a hot, winter hat in 80-90 degree weather is beyond me. Sometimes you even see motorbike drivers wearing a coat too. As the saying goes, to each his own…
I’ve seen Michael Jordan wear here everywhere. I have seen a Texas A&M sticker on a 4Runner, a Texas A&M hat, a Rutgers t-shirt and an Ohio State t-shirt. I’m thinking I may leave my NC State t-shirt to Larissa at the orphanage in order to introduce a North Carolina University to Cameroon-lol.
Forgotten Mentionables
I forget to include the following in my blog about Limbe and Mt. Cameroon. On the way to Mt. Cameroon and coming back, we saw a few men herding oxen on the main road! I got some good pics of the one we passed coming back to Douala. Also, when we reached the edge of Douala, the rental car died. The driver let it run out of gas, so Daniel and the driver push the car up a hill to the nearest gas station. Now at this point I’m irritated because I’ve been crowded in the back of the car with 3 people for an hour and a half, ready to get back to the apartment. No gas? Really?! I did manage to get a pic of the guys pushing the car to the gas station though.
In case you are wondering, it looks like I may have to wait until I return to Raleigh to download the rest of my pics. Oh how I miss my laptop…
This Week & Shopping
The usual occurred this week, taxi drivers and various people wanting my phone number (shocker). I had one taxi driver whose finger nails were so long that I wanted to ask if he ever got manicures-ugh.
Solange and Marie asked me to go with them to shop for orphanage items on Thursday. The previous volunteer, Vanessa, had raised $3000 for the orphanage and sent it to Solange. $3000 is equal to
$1.5 million francs, so they had quite a list of things to buy. I managed to get the guy at the electronics store to knock of 15,000 francs on the TV cost and 10,000 francs for the office chair (and yes, the broken office chair is gone!). The Arno store reminded me of a Big Lots/Walmart store, as it had everything from office supplies to perfume. Arno gives the orphanage a discount, so we wanted to be sure to take advantage of it. Unfortunately, we were unable to buy a discounted TV there because the TVs were not owned by Arno (outside vendor), which I thought was rather weird. They did buy the first full broom, dust pan and blender for the orphanage. We went to the hardware store and bought light bulbs and new netting to cover the current netting with holes on the orphanage windows (gotta keep those pesky mosquitoes out!).
The kids were so excited when we returned to the orphanage with a new TV. Parfait set it up immediately, but sadly, we couldn’t get a picture to come through. But when I showed up the next day, there was a picture and sound thankfully! The old TV had been without sound for over a year!
Yesterday, Solange, Marie, Jessica (another new volunteer named Jessica) and I went shopping again. We bought these adorable little plastic chairs of various colors for the kids to sit on, new pots for cooking (big ones!), a meat grinder, and various foods. Solange wanted to buy some new glasses for guests and decided to get 2 boxes. The guy wanted more money after what he had quoted her, so I took the 5000 note back, handed the glasses back to him and walked away. He immediately said ok and handed the glasses to me while taking the 5000 note back. My bargaining trick works every time-lol. We also bought curtain material to replace the curtains in the sitting room area. I got the guy to come off the cost by $2000 francs, but no more since it was his brother’s business. Oh well!
I had a guy come up to me and start talking to me at the market after I corrected his friend (and calling him ‘’Le noir’’) when he referred to me as ‘’La Blanche.’’ Then ALL of his friends gathered around me to talk to me. This guy called me the ‘’American Princess’’, and all Solange and Marie could do was laugh at the male audience I was surrounded by and my comments to the guys. I asked if they worked at all since they were all standing around having nothing better to do than harass me. I told the guy who called me ‘’La Blanche’’ that he talked too much and his friends laughed at my comment.
The new volunteer, Jessica, is Korean and was adopted as a baby by an American caucasian family. She grew up in Seattle and just finished a year and a half working as an au pere in Paris. When we walked through the market, I would hear sounds like ‘’Ching chong chung’’ as males commented rudely assuming that she is chinese. I was so ticked off yesterday, that I’d turn around, look at anybody who made those types of noises and inform them that we were American, where race and color do not matter. Let’s just say that my comments shut anybody up who had something to say about Jessica or this ‘’La Blanche’’…
Water Treatment Update
In case you were wondering why a water filter or water treatment system was not purchased when we were shopping this week, it is because we were not in the area where they can be purchased (Douala is a huge city divided up into various sections). Plus, I am waiting to receive a lump sum donation from my parents this coming week that will pay for it, which I will give to the orphanage as a gift, hopefully along with other items they need (mattresses, clothes, underwear, crayons, etc.). I cannot wait to go shopping for the orphanage with the donations that I receive!
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Monetary Donations for Clean Drinking Water & Shipping of Items
The number one item I am determined to buy for the children while I am here in Douala is a water filtration system. I recently found out that the orphanage is not using tap water for drinking, but is collecting drinking water from the river. The water is not filtered nor treated, so the staff and children are drinking filthy, polluted water. After passing several water sources on the way to the orphanage, there is no telling what the river water has been exposed to chemically, garbage-wise, as well as human waste-wise. The children are often sick due to the untreated water, and all of them have a skin rash on their bodies that is in the form of numerous bumps on their skin.
