Why a Library?

One day when I was teaching last year, my students were learning school-related vocabulary. I had pictures of the words and the words in English, and together we tried to match them. This one’s a student, this is a school building, here is a teacher, etc, etc. My students were pretty participative. There were about 100 of them, so usually someone was able to blurt out the correct response. The next picture I pointed to I believed to be quite obvious. No one responded. I explained, in French even, that it’s a place where we can read and take books. Still no response. I translated the vocabulary word into French, unebibliotheque, but still nothing. It took me a minute to register that it wasn’t the word, it was the concept. These students had no concept of a library. They had never seen one and they had never heard of one. Their only response was a question: what is a library, Madame Katie?

So what is a library? It is more than a place that has books. Being privileged as I am, I have grown-up surrounded by libraries my whole life. I remember when my parents took me to the Olympia Public Library to enroll in the summer reading club and I tried to collect as many stars as I could (by reading the books with mainly pictures). I remember in middle school and my teacher gave us an assignment to find an autobiography and I chose the one on Walt Disney.I remember using my university library to do research for a mid-term paper or getting lost (literally) in the section of public health journals. And most recently, I remember using the Peace Corps library here in Cameroon to find resources to improve prenatal consultations at the hospital. Regardless of where I have been, regardless of what information I needed, I have always had access to a library. I had free access to learn, research, and stroll through the titles that make my to-read list more of a dream list.

The point of this post is this. Since that day back in my 6th grade classroom, I realized that a library could be a benefit to the children and community of Nyambaka. Literacy levels are quite low and because my village is predominately Fulfulde-speaking, any extra exposure to the French language can really make the difference on whether children will or will not succeed in school. Take for example my 6th grade class of this year. Do you remember what your reading level was like in 6th grade? You probably could easily enjoy a Baby Sitter’s Club or Goosebumps book without much difficulty, right? Well nearly 20 of my 100 students this year can’t even read. They can write. They can copy the letters they see on the board into their notebooks. But they cannot read. One day I wrote a dialog up on the board between two people, Nono and Belinda, and asked my students to read the dialog in pairs. I walked over to two girls – two of the 15 girls in the class – and asked them who was Nono and who was Belinda. They looked down at their notebooks and said they were just going to sit there quietly, they can’t read.

I realize that in a community like mine, just building a library isn’t the solution to our literacy issues. But it’s a start. I am lucky to have a motivated community that has already donated $1700 to the project – which is a lot of money here. I have a motivated group of teachers, students and community members who have started a library committee to assure the sustainability of our project and will work to promote literacy activities in the community (including a reading club!). We have received over 500 donated books and the school is going to donate around 150 as well. It’s a small start but it’s a start nonetheless. So the real reason for this post is that even though my community is motivated and invested in this project, it is a project that is too big for them to finance completely by themselves.

I have submitted a proposal to the Peace Corps Partnership Program that posts approved volunteer projects on the Peace Corps website that people back home can donate to and support. If you are interested in donating to help make our library project a library, or know someone that may be interested, please visit the link to my project below. One can donate directly on the website or mail a check. Because they recommend FedEx-ing checks, another option is to mail the check to my parents address as they have offered to collect checks and FedEx them all together. Please email/message me for their address if you would prefer this option: Meehan.kathleen@gmail.com

Thank you in advance, merci beaucoup, mi yeti mon jur!

https://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.projDetail&projdesc=694-202

This was supposed to be a Valentine's Day post...

12 reasons to date a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer:

This list was published by the National Peace Corps Association... and is so true, at least us Peace Corps Volunteers like to think so. Enjoy a little belated Valentine's Day laughter and I PROMISE to post my intended March update by the end of April. I'm on African time now, which includes my blog posts :).

1.We can woo you in multiple languages. Who else is going to whisper sweet nothings to you in everything from Albanian to Hausa to Quechua to Xhosa? That’s right. Only a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer.

