I'm in Africa

Hello Everyone,

Finally, I have the chance to write on my blog. The internet here is really slow and the keyboard is different. So far, my time in Cameroon has been really good. We had a full day of travel to arrive in Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon. We really enjoyed our first program in Cameroon. The audiences here are very interactive, which makes it more fun for us. We stayed at the Catholic missionary house in Douala. We are partnering with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Cameroon--related to the ELCA. After several days of humidity in Douala, we took a bus to Yaounde, the captial of Cameroon. From there, we took a 18 hour train ride to N'Gaoundere, where my teammate Prosper is from. The trainride was way too long, but we made it. N'Gaoundere is where the bishop is, so we met him and stayed at the Norwegian missionary house. It was neat because Sonja translate some Norwegian for us. We took an 8 hour bus ride to Maroua--on an extremely packed bus with our luggage on top. It was hot-- in the 90s and we were all tired. We did 2 programs in Maroua, then travelled south again for 3 hours to Baroua. In Baroua, we got to stay with host homes for the first time. It was a very interesting experience as most of us don't speak much French, but we all did fine. Thankfully, my host dad spoke some English.

Overall, I have really enjoyed being in Cameroon. I am glad that I am missing the cold of the midwest. It has been hot 70s and up to 110 here, but most of it has been okay. I got to go on a safari!!! We went to Waza National Park north of Maroua for our day off; it was the day after Adrienne's birthday. We saw giraffes, ostriches, herons, warthogs, and many various antelope -like animals: We saw a lot of beautiful birds. Unfortunately, we didn't see any elephants or hippos that the park is known for because we were there in the dry season. It was a really neat experience to see animals in the wild; I just wish they would have been closer.

It has been very interesting being a white person in the midst of many black people. I have been a minority before and that doesn't bother me, but it is funny to hear people say "white person" in French every time I walk or drive by. Most of our transportation once we get in the cities has been motorcylce taxis, which are quite an adventure with our bags. The kids here seem to really like me in particular for some reason. One girl fell asleep on my lap on the long train ride. Another played with my hair and another jumped rope with me. It has been especially interesting to be an American in Cameroon during the Obama transitition and inauguration. People over here love Obama; they often ask us about Obama or if we voted for him. They also have a lot of hope in Obama. Talking about Obama has got us passed several passport checkpoints (they didn't look at our passports). Thankfully, I did get to watch most of the inauguration, some in French and some in English. It was strange to be here while the US got a new president.

Culture shock hasn't been to bad for me as I have been to place of poverty before. However, the constant travelling on buses is tough. For the most part, Cameroon has been what I expected.

The food here has been really good!! I have enjoyed rice, coocoos, fish, chicken, beef, fried plantains, fruit (mangos, pineapple, banana, etc;), and French fries. The sauces that they put on things are usually really good! I really like a drink that we often have that is similar to grape juice, but made with a fruit I don't know. Surprizingly, I don't mind the fish here (I don't like it at home). I think it makes a huge difference that I am closer to the ocean here.

Sorry it has been so long since I wrote on here, but internet it hard to come by. I don't know how long it will be until I write again. I miss you! I hope everything is going great for you in US!


Peace,

Tiffany