I am in the midst of searching for a water filter system, so I cannot tell you as to how much money I need in order to buy one yet. It has been quite difficult to find someone who knows of a business who sells water filtration systems, so I have Jeromie and another friend asking around. I can find water filtration systems online with no problem, but have not found where to purchase here in Cameroon as of yet. Even so, I am not giving up my goal of clean drinking water for the children and am determined that they have access to clean drinking water prior to my parting at the end of this month!
Many people have been stoked to ship things to the orphanage; however, I have found that shipping here from the U.S. is extremely expensive. A 21”x21”x13” box was quoted as being $929.61, and a 17”x13”x11” box was quoted to be $355.47-that doesn’t even cover the weight of the box shipped. The other problem with shipping is that when a box arrives, the orphanage must pay taxes on the box(es) and taxes are very expensive here even for a not-for-profit orphanage.
I have tried my darndest to set up a Paypal account for donations, but unfortunately Paypal has blacklisted Cameroon. This is why I am posting donation requests so late, as well as my laptop being stolen has not helped! A lot of people have asked about sending donations to the orphanage website; however, it is not working. I have found that the link does not work in the U.S. because there are no banks that have any direct business links to Cameroon banks.
Due to my limited time here, I am asking people to send me their donations by MoneyGram (cheaper) or Western Union, and then e-mailing me the transaction number at superswade@gmail.com. Be sure to enter my full name: Susan Charles Wade, and you should only need to enter that I am in Douala, Cameroon. I can pick donations up anywhere at a MoneyGram or Western Union location in Cameroon (they are everywhere), so you wouldn’t need a specific address for me here. If you would prefer to not pay to send donations to me, my parents are collecting money in order to send me a lump sum donation. If you decide to do this instead, please contact my parents at my Dad’s office at 336-882-4131 or at my parents’ house after 6 pm at 336-476-4670 in order to make arrangements to get money to them. Just please keep in mind that I am only here in Douala until Feb. 28 and need all donations to be sent to me no later than Feb. 25.
Here in Cameroon, the government has no such system for donations to be tax deductible; therefore, the orphanage must depend on donations locally and abroad in order to continue to stay open. Someone asked me a very good question and asked, “Why does the orphanage not get help from local churches, companies or the government?” The Cameroonian government is so corrupt that it only cares about continuing to be corrupt. Companies will not donate due to donations not benefitting them (no tax write off). Also, many companies have run into problems where people who have requested donations have falsely posed as volunteers from an organization only to keep the financial donation or selling donated material items at the market. The majority of people in Cameroon are poor, so the churches do not collect many donations and as a result, the churches do not have money to spend on needy families or orphanages.
As you know now, all orphanage donations will not be a tax write off. I truly hope that this will not prevent my friends, family members, schools and churches from opening their hearts and donating to these wonderful children in need of not only clean water, but food and other necessities. I promise you that all money collected will only be spent on the children. Money leftover after my purchasing a water filtration system will be invested in the following requested items by the orphanage director, Solange: food, children’s underwear, children’s clothes, a table where the children can sit to eat, a radio (have none), TV (current one has no sound), chairs, mattresses, pots/pans, screen material to cover up screens with holes, and a new computer. I will continue to collect money after I leave Cameroon, so if I receive late donations, it will be fine. I will send a lump sum to Solange a few weeks after I return to the U.S.
I am in the midst of searching for a water filter system, so I cannot tell you as to how much money I need in order to buy one yet. It has been quite difficult to find someone who knows of a business who sells water filtration systems, so I have Jeromie and another friend asking around. I can find water filtration systems online with no problem, but have not found where to purchase here in Cameroon as of yet. Even so, I am not giving up my goal of clean drinking water for the children and am determined that they have access to clean drinking water prior to my parting at the end of this month!
Many people have been stoked to ship things to the orphanage; however, I have found that shipping here from the U.S. is extremely expensive. A 21”x21”x13” box was quoted as being $929.61, and a 17”x13”x11” box was quoted to be $355.47-that doesn’t even cover the weight of the box shipped. The other problem with shipping is that when a box arrives, the orphanage must pay taxes on the box(es) and taxes are very expensive here even for a not-for-profit orphanage.
I have tried my darndest to set up a Paypal account for donations, but unfortunately Paypal has blacklisted Cameroon. This is why I am posting donation requests so late, as well as my laptop being stolen has not helped! A lot of people have asked about sending donations to the orphanage website; however, it is not working. I have found that the link does not work in the U.S. because there are no banks that have any direct business links to Cameroon banks.
Due to my limited time here, I am asking people to send me their donations by MoneyGram (cheaper) or Western Union, and then e-mailing me the transaction number at superswade@gmail.com. Be sure to enter my full name: Susan Charles Wade, and you should only need to enter that I am in Douala, Cameroon. I can pick donations up anywhere at a MoneyGram or Western Union location in Cameroon (they are everywhere), so you wouldn’t need a specific address for me here. If you would prefer to not pay to send donations to me, my parents are collecting money in order to send me a lump sum donation. If you decide to do this instead, please contact my parents at my Dad’s office at 336-882-4131 or at my parents’ house after 6 pm at 336-476-4670 in order to make arrangements to get money to them. Just please keep in mind that I am only here in Douala until Feb. 28 and need all donations to be sent to me no later than Feb. 25.