2.We’re pretty good dancers. Yeah, we don’t like to brag, but after 27 months in Latin America or Africa we know how to move it.

3.We’ll eat anything. Seriously. No matter how bad your cooking, Returned Peace Corps Volunteers have had worse and will eat it with nary a blink. Sheep’s eyeball? Water buffalo gall bladder? Grasshoppers? Bush rat? Bring it.

4.We know all about safe sex, thanks to our very thorough Peace Corps health training. In fact, there’s a chance that we’ve stood unblushingly in front of hundreds of villagers and demonstrated good condom technique with a large wooden phallus.

5.We’ll kill spiders for you. Well, actually, we’ll nonchalantly scoop them up and put them out of sight. Same goes for mice, geckos, frogs, snakes. Critters don’t faze Returned Volunteers.

6.We have great date ideas: wandering a street market, checking out a foreign film, taking in a world music concert, volunteering…. Romantic getaway? Our passport is updated and our suitcase is packed. With us, life is always an adventure.

7.We like you for “you”… not your paycheck. Especially if we are freshly back from service, a local joint with “character” will win out over a pretentious eatery. Living in a group house? No problem. Does it have running hot water? What luxury!

8.You won’t get lost when you’re with a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer. Navigating local markets on four continents, we’ve honed an uncanny sense of direction. Or else we’ll ask for directions. We’re not afraid to talk to “strangers.”

9.Waiting for a late train or bus with us? Don’t worry. Been there, done that. We can share lots of funny stories about “the bus ride from hell” that will make the time go quickly and put it all into perspective.

10.Our low-maintenance fashion style. Returned Peace Corps Volunteer guys are secure in their manhood and don’t mind rocking a sarong. Women often prefer flip flops to high heels. We don’t spend hours in front of a mirror getting ready to go out.

11.Marry us, and you won’t just get one family — you’ll get two! When we refer to our “brother” or “mom,” you’ll want to be certain we’re talking about our American one or our Peace Corps one. You might even get two wedding ceremonies, one in the U.S. and one back in our Peace Corps country.

12.And last but not least, we aren’t afraid to get dirty.

Home for the Holidays

I’m rocking in a rocking chair while sipping on a Berry Fulfilling smoothie while people watching at the Charlotte Airport. I’m on my way back to Cameroon after spending 2.5 weeks in the Northwest with friends and family for Christmas. The trip went well overall with only a few road-bumps that happened to fall on the trying to get here and trying to get home ends.

To arrive home for the holidays I traveled 51 hours. This may sound like a lot until I tell you how long it will take me to get back. The trip went something like this:

1) Saturday – 2.5 hour drove to Ngaoundere (my regional capital city where one takes the train to Yaounde)
2) Saturday afternoon – received news that the train hadn’t been running for a few days due to derailment and the only option to get to Yaoundé (the city one flies out of) is to take a bus
3) Sunday at 6AM – arrived at bus station. 7:30 AM the bus departed and drove past my village that I left the day before. We arrive at a city named Bertoua at 8 PM and stayed the night because it was too late to continue traveling. This bus ride was so dusty I looked like an Umpa Lumpa from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory afterwards! (P.S. I had a spaghetti omelet sandwich for dinner)
4) Arrived at bus station in Bertoua at 7:30 AM. Bus left around 9 AM for Yaoundé and arrived in Yaoundé at 2:30 PM on Monday.

During the bus ride I found out I had forgotten a few crucial steps to leaving the country for vacation: 1) To request for one’s entry/exit visas to be renewed and 2) To actually get signed approval for the vacation. (Ooops!). My flight was set to leave Tuesday night and it wasn’t until Tuesday afternoon that I found out I was actually going to be getting on a plane (thanks to some stellar PC Staff who helped me out last minute).

The first flight went smooth. The second had a delayed arrival due heavy winds but I nonetheless made it. Somehow.

