Here it is: I am 3 months in Cameroon. Not that long ago and yet France finally seems far away. I already found it a little two months ago, but now the memory of my departure from Bordeaux makes me think of ancient times. Perhaps it is the tidal wave combined with the cultural discovery of my new job, encounters many and varied the well-filled schedule that gives me the impression there. So many changes in so little time!
My mission: to STI-HQ and the orphanage
I definitely put on my costume responsible for industrial missions of the IST-CA. Monitoring of ongoing missions continues. For students, more than two months to achieve the objectives for supervisors, satisfaction or stress according to the progress and the return of the client for myself, hunt information to get a clear view of each MI and take measures necessary for the proper completion of each.
But the heavy lifting now focuses on the exploration of MI in September. Loved son, e-mails, appointments: it connects. Finally Loved son especially since the appointments are struggling to fall these days and the pressure goes up a notch. Fortunately, the open days of the school have just been held, thus opening new perspectives. Thursday and Friday, the companies have visited our office and discuss with students and faculty. As for MI, the examples presented by the students have shown the complexity of studies and quality of work provided. I can build on it to sell new contracts. Stay tuned!
At the orphanage, things are progressing slowly. I realize the difficulty of my work: caring for three age groups at the same time is not convenient. And small (less than 5 years) may be particularly difficult to manage sometimes.
My schedule Wednesday, has not yet settled, my activities not always built, but it's improving. I try to learn the colors for small (work in progress!), I bring books to tell stories, I bought some colored pencils to draw them. I aussi aidé par Bénédicte, une étudiante en psychomotricité. Ses connaissances lui permettent de comprendre le comportement des enfants et de proposer quelques activités pour développer leurs aptitudes physiques et intellectuelles.
Avec les primaires, je continue sur la lancée en proposant des jeux de plein air trouvés parfois à la dernière minute. Le travail est bien plus brouillon ! Il faudrait que je prenne le temps de choisir mes activités et de les préparer à l’avance. Le jeu ne doit pas être une fin en soi. Il doit aider à transmettre quelque chose.
Avec les lycéens, le contact se fait. Lentement, mais sûrement ! Comme avec les primaires, je suis passé par the game: Jungle Speed and werewolf. Last week, the sister who takes care of their religious education asked me if I could give him a hand. I do not have much experience in the field, but the idea of helping them grow in their lives and their faith in me like a lot.
Not a lot of work in perspective to deepen my post at the orphanage. It remains to find / make the time to ask for consideration. Moving from teacher to facilitator ('re ambitious!) Is not alone.
West, Central, South attention here I am!
Always a good excuse to travel, discover other areas, other cities, other people: one month March was particularly rich.
Lesson # 1: arrange for this to be the boss who pays the "vacation". A contest
mid May, Terminal C and D to inform: it only remains to choose the region where dreams do recruitment. Through the IST-CA, I was able to make a return trip to Kribi where flash I had a first glimpse of the famous dream beaches (white sand, coconut trees, canoes and huts on the beach where you can taste the fish braised). But recruiting me the most uncovered the western region, famous for its traditional leaders. I could visit colleges (= private school) and colleges (= public body) of Bafoussam and Dschang Bandjoun ... chiefdoms that is for another time I was there for work anyway! In any case, I discovered the center for disabled children where Emily works (voluntary DCC with which I was training Chevilly in November) and the Association of Rehabilitation of the Blind, whose director of the IST-CA particularly concerned. And then I do not close your eyes (or camera for that matter!) on different landscapes available to me: I will tread the red earth of the west! In fact, little story just for fun: 3 hd'attente in Douala before because of Bafoussam is loaded, then the path 5h30: patience, patience ...
Lesson No.2: enjoy the coming of Pope to go to Yaounde.
Annoyed that I am going to see or Sydney, or Paris or Lourdes, Benedict XVI has scheduled a trip to Cameroon when he learned of my assignment in the IST Douala. Before such insistence, I was forced to give in and go see him in Yaounde. Working in a Catholic school, it was not too hard to get days off thing. So I went on Wednesday afternoon to Yaounde where I met Jeremy and Odes and Alice and Elise (2 volunteers Fontem, 2h track of Dschang). The night I saw my cousin Anthony, expert Vatican reporter (this is through him that I had information regarding the arrival of Benedict XVI, Cameroon) and was on the plane Pope. He offered us un verre au Hilton, très probablement le meilleur hôtel du pays ! Le lendemain matin, la fameuse messe au stade Ahmadou Ahidjo, puis retour sur Douala en fin d’après-midi. Voyage vraiment rapide, pas vraiment eu le temps de voir Yaoundé, mais c’était surtout pour le Pape que j’étais là non ?
Leçon N°3 : ne jamais louper un WE DCC.
Avec près de 30 volontaires éparpillés aux 4 coins du territoire, le Cameroun est le pays le plus peuplé (de DCC) au monde ! Et c’est vraiment sympa d’avoir ce réseau. WE improvisés chez les uns chez les autres ou grands WE DCC organisés à l’avance, c’est toujours aussi agréable de pouvoir se retrouver, de souffler un peu, de changer d’air (surtout quand on habite Douala !). Au cours de ce dernier mois, je suis donc passé voir Stéphane de Makak (prof d’info et conseiller d’orientation au collège) et Max et Julie de Pouma (gestionnaires de l’hôpital).