Here in Cameroon, the government has no such system for donations to be tax deductible; therefore, the orphanage must depend on donations locally and abroad in order to continue to stay open. Someone asked me a very good question and asked, “Why does the orphanage not get help from local churches, companies or the government?” The Cameroonian government is so corrupt that it only cares about continuing to be corrupt. Companies will not donate due to donations not benefitting them (no tax write off). Also, many companies have run into problems where people who have requested donations have falsely posed as volunteers from an organization only to keep the financial donation or selling donated material items at the market. The majority of people in Cameroon are poor, so the churches do not collect many donations and as a result, the churches do not have money to spend on needy families or orphanages.
As you know now, all orphanage donations will not be a tax write off. I truly hope that this will not prevent my friends, family members, schools and churches from opening their hearts and donating to these wonderful children in need of not only clean water, but food and other necessities. I promise you that all money collected will only be spent on the children. Money leftover after my purchasing a water filtration system will be invested in the following requested items by the orphanage director, Solange: food, children’s underwear, children’s clothes, a table where the children can sit to eat, a radio (have none), TV (current one has no sound), chairs, mattresses, pots/pans, screen material to cover up screens with holes, and a new computer. I will continue to collect money after I leave Cameroon, so if I receive late donations, it will be fine. I will send a lump sum to Solange a few weeks after I return to the U.S.
The week of Feb. 7 -11, and random thoughts/wishes
Solange asked me to accompany her to the Department of Social Affairs (DSA) this week, which oversees the orphanage. We were walking through the parking lot and to both the left and right there were copy machines set up. If you needed a copy of something, you just walked up and asked the person behind the machine to make you a copy or copies of whatever it was that you needed. Of course, the copy machines all looked as if they were from the 80s and probably were that old.
When Solange and I walked into the DSA building, the first thing I saw was an old bookshelf with piles of documents on them. I couldn’t help but wonder what the documents were and if there was such a thing as archiving or even filing at the department. When we walked into the waiting area, a lady was sitting at a clear desk with her cell phone in front of her and nothing else. No computer, no phone, no fax machine, no nothing! When we were asked to go back to Mercie’s office, she also did not have a computer and had piles of documents on her desk. How in the world do those people function without computers, archives or any type of organization whatsoever?!
Mercie was super nice and spoke both French and English. She was very interested in me and asked all sorts of questions. She even offered to show me the town where she was from just so that I could get a different perspective on the culture that she grew up in. I was extremely pleased to be able to speak with someone in fluent English and ask her questions about where I could find school supplies for the children, water filtration systems, etc.
Afterward, Solange and I returned to the orphanage where Marie was working, and she had a male friend visiting her. His name was Antoine, and we spoke in both French and English. We talked for a long time, and I learned that he is very interested in green energy and finding a way to create computers to run on solar energy. With my masters focus on sustainable development, we instantly became friends. He told me that it is his dream to come to the U.S. and compete against the computer engineers in Silicon Valley. One of the funniest things that I learned from Antoine is that he assumed that all Americans had guns. I burst out laughing when he told me this and proceeded to tell him that if every American had a gun, then I’d probably never leave my house-lol.
Antoine told me that he had never felt a white woman’s hair and asked if he could touch my hair. Afterward, I was told that it felt like a lion’s mane and a zebra’s tail-ouch! I told him that normally my hair is soft, but due to the hard water here in Africa and it being blown in the wind that my hair stays quite frizzy and coarse here. I’m not sure if he believed me or not though-lol.
After Antoine left, some of the kids asked to see my pictures on Facebook. They liked my house and particularly liked my skydiving pictures. They were amazed that I jumped out of an airplane at 17,000 feet.
The other day I stopped by Patrice’s house to check my e-mail. Patrice is a good friend of Jeromie’s, and he has a small room in his mother’s home set up for public internet use. I’d say that he is doing rather well with his business because he just had a window air conditioning unit installed in his room-lol. Patrice cracks me up when he laughs because he laughs EXACTLY like Eddy Murphy. He is supposedly working on getting a loaner laptop for me to work on, but that has not yet happened (it was requested over a week ago). Almost daily I am over at his business harassing him to hurry it up.
Random Things
One of the most random things I see almost daily during the week are these three white goats. When riding in a taxi, there is a particular patch of land that these goats graze on in a very busy area and they are almost always there. No idea who they belong to (shocker), but I do feel sorry for them as I wish I could buy a bale of hay for them to get some proper nutrition.
Speaking of random animals, the goats made me think of a horse that I saw grazing on the side of the road last weekend on the way to Mt. Cameroon. It was not fenced in or tied up-nothing. I wondered if it had escaped from a pasture or if it was another one of the many roaming animals of another irresponsible animal owner…
I have seen a few people here in wheelchairs that one would see in the U.S., but I have seen a few people in wheelchairs with 3 wheels. They are very low to the ground and the front has a bicycle chain with handles on the sides to rotate the bicycle chain. It is very interesting to see, and one must be pretty physically fit in the upper half of their body to be able to maintain the rotating. Sometimes I see another person behind those in a 3 wheeled wheelchair, but I haven’t been able to see exactly what the person is doing. My guess is that they might be helping to steer.
I’ve had 3 taxi drivers ask me for my phone number this week, one claiming that he loved me repeatedly, and another driver asking if he could be my Cameroonian boyfriend. While standing at a very busy intersection with Solange, I had a guy on a motorbike chatting a way at me, but I was ignoring him. As I crossed the street, he yelled out, “I love you.” I cracked up laughing when I heard it, and I think he was rather pleased that he got some sort of reaction out of me.