I was expecting a painless return yet here I am in a rocking chair at the Charlotte Airport when I was supposed to be traveling through Philadelphia. My first flight out of Seattle was cancelled yesterday due to a malfunctioning part on the airplane. We were on the runway ready to take-off when the pilot turned us around.

The method of re-booking was predominately phone-based which isn’t too easy for the one traveler that no longer has an American cell phone (and where did all the payphones go??). Anyway, some nice lady gave me her phone to use and after 45 minutes of trying to sort out my three tricky flights, I heard a page for what I thought was “Kathleen Meehan” over the income. I was so excited – thinking they must have re-booked me and were calling me to a gate on the other side of the airport so I could board the awaiting plane. I quickly ended the call, handed the nice lady back her phone, grabbed my bags and started running. I got to the gate and told them my name and the lady smiled. She reached down and held up a passport with a picture of a 50 year old-ish woman. “Lose something?” she asked. “That’s not me.” I replied. “Oh. Sorry, I said Kathleen DEEGAN,” she responded.

I was so overwhelmed; I had no idea what to do. I walked slowly back to the gate and stood as the last person in line to get their tickets re-booked. It took the airline representative and I another hour just to figure out how to get me back to Cameroon before the end of the month. But we eventually found a way and here I am, rocking away in Charlotte.

My trip home has made me reflect quite a lot on how my last 15 months in Africa has changed me. If there is anything that Peace Corps has taught me, it is patience. Yes, I am anxious to see my friends back in Cameroon and wish I were there instead of taking red-eyes and sitting in airport rockers. However, I am content in the moment as well. And, more than anything, I am grateful. I believe both that everything happens for a reason and that everything will work out in the end. I would take an extra 27 hours of rocking in airports and people watching than taking-off in a malfunctioning plane any day. Plus, you got a blog post out of me because I have that much time on my hands .

Hope ya’ll have a great start to the New Year!

This Ain't No Babysitter's Club

Considering that my most recent posts have all been about food, I thought I would try something new and write about what I am actually doing (other than eating) here in Cameroon. I have neglected to write about work not because there isn’t much to write about but, rather, because there is too much to sum up. I guess that’s a good thing.

As mentioned in a previous post, I am using the school vacation time to pursue some of the other project ideas that I didn’t have time for during the school year. One of these projects was to start a girl’s club. My ultimate goal of the club is simple: to provide girls the opportunity and space to be simply girls. As you might imagine, girls have quite a lot of work they are responsible for between caring for younger siblings, cooking, cleaning and washing clothes. During the summer months, many of them also help with their families’ farms and, at least in my neighborhood, frequent Qu’ranic school. So now, at least once a week, they gather in my living room to learn about their inner and outer girl selves and the importance of valuing who they are.

Although I hope to incorporate activities pertaining to girl’s and women’s health in future club meetings, right now we are focusing on building self-confidence. Our first activity was a name-tag making activity. They were to draw things that helped define who they are and illustrated their qualities. Thinking of a way to creatively express who they are – or even describe who they are in words – was a challenge for them at first. They began by copying the example I made for myself which means that they are adventurous and love traveling the world, enjoy teaching English, and live for drinking coffee among other things. I was worried that the activity wouldn’t pass well but decided to wait and give it time. With time, I saw the wheels turning in their heads as they began to personalize their badges a bit more. One girl realized that she is a hard worker and drew a farm with the crops she helps her family cultivate. After that moment, the other girls began exploring the qualities that make them unique: some thought of the dishes they cook really well, others acknowledged that they are strong in school, and they all found that they valued their families.

With each meeting that passes, they get more and more comfortable in my living room. They come to giggle, draw, dance, and to talk about their crushes and their dreams. They continually impress me with their optimism in air of their hardships and I often think I am learning more from this club than they are. But I guess that’s a good thing

Where in the World is the Spaghetti Omelette Man?

Have you ever eaten a spaghetti omelette sandwhich? If not, it is a must try. Cameroon has discovered that if you take last night's left over spaghetti, mix it with eggs, tomatoes, onions, peppers, a bit of piment (and a little bit of Maggi MSG Cube), cook it up into an omelette and fold it into some fresh baguette, you have yourself a masterpiece.

