Pt 4

So now, I'm just trying to think. Brutally, honestly, we haven't done a lot since. It's Tuesday now,2pm, and we are sitting in the office .. Waiting. I think. So yesterday we got told by Fred that I would be teaching it, Microsoft word, from 8-12 from today onwards (mon to thurs) and from Wednesday, Jwan would be teaching English at the school from 8 till about the same time. So we arrive this morning, and because we have no idea really, maceline, the actually official teacher of the course, starts them off, like how to turn on a computer. Etc. anyway after an hour and a bit, she left them. Literally typing out, 'asdf ;lkj' .... For the next 2 and a half hours. Jwan and I had to do something, and did a bit of teaching about typing, and set them out typing their notes they had written, and well, yeah. We were just sitting there, waiting. Offering a hand if they needed it. I mean,if we had just arrived, I'm sure ifpt would feel awesome and productive and like we were doing something- but it didn't, and we haven't even gone to the school yet, but yeah it is pretty infuriating.

We had spoken to Fred, the director the day before about how disappointed we had been and he made some excuses and gave us some office work to do. 

Wow so this is now a moany blog. But it feels so pointless being here. Jwan and I have paid to be here, Jwan had booked a year ago so he knew we were coming well in advance, and this guy had literally no plan or idea for us.

Okay so this was incredibly moany!!! Hahaha so yeah there have been some pretty low points in my stay, and this is one of them. We taught the computer class for three? Or four days, two classes- one In the morning from half 8 ish till 12, then another from half one (supposedly till half five maybe?) and it was, just, incredibly boring. We powered through what we were supposed to teach, just due to the demand of the students, but there was a big range of abilities. Some students could barely use a mouse, some were whizz ing away playing computer games. It also didn't help that we had nothing to demonstrate with, no computer or even chalkboard, and with the electricity coming and going it wasn't an easy job. By the end of the week we were glad to be told that we would be at the school for the holiday classes on Monday, we were given a timetable, we would be teaching English. Aside that there was only 12 students that had turned up, we were just trying our best to be positive! I'll do another blog about mbosha, which is the absolute saving grace if that week- so as an introduction, that Friday we went to a village called mboesha.