Random Wishes
- I wish for my friends and family members to donate enough money for me to be able to buy a water treatment system for the orphanage..
- I wish to find affordable water treatment systems.
- If I never saw an ant again, I would be fine with it. I get so tired of sitting somewhere and feeling a tiny ant crawling on my arm or seeing them crawl on my plate, etc. They are everywhere, and I live on the third floor!
- I wish Akobe would not breast feed at the kitchen table!
- I wish to never sit and sweat ever again!
- I wish Paypal could be set up here in Cameroon.
- I wish I had my laptop back.
- I wish I didn’t have such a noisy roommate!
When Solange and I walked into the DSA building, the first thing I saw was an old bookshelf with piles of documents on them. I couldn’t help but wonder what the documents were and if there was such a thing as archiving or even filing at the department. When we walked into the waiting area, a lady was sitting at a clear desk with her cell phone in front of her and nothing else. No computer, no phone, no fax machine, no nothing! When we were asked to go back to Mercie’s office, she also did not have a computer and had piles of documents on her desk. How in the world do those people function without computers, archives or any type of organization whatsoever?!
Mercie was super nice and spoke both French and English. She was very interested in me and asked all sorts of questions. She even offered to show me the town where she was from just so that I could get a different perspective on the culture that she grew up in. I was extremely pleased to be able to speak with someone in fluent English and ask her questions about where I could find school supplies for the children, water filtration systems, etc.
Afterward, Solange and I returned to the orphanage where Marie was working, and she had a male friend visiting her. His name was Antoine, and we spoke in both French and English. We talked for a long time, and I learned that he is very interested in green energy and finding a way to create computers to run on solar energy. With my masters focus on sustainable development, we instantly became friends. He told me that it is his dream to come to the U.S. and compete against the computer engineers in Silicon Valley. One of the funniest things that I learned from Antoine is that he assumed that all Americans had guns. I burst out laughing when he told me this and proceeded to tell him that if every American had a gun, then I’d probably never leave my house-lol.
Antoine told me that he had never felt a white woman’s hair and asked if he could touch my hair. Afterward, I was told that it felt like a lion’s mane and a zebra’s tail-ouch! I told him that normally my hair is soft, but due to the hard water here in Africa and it being blown in the wind that my hair stays quite frizzy and coarse here. I’m not sure if he believed me or not though-lol.
After Antoine left, some of the kids asked to see my pictures on Facebook. They liked my house and particularly liked my skydiving pictures. They were amazed that I jumped out of an airplane at 17,000 feet.
The other day I stopped by Patrice’s house to check my e-mail. Patrice is a good friend of Jeromie’s, and he has a small room in his mother’s home set up for public internet use. I’d say that he is doing rather well with his business because he just had a window air conditioning unit installed in his room-lol. Patrice cracks me up when he laughs because he laughs EXACTLY like Eddy Murphy. He is supposedly working on getting a loaner laptop for me to work on, but that has not yet happened (it was requested over a week ago). Almost daily I am over at his business harassing him to hurry it up.
Random Things
One of the most random things I see almost daily during the week are these three white goats. When riding in a taxi, there is a particular patch of land that these goats graze on in a very busy area and they are almost always there. No idea who they belong to (shocker), but I do feel sorry for them as I wish I could buy a bale of hay for them to get some proper nutrition.
Speaking of random animals, the goats made me think of a horse that I saw grazing on the side of the road last weekend on the way to Mt. Cameroon. It was not fenced in or tied up-nothing. I wondered if it had escaped from a pasture or if it was another one of the many roaming animals of another irresponsible animal owner…
I have seen a few people here in wheelchairs that one would see in the U.S., but I have seen a few people in wheelchairs with 3 wheels. They are very low to the ground and the front has a bicycle chain with handles on the sides to rotate the bicycle chain. It is very interesting to see, and one must be pretty physically fit in the upper half of their body to be able to maintain the rotating. Sometimes I see another person behind those in a 3 wheeled wheelchair, but I haven’t been able to see exactly what the person is doing. My guess is that they might be helping to steer.
I’ve had 3 taxi drivers ask me for my phone number this week, one claiming that he loved me repeatedly, and another driver asking if he could be my Cameroonian boyfriend. While standing at a very busy intersection with Solange, I had a guy on a motorbike chatting a way at me, but I was ignoring him. As I crossed the street, he yelled out, “I love you.” I cracked up laughing when I heard it, and I think he was rather pleased that he got some sort of reaction out of me.
Random Wishes
- I wish for my friends and family members to donate enough money for me to be able to buy a water treatment system for the orphanage..
- I wish to find affordable water treatment systems.
- If I never saw an ant again, I would be fine with it. I get so tired of sitting somewhere and feeling a tiny ant crawling on my arm or seeing them crawl on my plate, etc. They are everywhere, and I live on the third floor!
- I wish Akobe would not breast feed at the kitchen table!
- I wish to never sit and sweat ever again!
- I wish Paypal could be set up here in Cameroon.
- I wish I had my laptop back.
- I wish I didn’t have such a noisy roommate!
