Projects and Thanksgiving

I just wanted you all to know that it's official, I'm officially an old lady!  

You can now find me most afternoons sitting in my backyard knitting away (a baby blanket, you've got to start somewhere) with my cat Buster running around chasing leaves and the random chicken that manages to sneak under the fence.  It might not seem like any thing special but to me it's a little slice of domestic bliss. I love having a pet, a garden and a house in the mountains where the air is crisp and cool in the mornings and evenings.  Now if only there was a Whole Foods and running water!

When I'm not in my garden, I have been keeping busy...

This Sunday I did some work on a project called MOTOMEN BEEP YOUR HORN which is an AIDS sensabilization (how do you spell that?) project in conjunction with world AIDS day Dec 1st.   So there I was this Sunday in the bustling Batie market handing out CONDOMS to total strangers! Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I'd be (or even want to be) distributing condoms. Of course I had a lot of wise guys say they didn't know how to put one on and could I show them, ahummm.  Thank god I was with my two mototaxi men whom I could direct those kinds of questions to.  The idea of the project is that the motomen are "peer educators".  Funny thing is I was so dreading that day, many times I thought I was going to cancel, I was too embarrassed, but, strangely enough it turned out to be a lot of fun.  Not that I feel like I've found my true calling or anything like that but people were relaxed and curious about what a strange white woman giving out condoms and holding a wooden penis (for demonstration!) was doing in the market.  I think I might have been arrested if I just showed up like that at our Union Square Farmers Market in Manhattan. 

Batie Market

On the actual World AIDS Day there's going to be a little parade in Bafoussam, the regional capital, organized by Peace Corps volunteers and a host institution called RIDEV who we do a lot of health projects with and will have an information table, giving out more condoms and shuttling ppl back and forth to a place where they can get free testing. There are some funny beliefs here about AIDS, like, that condoms actually gives you AIDS, or that only prostitutes get AIDS and women are prostitutes so that's why more women have AIDS, and so on.   Another issue is that many marriages are polygamous and with the husband often working in a major city like Yaounde or Douala, well you can see between misinformation and social culture how the disease can spread quickly. 

Besides that, my tuesday business classes with the farmers are going well.  Liz and I have gone through such subjects like stock books, cash books and tomorrow we'll talk about budgeting.  They're so appreciative and excited, it's so sweet.  

January I'm looking forward to start my business classes with Fidele, a teacher here in Batie who took the course already last year with Wendy so is well familiar with the material.  He's incredibly smart and a dedicated teacher, I think it's going to be a good experience for both of us, and possibly a good way for him to supplement his income in the future if he decides to do it on his own.  We'll hold the classes at the Mayor's building.  Maybe I can approach the Mayor about yoga classes at the building as well? Mmmmm. I really want to get started with that.  Might have to be in the New Year.

One exciting development on the Books for Cameroon front is that I've been able to secure 7 boxes of French books from the Lycee Francais de New York for my local Lycee in Batie!  Now is just need to get them here! If I can find a good solution for shipping, I might take the additional 16 boxes of English language books they have available as well.

What else, what else?  This week is Thanksgiving! I can hardly believe it.  Wednesday I'm going to Mbouda (pronounced Buddha) to cook with Andrea.  She's making pumpkin pie and I'm going to make a pumpkin chocolate chip bread pudding!  Well there's really no pumpkins here so we'll be using squash.  Then Thursday we're going to Bangang to spend Thanksgiving with a few other volunteers.  Its going to be very cozy.  And I'm looking forward to see two new places.  I hardly leave my house!

Time is going by so incredibly fast.  When we were in training, not even having officially started our two year service, I remember departing Peace Corps volunteers telling us that the time will go by very quickly. Now I'm starting to believe them! It's true, at least what I've experienced so far.  Soon we'll all be together again in Kribi (the beach!) for a 5 day In Service Training mid December, then many of us will stay on at the beach for Christmas, then New Years in Bafia with my host family, then, hello 2011 !

Well that's it for me for now. Oh, did I mention that I think my cat is a monkey?  When he's not climbing on top of the fence, he can be found climbing trees, even walls for that matter.