Douala-Makak, c’est direct : ça se fait en train. Par contre, attention à ne pas louper le départ : y’en a que 2 par jour (voire peut-être même qu’un seul). Il n’y a qu’une seule voie et les croisements de trains se font exclusivement dans les gares. Alors il peut arriver que votre train s’arrête quelque temps dans une gare, le temps than that of transporting goods Bolloré Bolloré and necessarily priority (Bolloré owns Camrail) arrives in the opposite direction. In any case, it crosses all places to that sublime (see photos soon) and it's really great to quietly open the door of the train and look for watching (while standing and when the train goes not too fast of course I'm crazy but not crazy!). Makak reached, we chained to a cooking class Cameroon: mbongo chicken. I'm used to eating this dish for lunch at a mom, but I had not really realized that this little black sauce "simple" labor intensive and quite a workout. Indeed, it is crushed into fine powder a number of condiments using just a simple stone. Well as you say that if the young neighbor Stéphane we had not given a helping hand, we would not eat dinner so early! On Saturday morning, returning to the land: Stéphane cultivated garden and we helped him prepare his tomato fields. In the afternoon, we took the bensikines (motorcycles) and through the forest to make us up the falls where we went swimming: in my underwear, or dressed in shorts! The night after a dinner at the restaurant where we (yes in fact we = Stephane and 2 of his American friends Makak + Barbara, Adeline and Zephaniah Bafia + Jeremy, Jerome Odes and Emilie de Dschang Yound + + myself Douala) have eaten gazelle, we found ourselves thrown into a VIP birthday party where we knew no one, not even the girl who was celebrating his 23 years of white privilege, I will come back someday. Then as we were not tired enough, Emily, Stephen and I continued to play cards until 4:30. 2 hours later, we stood to go take the train home. 3 days of pure scenery.
I do not have new Pouma, hospital, Max and Julie managers, their homes and their beautiful terrace. I returned with Emily 10 days ago. WE very cushy, no brush with a machete this time, but good scissors in my hair: it was becoming urgent. A funny story: Sunday Mass was the first mass of the new pastor. In fact, we did not stay until the end: we left after 3 hours! The songs were really beautiful, but the homily has ruined everything. Already we had failed to understand the homily because of problems with microphone, but when the priest went in (at least) 1h homily, 30 minutes in French incomprehensible because of micro and 30 others Bassa (local dialect), so even more understandable (if not the term Iesu), nerves began to drop. When you are told that the African masses are long!
Pope in Yaounde, the World Youth Day in Douala: 2 events back on religious polemics
February shaken me well in all you say, I bien hésité à aller voir le Pape pour la messe de Yaoundé. Mais un évènement pareil n’arrive pas tous les jours en Afrique (et moi-même je en serai certainement pas en Afrique toute ma vie) : il fallait que j’y sois. Finalement, je n’ai pas vécu cet évènement aussi profondément que je l’aurais souhaité. Je m’attendais certainement à être subjugué comme pour les JMJ de Cologne, mais il n’en a rien été. Pourtant autour de moi la ferveur était là : quel accueil ! Et puis quelle belle messe : superbes chants en français, en anglais et en langues. J’ai juste regretté de ne pouvoir dire le Notre Père pour lequel le latin avait été choisi (…). Alors finalement, pourquoi ne pas être totalement rentré dedans ? Les récentes polémiques ? Les acclamations qui me semblaient trop importantes pour un simple homme ? Le trop grand empressement des fidèles pour donner leur offrande ou communier au cours d’une messe, tout compte fait aussi importante que toutes les autres ? Ma voisine sortant ses stylos pour qu’ils soient bénis ? Toujours est-il que je ne me suis senti un peu en décalage avec toute cette agitation. Mais je retiendrai cette ferveur, cette joie des gens à la vue du Pape, ce grand rassemblement pour une messe commune.
Pour ceux qui l’auraient oublié, la Journée World Youth is every year, on Palm Sunday. On this occasion, a large mass of young people was held in Douala next to the cathedral on Saturday morning (actually it was not the mass of twigs!). I must be one of the only white present (besides my parish we are only 2: the priest and me) but I really loved it. The songs were catchy, the atmosphere was very prayerful and mostly I felt totally integrated, fully hosted. Mass-sized, singing and joy oriented towards God and then also a mindset different staff I'm really back in this little event. Already
4 pages on Word and then 23h already ... I would have spoken well of the meeting of different DCC volunteers, of my first outings with expatriates, links that I consolidated with Marcellin and Ingrid, a meeting of Louis-Bernard but you really want me to go: 7h of sleep is not nearly enough here.
The next weekend I'll be Fontem to spend Easter with Alice, Elise and the Cameroonian English-speaking area of Cameroon.
Happy Easter to you all and see you soon!
PS: With nearly a month late, good Women's day to all!
.jpg)
Fin des illusions ... 