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Mt. Cameroon and Limbe-the interesting weekend
Last weekend, Akobe, Jeromie and the THEX volunteers all went to Mt. Cameroon to move a volunteer into the new THEX rental there. Akobe had told us that she had rented a car, so we were glad to hear this news since there were 3 people sitting in the front of the car and 4 of us in the back. The car we were in looked like a taxi, and it had a big crack in the windshield and a big splatter of dried bird poop right in the driver’s view. It wasn’t until about 30 minutes into the trip that all of us volunteers realized that we were crammed into the ACTUAL rental car. It was quite an uncomfortable hour and a half ride to Mt. Cameroon, but somehow we all managed to survive it.
The crammed ride was TOTALLY worth what awaited for us. The weather was nice, as a cool breeze came down the mountain to the new charming rental home. There was no humidity outside, so we were all very content. Unfortunately, the rental did not have running water yet, so we had to bucket flush-which I am a pro at by now. There were 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a storage room, and a huge sitting room. The volunteer that moved into the rental, Tom, was from Scotland. He is a nurse and is working with the HIV¬/AIDS program in the next town over. He was very nice and quite interesting to talk to about Scotland.
Before bedtime, I started to do the math in my head in regard to sleeping arrangements. There were 4 single beds and 8 of us. Akobe had planned on there being 2 people per bed, which I must say was not a very wise or comfortable idea. I ended up sharing a room with Daniel and Valentino, a British couple, and sharing a bed with Mary Claire who I had promised that I would not spoon-lol. Mary Claire is the house maid where Valentino and Daniel live in Douala. They said that she never goes out, and she is rather a young girl. I thought it was very nice of them to invite her to join us. Mary and I went for a long walk so that I could take pictures, and we chatted a long while. She has a sister who is studying medicine at UNC-small world, huh?
The four of us were pretty tired and crashed at the same time, although I ended up playing the game 20 questions with Valentino and Daniel. Daniel mostly asked the questions, and I answered questions about the NFL, college stadiums, how big NC State’s campus is, how big NC State’s football stadium is, the RBC arena, etc. He and Valentino couldn’t believe how large NC State’s football stadium is in comparison to the football stadiums in the UK.
During the night, the temperature dropped considerably and a big storm came through. What I must explain to you is that in Africa, hardly any windows have glass on them unless it is an elite person’s home. The only thing that covers windows here are screens and/or ornate iron covers or rows of glass slats that can be shifted to point out, up or down, but can never be completely closed. Valentino had pointed the slats completely down in our room, but the cold air could not be kept out. I woke up to Mary pulling up the mattress cover,and we both slept under it trying to get somewhat warm-no sheets or blankets are on beds, which is typical of African people since it is mostly a hot, tropical climate. Poor Mary had to endure my waking up feeling as if I were falling off the bed about 4 or 5 times, so she woke up my jerking awake and accidentally bumping her. It was just too close for comfort-lol.
The following morning, we all left to have lunch in Limbe, a small beach town close by. I had been told that the fish served there was delicious, and I was not let down in the least when we were served grilled fish. It was absolutely delicious. We also had grilled popcorn shrimp and calamari, but they weren’t as good as the fish though. There was horseback riding on the beach, so it was pretty cool to see people ride up and down the beach. What I disliked was the fact that vendors constantly interrupted our meal wanting to sell stuff to us. We paid our server for everything, and when we were getting ready to leave, let’s just say things got very interesting…
Tom and Jessica had ordered a bottle of wine for lunch. Our table was never told that it had to pay separately for it versus our other drinks and meal. The guy who was running the stand where the wine came from had a conniption and accused us of not paying for the wine. He wouldn’t allow anybody to hardly speak and disbelieved us when told that we had paid our server for everything. In the meantime, our server was not exactly speaking up, which was no help whatsoever. Finally our driver confronted our server and told him to pay the wine guy what was owed to him. Even after being paid, the wine guy was still moaning and groaning, and all whole time I was thinking, ‘‘Would you like some cheese with your whine?’’ LOL
The crammed ride was TOTALLY worth what awaited for us. The weather was nice, as a cool breeze came down the mountain to the new charming rental home. There was no humidity outside, so we were all very content. Unfortunately, the rental did not have running water yet, so we had to bucket flush-which I am a pro at by now. There were 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a storage room, and a huge sitting room. The volunteer that moved into the rental, Tom, was from Scotland. He is a nurse and is working with the HIV¬/AIDS program in the next town over. He was very nice and quite interesting to talk to about Scotland.
Before bedtime, I started to do the math in my head in regard to sleeping arrangements. There were 4 single beds and 8 of us. Akobe had planned on there being 2 people per bed, which I must say was not a very wise or comfortable idea. I ended up sharing a room with Daniel and Valentino, a British couple, and sharing a bed with Mary Claire who I had promised that I would not spoon-lol. Mary Claire is the house maid where Valentino and Daniel live in Douala. They said that she never goes out, and she is rather a young girl. I thought it was very nice of them to invite her to join us. Mary and I went for a long walk so that I could take pictures, and we chatted a long while. She has a sister who is studying medicine at UNC-small world, huh?
The four of us were pretty tired and crashed at the same time, although I ended up playing the game 20 questions with Valentino and Daniel. Daniel mostly asked the questions, and I answered questions about the NFL, college stadiums, how big NC State’s campus is, how big NC State’s football stadium is, the RBC arena, etc. He and Valentino couldn’t believe how large NC State’s football stadium is in comparison to the football stadiums in the UK.