SO it was only  as we visited Fred at the school, all packed up with our sleeping bags to go, that he told us we would be staying with a family with young children. We luckily had some sweets in our bag, but the children didn't really care. It was a horrible, horrible half hour bike ride with Emmanuel ( not sure if I've mentioned? Just the it guy at the office, I like him, I tease him a bit haha) right on the back with our heavy, heavy backpack on my back. We climbed up and up into the mountains, which meant clinging on with my legs around Jwan, sitting up as straight as I could with my abs and my arms back, clinging on/pushing myself up on the metal I was half sitting on the back of the bike. Anyway haha, we arrived, at the most beautiful tranquil place. Imagine, South Downs crossed with new forest. It was so so lush, and as we walked to a  compound a little away on a slope of it's own, a pretty younggirl with matching blue headscarf (like an African turban one) and skirt came running toward with the biggest hug!! It was such an awesome welcome!! This was AishaTo, I'm not sure how you spell it, anyway I don't remember everyone's names. We stayed at the house of Karimos, with his beautiful wife, 4 beautiful little girls and a handsome young boy. Whilst we stayed there was a lot more children around though, of varying ages, all adorable, and okay, I don't like children, but these guys .... So much fun. The youngest one and I got on awesomely, only the two elder girls spoke English but language isn't a barrier when you're playing!! So she actually came with us as we went to the women's group in the village, which  was actually a really cool experience. The lady Juliette came and picked us up, and she showed us the health center that self reliance ( the company I'm out here with) is helping them with. It had three rooms, but it really was just an African building with mud floors and low beds. It was an experience to see,  we were shown everything including right inside the sort of well that they have for the placenta and stillborns, and the stand they use for weighing the babies. Juliette is actually the nurse of the village, kind of, I don't really know what proper training she has but she showed us all of her records, all the books with the appointments, all her details of the drugs she has bought and administered. Also, the long list of people who have used her service and drugs and who didn't at the time have the money to pay for it. Lots of people had payed back the money, but there was still people from a long time back owing thousands of francs. It is incredible, what she is doing, trying to do, she was asking us to go over her records and stuff but the most we could say was that it was all well, she was doing amazingly. I really wish I had some sort of qualification or knowledge to help her and the village, such basic understanding of nursing from the western world could literally have a life saving effect on a small village like mbosha. It was such an awesome place, so pretty, it was high up so it was quite cold and the cloud came and went giving dramatic views and atmospheres. Another thing was that there was no electricity pilons, not even the makeshift ones like that on the road there, and I think it gave the buildings a look of serenity and I really, really loved it. Had there been proper toilets and some wifi I definitely could have stayed in Mbosha my entire Cameroonian time, I reckon!.m anyway, haven't even talked about the women group yet. So we got to this little room in a building right in the village, there was a fire burning in the middle, and few women in colourful fabrics sitting around. There is normally a much higher number of women but it's actually Ramadan at the moment, and as most of the women are Muslim and some have to travel from a little while away they couldn't make it. So anyway, as a background, what SEREP does is give palm oil to women groups like this one and allow them to pay for it a while later. The idea is that after a while they have saved profits to buy upfront, hence a business is created. However, there are several problems. Firstly, the transport of the oil to the village costs a stupid amount. But the main thing is, they don't really sell it, but more distribute it between themselves, and what we witnessed today was the arrival of this months palm oil. I think it's monthly. Anyway so they got this huge pot, put it on the fire in the middle of this hut, and emptied the big 50 litre tubs of the oil and heated it up. They then measured out the litres from the pot using an old can of hot drink powder of something, distributing it between everyone. But the women pay the same price as it was bought for, but they use obvs a different measurement. So, pretty much, they are just mugging themselves off, from the logs in the notebook they record everything a few weeks they had made a hundred or so francs profit, after paying for transport. I mean, well, yeah. It was an odd experience. They were in a pickle when we were there as a women who had bought 20 litres the month before had not paid up, and they needed to give SEREP the outstanding 10400 francs, which we were supposed to take back with us. They were so worried, but it is literally about £12. So Jwan and I said that we would pay for it, and they were oh so happy and thankful!! It was a crazy feeling, that something so small could make such a difference to them, they were so relieved. They were annoyed that we will have left Kumbo by the end of Ramadan so that we couldn't feast with them!! They gave us a big bunch of bananas, it was so unnecessary, but again I felt so useless. I was reading through their records and they wanted me to check everything but again all I had to say was, looks all correct, ? I just wished there was more I could have done to help them out. It was, an incredible experience, to sit there with a group of women who are working hard for a better life, I guess, I don't know. What I've found incredibly difficult to get clear in my head and grasp both sides is kind of the balance between respecting the lifestyle here of people, because truly and utterly people are living in such a way that they want to. And they are truly thriving, living happy for filled lives, and I think it is such a pig ignorance to look at the culture and lifestyle and pity them or try and encourage or enforce or show them something else or a different way because in the ignorant view, western way is better. And ofc that is disgusting.

In some situations I do think it's a bit odd. Like in mbosha in the home we stayed in, and actually everywhere. Everyone uses brushes to brush the floor that you hold with your hand, and washes the floor with a bucket and a cloth. Both ways involve bending down so awkwardly, in such a painful manner, when in the shop next to the market you can buy a broom or a mop and save the back ache. 

I think this opinion of mine is probably slightly the western ignorance, I truly, truly respect everything here, the culture, the tradition. But why use a mobile phone, but not a broom with a handle. I don't know. I'd love to maybe discuss if someone has an opinion/thought on stuff like this! Haven't really got my head around it yet!!