I'm not sure why I never thought of this before. I've eaten eggs with bread for years. I'd sometimes eat eggs with pasta even. But never did I think of mixing it all together. I like to imagine the first person in Cameroon who came up with this idea and what they were thinking as they bit into one of the finest sandwiches we can find in the world today. And no, that is not an overstatement.

Every time that I come to the big city of Ngaoundere to do my banking and big city shopping, I seek out the omelette man. He has an spaghetti omelette sandwich making cart that he rolls around the neigborhood - feeding hungry Cameroonians along the way. The problem is, he's kinda like the icecream truck. You never know where he is - you just have to hope that when you walk out of the Peace Corps house, looking for your morning meal, that you'll look both ways down the street and see his little cart rolling in your direction.

This trip to Ngaoundere, I had three morning meal opportunities to eat a spaghetti omelette sandwich. Every morning, I crossed my fingers as I headed out in search of the perfect breakfast. I looked both ways, I circled the neighborhood and I even considered jumping on a moto to speed up my search for the omelette man. But I was sadly defeated three times, and will return to village looking forward to my next chance at an omelette sandwich come July.

Five Mangos a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

First off, my sincere apologies for taking a four month hiatus on blog writing! These last four months have passed so quickly, I had no idea it had been so long. Summing up the last four months is going to be quite the challenge, but I'll try an give you at least an idea of what life is like at the moment.

Most importantly, it is MANGO SEASON! Nyambaka is known for its Mangos - we really are, I'm not just saying that. We have the longest mango season in the area - our trees start producing fruit earlier and end later than other tress in the region. And, our mangoes are apparently sweeter too.

I eat probably five mangoes a day right now. You get to a point where you think you can't eat any more mangoes, but then someone gives you another and you bite into it and you decide yes, in fact, you can eat another one. I think my daily record is eight, which is also ironically how many mangoes I had probably eaten in my entire life before moving to Africa.

My counterpart at the health center and I are going to start making mango jam, juice, bread, cookies and maybe try drying the fruit too. We are going to do jam demonstrations at the health center and with some women's groups in some surrounding villages in the upcoming month and I'm really excited! Now all I have to do is learn how to make mango jam and I'll be set. :)

I am a Banana

I have now been a Peace Corps Volunteer for about two months now and the time has been passing fast. I started teaching English at the beginning of January and am loving it. There are supposed to be 75 kids in my class whose language levels range as much as their ages (10-17 years). On a usual day, however, there are about 50-60 kids who show up. Only a few kids have textbooks which makes teaching even more challenging, but their enthusiasm for learning trumps the challenges.

Currently all of the teachers are untrained community members who stepped up to try and prevent the children from falling behind while hoping that the state would evenutally send teachers. This week, under the amazing leadership of a new director who was just affected to Nyambaka this year, the state has approved his proposal and has sent Nyambaka 9 new (state-paid and trained) teachers!!! It is amazing to witness such positive community development that truly came from the community itself. The new director has served as the catalyst without a doubt and is helping the school evolve in many other ways as well: electricity, a volleyball court, school clubs and of course the new teaching staff. Currently a student can't finish their high school education in Nyambaka (they must move to a larger, nearby city for the last 3 years of high school), so the director is working hard to expand the grades offered for the upcoming school year.

Along with teaching English, I'll be helping with the Health Club and working on a project with the director to start a library. Just this last week, one of the new vocabulary words my class learned was "library." Heartbreakingly, I had to not only teach the meaning of the word "library" but also the concept as the majority of my students have never seen or heard of one. It is things like this that make me truly value the education I received.

There is so much more to write, but I will leave it at this for now. My posts are going to be less frequent as I will only have internet access every 2-4 weeks, but I will continue to post when I can.

My favorite thing one of my students have said? I am a banana.