During the night, the temperature dropped considerably and a big storm came through. What I must explain to you is that in Africa, hardly any windows have glass on them unless it is an elite person’s home. The only thing that covers windows here are screens and/or ornate iron covers or rows of glass slats that can be shifted to point out, up or down, but can never be completely closed. Valentino had pointed the slats completely down in our room, but the cold air could not be kept out. I woke up to Mary pulling up the mattress cover,and we both slept under it trying to get somewhat warm-no sheets or blankets are on beds, which is typical of African people since it is mostly a hot, tropical climate. Poor Mary had to endure my waking up feeling as if I were falling off the bed about 4 or 5 times, so she woke up my jerking awake and accidentally bumping her. It was just too close for comfort-lol.
The following morning, we all left to have lunch in Limbe, a small beach town close by. I had been told that the fish served there was delicious, and I was not let down in the least when we were served grilled fish. It was absolutely delicious. We also had grilled popcorn shrimp and calamari, but they weren’t as good as the fish though. There was horseback riding on the beach, so it was pretty cool to see people ride up and down the beach. What I disliked was the fact that vendors constantly interrupted our meal wanting to sell stuff to us. We paid our server for everything, and when we were getting ready to leave, let’s just say things got very interesting…
Tom and Jessica had ordered a bottle of wine for lunch. Our table was never told that it had to pay separately for it versus our other drinks and meal. The guy who was running the stand where the wine came from had a conniption and accused us of not paying for the wine. He wouldn’t allow anybody to hardly speak and disbelieved us when told that we had paid our server for everything. In the meantime, our server was not exactly speaking up, which was no help whatsoever. Finally our driver confronted our server and told him to pay the wine guy what was owed to him. Even after being paid, the wine guy was still moaning and groaning, and all whole time I was thinking, ‘‘Would you like some cheese with your whine?’’ LOL
Sunday, February 6, 2011
The Taxi Driver's E-mail
Since I do not have a Cameroonian phone nor give out my address when asked for it, I tested one (or two maybe) taxi drivers to see if they would e-mail me. I received one e-mail from Isaac, who I can't recall at all because 1) I didn't care to remember his name when I met him or 2) I misunderstood his name when he told me. I got the following e-mail from Isaac, who apparently does not know how to write in English very well:
Good evining Susan there is the driver who has carry you yesterday from general hospital to Logbeba. My name is Isaac i have wish that we walk away this week-end (walk away where?) but you was busy which your brother (I had no idea I had a brother in Africa-lol). I don't know if you can have time in the week to a rendez-vous (I need this to be defined...) this week so that i want to see again your beautiful face (can we say suck up because he wants a ticket to the U.S.?). I wish you a good nigth and hope that we will see in the week
ISAAC 96472822
I like the fact that his name is in capital letters with his # beside of it, but it's too bad that Isaac will be receiving a goodbye e-mail in response-lol.
Good evining Susan there is the driver who has carry you yesterday from general hospital to Logbeba. My name is Isaac i have wish that we walk away this week-end (walk away where?) but you was busy which your brother (I had no idea I had a brother in Africa-lol). I don't know if you can have time in the week to a rendez-vous (I need this to be defined...) this week so that i want to see again your beautiful face (can we say suck up because he wants a ticket to the U.S.?). I wish you a good nigth and hope that we will see in the week
ISAAC 96472822
I like the fact that his name is in capital letters with his # beside of it, but it's too bad that Isaac will be receiving a goodbye e-mail in response-lol.
The neighbor's kid, non-African coffee, the stolen laptop and the new "Le blanche"
Last week, the neighbor’s kids came over one evening to visit with Boo Boo. The 2 kids didn’t really flinch when they saw me, until the littlest one came over to see what her older siblings were up to at Boo Boo’s home. She was probably about 2 years old and came to the door, which was propped open. She was about to enter the doorway, when she happened to look to the right to see me sitting at the kitchen table. She stopped dead in her tracks. I could see the worried look in her eyes, and as soon as I said hello to her, she slowly backed out of the doorway. Jeromie even motioned for her to come in and told her so, but there was coming into the apartment and no turning her back on the strange new white girl-lol.
Jeromie offered me coffee one morning, and I told him that I don’t drink coffee. He then proceeds to tell me this spill on how I should support the African economy and drink coffee while I’m here. As he’s talking, I look on the table to see what he’s drinking (since I recently wrote on my blog about not seeing coffee anywhere here or see it sold anywhere). He’s drinking Nescafe! Can we say hypocrite? I laughed and told him that Nescafe is an American company and to save his spill for another volunteer when he actually starts to drink African coffee…
I am sorry to say that my laptop was stolen on Friday morning on the way to the orphanage. I honestly do not know how it happened because my backpack was on my legs, and I was sitting up against the door in the front of the taxi. The guy sitting in the middle of the taxi wouldn’t sit still during the ride, so I am assuming I was distracted by this and that’s how it was stolen. I didn’t hear my backpack unzip to open, I didn’t feel it move, I didn’t see anybody’s hands close to it-I saw NOTHING. All of a sudden, I am all but tossed out of the taxi. I was asked to get out of the taxi as the driver pulls over, and before I knew it, the taxi’s gone before I even knew my laptop was stolen and can think to get a license tag. I was very disappointed and disgusted since all the fundraising documents that I’ve been working on were on it, along with all my pictures. They say the thieves here are absolute masterminds and magicians-I believe it.