Oh my gosh I'm so sorry have gone completely off topic. We were in mbosha. Beautiful mbosha!! So it was Friday we arrived, went to the women's group,saw the health center (less of a center more or just a building) then pretty much just played with the girls. Jwan sat in the kitchen with the mum and watched her cook, the kitchen was a little hut aside from the house, with no windows, where a fire was on the floor. It was a magical little place, smokey obviously! But some absolutely delicious stuff came out of there. Fasting ended at 6;45, I think, and we ate with mum and dad in the parlor (where I had been reading with the girls). I think we had rice with a sauce, I can't really remember! Oooh it was rice cooked with banana. We definitely got given peppermint tea though! It was mostly milk, but definitely with peppermint, I'm not normally a massive fan of milk but it was the first hint of creaminess in Cameroon. There are no fridges, so normally no milk, it was only thanks to the cows in theirnfields that we could drink! It was, interesting! I was simply thinking of my father when I was drinking haha. We also got given pap, which is also like a drink .. Ahah it was quite odd. It was hot, and kinda thick, with blobs in. White blobs. A really odd taste, kind of sweet (they stirred in the sugar) but equally not quite sweet! I learnt to chug it, ignoring the odd, odd texture hahah, and doing the same to Jwans' as she couldn't really bear it hahah. We were supposed to be going home the next day, but it turned out we stayed another night. We had a cute little room where we curled up in our sleeping bags, from 9 o clock or something haha, exhausted from the days activites- playing games and being a woman.

The next day, aside from the on goings of eating before 5 and prayers at crazy times, we were up early- to milk the cows. It was a hilarious experience, I was appalling at it, there is some funny pictures, the cow doesn't look impressed haha. Then we had to herd them out of the field to another, waving and hitting with sticks and making the hilarious herding noises!! I felt like the guy off Adams farm of something, with the sheepdog hahahah 'come by' i had so much fun. We had to do the same in the evenings, too. Anyway after the milking, we helped the girls wash up everything from the previous day, and then what followed was also hilarious and somewhat expected. Jwan and I got set down, and our hair well and truly plaited, African style. They girls had so much fun, with so much hair hahahaha, we looked absolutely ridiculous (we know this for sure as the girls also had control of the camera) but it was quite quite funny. On Saturday we also sat in on another women's group that happened in Karimos house, but when you don't understand a word of what they are saying it felt a bit pointless. 

The sun was out for some of that day, so we relaxed a bit outside playing handball, in the beautiful surroundings. Oh my and ofc, I almost forgot. We rode one of their horses!! They have two, hahahah and it was so much fun. Jumping on top of just a blanket, I loved it! I also almost died with laughter when Jwan tried, I think the children thought I was a right weirdo haha, but oh my it was hilarious. I love that woman!!! She was awful scared. We got fed amazingly for all the time we were in mbosha, Juliette bought us some fufu and jamajama actually (Cameroonian sadza!) which was deliciously homemade. There isn't a lot of choice for food here, and in restaurants the sadza/fufu is made so in advance it just isn't the same as fresh. So it was delicious to eat beautiful homemade fufu!! We also got fed a lot of avocado, or pear as they call it, we had it with another different plant for dinner? It was pretty cool to try such different awesome food, we had such a good, good time.  The next morning we had to get a bike early to get back before the rain, the route becomes impassable otherwise. It was a slightly emosh goodbye- but not really as we'd already decided to come back next weekend. The gorgeous cutie girl wanted to come back with me, she was saying she would carry water for us and make herself useful! She is only four, absolutely adorable. And yes, it is really me saying this haha. We just had so much fun. I think I really am a four year old at heart haha. 

Their family really is, beautiful. I think definitely though their age has something to do with it, Jwan said that mumma was only 28. Since the oldest girl is about to turn 14, she must have been 13/14 when she married Karimos. He also has such a young, pretty face. No wonder the children are so beautiful! Pretty crazy when you think about it, though. Another thing, so they were Muslim obviously, it was pretty odd how in the parlour and well everywhere on the walls there were big, big posters, of sheiks faces, Arabic words, little white girls in headscarfs praying and such. Maybe not odd, just interesting .. Okay the repetitive ness of the posters, the size and some of the pictures were odd haha. In the parlour there was also a big poster of the Cameroonian football team, no comment on their World Cup performance or England's hahah, as well as a poster with Barack Obama all over it haha and also a world map where we showed the girls where we were all from. 

Anyway that was our first weekend in mbosha!! We had so much fun, took a lot of pictures, but slept kind of well back in our own beds.