A new volunteer arrived on Friday, Jessica, who is from Hawaii originally. She’s newly married to a Marine who has just been stationed recently in Jacksonville, NC. Needless to say, she’s not very impressed with Jacksonville (I wouldn’t either if I were from Hawaii-lol) and has chosen to travel the world while obtaining a second masters degree. She just finished an internship in Liberia and is here until May. Her husband is in Afghanistan and has recently had his stay extended, so they don’t see each other often since he’s overseas quite often and since she loves to travel. I told her that I’m just glad to not be the only white gal on the block anymore…
Jeromie offered me coffee one morning, and I told him that I don’t drink coffee. He then proceeds to tell me this spill on how I should support the African economy and drink coffee while I’m here. As he’s talking, I look on the table to see what he’s drinking (since I recently wrote on my blog about not seeing coffee anywhere here or see it sold anywhere). He’s drinking Nescafe! Can we say hypocrite? I laughed and told him that Nescafe is an American company and to save his spill for another volunteer when he actually starts to drink African coffee…
I am sorry to say that my laptop was stolen on Friday morning on the way to the orphanage. I honestly do not know how it happened because my backpack was on my legs, and I was sitting up against the door in the front of the taxi. The guy sitting in the middle of the taxi wouldn’t sit still during the ride, so I am assuming I was distracted by this and that’s how it was stolen. I didn’t hear my backpack unzip to open, I didn’t feel it move, I didn’t see anybody’s hands close to it-I saw NOTHING. All of a sudden, I am all but tossed out of the taxi. I was asked to get out of the taxi as the driver pulls over, and before I knew it, the taxi’s gone before I even knew my laptop was stolen and can think to get a license tag. I was very disappointed and disgusted since all the fundraising documents that I’ve been working on were on it, along with all my pictures. They say the thieves here are absolute masterminds and magicians-I believe it.
A new volunteer arrived on Friday, Jessica, who is from Hawaii originally. She’s newly married to a Marine who has just been stationed recently in Jacksonville, NC. Needless to say, she’s not very impressed with Jacksonville (I wouldn’t either if I were from Hawaii-lol) and has chosen to travel the world while obtaining a second masters degree. She just finished an internship in Liberia and is here until May. Her husband is in Afghanistan and has recently had his stay extended, so they don’t see each other often since he’s overseas quite often and since she loves to travel. I told her that I’m just glad to not be the only white gal on the block anymore…
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
More unexpected surprises, the strange meeting and the 20th century
I had my hair braided this past weekend and in payment I gave Deanne a fair trade bracelet made in India that I had gotten online from CARE2.com. She asked if it was made in the U.S., and I honestly didn’t have the heart to tell her no since most everything is made in China (and cheap) these days in the U.S. It’s the sad truth, isn’t it? Trust me, I try very hard to buy what I can made in the U.S. or buy fair trade goods vs. Made in China (or whatever), but sadly, there’s not much out there left to buy made in the good ol’ USA.
Sunday night, I was online chatting with a few friends when Jeromie comes into the room. He tells me that he has a surprise for me and to come out. I went into the kitchen, and he told me to look on the table. In a small, black plastic bag there were…wait for it…wait for it…2 cans of PEPSI! Wahoo! I danced a jig and jumped up and down because I was so happy and excited. I immediately opened one and felt the savor of my first African Pepsi, and it was awesome! I know Georgette, Akobie and Jeromie must’ve thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care!
Monday morning, Georgette pushed Boo Boo (in his walker) into the bedroom where he headed straight for my bed. The first thing that interested him was my round hair brush. Now this kid HATES it when anyone combs his hair. He picked up my brush and looked at it real seriously as if trying to make out exactly what it was, and then he started to wave it around. I took it from him briefly to brush his hair to see how he would react. It apparently felt good because he smiled and closed his eyes as I fluffed his hair. I gave it back to him to play with, and he must’ve hung on to it for about 20 minutes. I never would’ve guessed a hair brush could be so entertaining for a baby, but I made sure to get a picture of him with it while sucking his thumb. With Boo Boo walking everywhere and getting into everything, I have a feeling he’s going to be called “Boo Boo, No No!” very soon…
I soon left the apartment and was trying to find a taxi heading to the next taxi stop. Of course the taxi driver that stopped asked me how much I was going to pay him. I laughed at him and said in French, “No thank you. See ya.” What a jerk! I managed to catch the next taxi, and on the way to the orphanage, we passed a store front where I guess the person who was running the store was sitting outside on a toilet that was for sale. Man, I wish I could’ve gotten a shot of that!
When I entered the orphanage wall door, Gaelle and Champion both ran out the orphanage door, down the steps and right into my arms for great big hugs. I nearly fell over they rushed me so quickly. They’re huge welcome was a great way to start out the day though! When we got inside, I sat down and Gaelle immediately helped herself to sitting right in between my legs. Soon after I sat down, there was a meeting with some folks and Solange. I could understand some of the conversation, but not all of it. After the meeting, everyone who spoke in the meeting then stood up. They all said a prayer in unison, and then each broke off into their own prayer-aloud. It was quite strange watching and listening to all the mixed prayers, then everyone grew quiet and the man in the group said a few words. When he finished, they all again prayed aloud and this happened about three more times. All the while during the meeting and praying, I was sitting, listening and observing with Gaelle in my lap and Champion to my left trying to keep them both quiet while they listened to my iPod. After about an hour of the meeting and near the end of prayers, would you believe that Gaelle fell asleep with her head on my left arm?!
I often feel like I’m in the 20th century here. Last night, the electricity went off and on every few minutes, which it does that on occasion. It’s not so bad during the day when you have light, but it’s not so good at night or on days when it’s really hot out and you need the fans on so badly. Today, there wasn’t any water at the apartment until this evening. When I went to the market tonight, every single item had to be brought up on the monitor and then each item scanned for down a row by the cashier’s eyes (and there could be more than 10 items by the same brand). I was thinking, “Dear gawd! Someone seriously needs to introduce these people to bar code scanning!” At a gas station I go into on occasion, I noticed the other day that the cashier keeps inventory of what’s bought in a notebook. Every item that is bought for the day has a tick mark by it in the book. Craziness!
At dinner tonight, we ate our salads and our bread. Then we moved on to the main course, which was chicken mixed with vegetables. I happened to get a chicken leg and was trying to get to the bottom of the bowl to get more veggies to go with my chicken leg. Suddenly, there it was-the unexpected. I blinked, looked at it, turned my head away and then turned my head back to look at it again to see if maybe I was incorrect as to what it was exactly that I saw. Nope, it was what it was-a chicken foot attached to the leg in the dinner bowl. I quickly put the top back on the pot and tried not to think about it…
Sunday night, I was online chatting with a few friends when Jeromie comes into the room. He tells me that he has a surprise for me and to come out. I went into the kitchen, and he told me to look on the table. In a small, black plastic bag there were…wait for it…wait for it…2 cans of PEPSI! Wahoo! I danced a jig and jumped up and down because I was so happy and excited. I immediately opened one and felt the savor of my first African Pepsi, and it was awesome! I know Georgette, Akobie and Jeromie must’ve thought I was crazy, but I didn’t care!
Monday morning, Georgette pushed Boo Boo (in his walker) into the bedroom where he headed straight for my bed. The first thing that interested him was my round hair brush. Now this kid HATES it when anyone combs his hair. He picked up my brush and looked at it real seriously as if trying to make out exactly what it was, and then he started to wave it around. I took it from him briefly to brush his hair to see how he would react. It apparently felt good because he smiled and closed his eyes as I fluffed his hair. I gave it back to him to play with, and he must’ve hung on to it for about 20 minutes. I never would’ve guessed a hair brush could be so entertaining for a baby, but I made sure to get a picture of him with it while sucking his thumb. With Boo Boo walking everywhere and getting into everything, I have a feeling he’s going to be called “Boo Boo, No No!” very soon…
I soon left the apartment and was trying to find a taxi heading to the next taxi stop. Of course the taxi driver that stopped asked me how much I was going to pay him. I laughed at him and said in French, “No thank you. See ya.” What a jerk! I managed to catch the next taxi, and on the way to the orphanage, we passed a store front where I guess the person who was running the store was sitting outside on a toilet that was for sale. Man, I wish I could’ve gotten a shot of that!
When I entered the orphanage wall door, Gaelle and Champion both ran out the orphanage door, down the steps and right into my arms for great big hugs. I nearly fell over they rushed me so quickly. They’re huge welcome was a great way to start out the day though! When we got inside, I sat down and Gaelle immediately helped herself to sitting right in between my legs. Soon after I sat down, there was a meeting with some folks and Solange. I could understand some of the conversation, but not all of it. After the meeting, everyone who spoke in the meeting then stood up. They all said a prayer in unison, and then each broke off into their own prayer-aloud. It was quite strange watching and listening to all the mixed prayers, then everyone grew quiet and the man in the group said a few words. When he finished, they all again prayed aloud and this happened about three more times. All the while during the meeting and praying, I was sitting, listening and observing with Gaelle in my lap and Champion to my left trying to keep them both quiet while they listened to my iPod. After about an hour of the meeting and near the end of prayers, would you believe that Gaelle fell asleep with her head on my left arm?!
I often feel like I’m in the 20th century here. Last night, the electricity went off and on every few minutes, which it does that on occasion. It’s not so bad during the day when you have light, but it’s not so good at night or on days when it’s really hot out and you need the fans on so badly. Today, there wasn’t any water at the apartment until this evening. When I went to the market tonight, every single item had to be brought up on the monitor and then each item scanned for down a row by the cashier’s eyes (and there could be more than 10 items by the same brand). I was thinking, “Dear gawd! Someone seriously needs to introduce these people to bar code scanning!” At a gas station I go into on occasion, I noticed the other day that the cashier keeps inventory of what’s bought in a notebook. Every item that is bought for the day has a tick mark by it in the book. Craziness!
At dinner tonight, we ate our salads and our bread. Then we moved on to the main course, which was chicken mixed with vegetables. I happened to get a chicken leg and was trying to get to the bottom of the bowl to get more veggies to go with my chicken leg. Suddenly, there it was-the unexpected. I blinked, looked at it, turned my head away and then turned my head back to look at it again to see if maybe I was incorrect as to what it was exactly that I saw. Nope, it was what it was-a chicken foot attached to the leg in the dinner bowl. I quickly put the top back on the pot and tried not to think about it…
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