waiting... at council hall

10/5/2002:
this journal is being bent out of shape. carrying it in my lumbar-pack between the nalgene bottle and my [rolled-up] raincoat is the problem. insha'Allah the rain will cease (or Ramadan will come) before this my journal falls apart.

mama and i made an attempt at participating in Int'l Teacher's Day. sparse march. long wait at the Council Hall. too long. Mayor no dey [pidgin, for not there/present]. DO no dey. SDO no dey. "God dey" ...as one alhadji put it when thanking mama for her support of the upkwa masjid.

back to the Council Hall. only our students and primary school staff were there. as an aside, i spoke with Hamza's teacher. we're on the same page. Mr. Nshu was there. he and i spoke about lack of student motivation. no priority on education. needing someone to talk to them.

we even developed a debate topic around the idea. so as we'd address such issues in an informed manner, la prochaine fois [next time]. unfortunately, i did not stay. mama lost patience. rain was coming. hunger, too. but when you wait that long and leave, is it worth it?

part of me just wants to sit tight. leaving makes the wait you waited a wait in vain, doesn't it? staying, no matter how long (hmmm???), and seeing what you came/waited for somehow justifies the wait. or have i just been here for too long?

la ya3dam as-sabour al-dhafar – wa-in taala bihee az-zamaan
[success will not elude the patient – even if it takes its time] -Imam Ali

her belly must flop

5/17/2002 (convo #1):
2 conversations, one with Doucas and the other with Eugene...

last night, all of Ma Karin's kids from next door (Jarvis, Karin, Doucas and Petula) sat at my kitchen steps while i cooked. cute family. Doucas was sitting on the floor a little further in. watching me intently.

i don't remember how exactly, but we started talking about food–oh! yeah... she goes "ay wan chop!" [i want food / i want to eat]. something about how when she sees food she has to eat. full stop. no discussion.

said it with a confidence and self-assurance that is usually so unlike her. said it like it was an immutable physical law of the universe. also said something about how she has to FILL her belly. when she eats, the belly MUST flop [fill up]. as if the vessel was a different entity all together... one which must be appeased at all costs.

i left the kitchen to get something and came back to hear Jarvis and Karin giggling. i asked "what?"... in my brief absence, Doucas turns to them and admits that her stomach is "biting!"

she's hungry and has got to get some of that food i'm making. no shame. no embarrassment. i look at her. she looks at me and nods her head. holding her chubby little belly.

the headmaster

cinco de mayo:
i'll take up the points from my tired outline above one at a time:

first... while holding a small debriefing at GPS [govt primary school] with our 3rd years a crowd of kids brought a bloody-faced class 2 student to the HM [Headmaster] Takwi Matthew. the man calmly asked to be excused as to take care of the situation.

he cleaned the boy up... who had a nasty cut on his forehead above the left eye after falling and hitting a pole. applied some iodine and bandaged the wound. he got some papers together and sent the boy to the hospital with his teacher.

unlike many others there, including teachers, the HM was calm, cool, quick and professional. really a pleasant surprise... and in sharp contrast to the nervous, confused and a little inept character of the teachers around. thank the Lord for leadership.

oh... rain came down HARD during our post-[teaching practice] conference there at GPS later that day. from 12 noon to 2pm. RAIN! actually missed Jum'ah [Friday Prayer].

sanu alhadji

3/10/2002:
last night. early in the evening. on my way to Maghrib [sunset prayer]. as i passed through the Hausa quarter. i passed a group of small kids. they're usually very good. polite. they greet. or stare. or step aside as i pass.

this group was no different. except that this one boy. he steps out from the group. as i pass. he looks up at me. puts one hand over the other in a sign of humility. bends down a little in a gesture of respect. and, in the most facetious but totally amusing attitude, says "sanu alhadji" [greetings elder].

i laughed. he laughed. they laughed. i was sooo amused. still laugh when i think of it. little sprite. funny little imp.

maggie is here!

1/26/2002:
Maggie [my new post-mate] is here! just got into Wum yesterday afternoon. i think it’s going to be good to have someone to talk to. to speak American English with... in front of Cameroonians who just don’t understand. like when friends or colleagues go "Bush" Pidgin on me! ;)

anywho... week spent at GPS [govt primary school] Wum was nice. like i said, satisfying feeling putting in a full day’s work. great seeing the children. REALLY want to teach at that level. but i’ve said that already.

funny that only now do the little kids around Wum know i’m a teacher. you can hear them whispering it to each other as i pass. and they tell their parents, who also seemed not to know exactly what i did in Wum...

OK... i’ll end with 3 or 4 cute kids at the primary school:

• Petel (Saalifu)... i like that kid.
• Rashidatu... adorable little Fulani girl i pass on the way back from GTTC in the afternoon.
• Maaryatu... Rashidatu’s equally adorable older sister.
• Yusufu... their brother. tall, thin, funny little boy.

may God keep them, insha'Allah.

my last two fingers

1/24/2002:
a few random thoughts before i sleep. made babaghanoosh. OK... too much tahina though. Jovis [my young neighbor] had another dream... something about OMZ bringing me a car here.

i’ve been walking back from the primary school with little Petel these past couple days. he waits, semi-patiently until i’m done and holds my hand (last two fingers, actually) the entire walk back. it’s cute.

i enjoy my time at the primary school. miss the kids. would like to teach younger students. have my own classroom. teach different subjects.

i also enjoy getting out of the house early. feels like i have a job. feels good coming back tired. gratifying. still don’t do quite enough work in the afternoon, i think.

Mr. Wanna visited. nice man. he gave me a yam.

quotidian...

one week left in september, subhan’Allah... “time slips away without warning, but freedom day will come...” all is well. a little frustrated because i JUST realized someone spoiled the sunflower i’d planted in my front yard. probably one of the kids or chickens???

what a fowl mood something like that can put you in! the thing is snapped at the base of the stem. hanging on to life by a fiber or 2. maybe it’ll live? how many xylem/phloem cell junctions does a plant need to survive? we go see...

like i said, all is well. i’m falling into a routine: sleep. exercise. eat. school. eat. sleep. work/read. eat. ...and plug prayer in there 5 times a day. can you say quotidian? mama will be here in less than a week. no routine then. and nothing is quotidian with mama around. God Bless her!

aho!
Mohamad
9/24/2002
Wum

grassland compound

 
1/2/2002:
New Year’s came and went. i was in bed. no big deal. interesting that people here celebrate more on the evening of January 1st (that was yesterday)... slept through that, as well. everyone was out and about in fine clothes yesterday... took a bunch of photos with the kids yesterday! all in New Year clothes.

mama is giving Levite and Jarvis drawing lessons now. nice of her... they’re enjoying it! very serious. Hamza (dirty-faced, swollen-mouthed [gum infection], little-big man Hamza) is transfixed here in this adult world... like a fish out of water. quiet, docile and attentive all of a sudden.

mama and i have been snapping lots of photos. good to send home. we’ve been experiencing more of Cameroonian life here at post. went out to Ukpwa and saw the grassland and Mu’aathu’s village. great people. great place. want to spend more time out there. want to live and teach out there... more realistically though, just spend some holiday time and maybe even a secondary project out there.

there's something about the grassland and the compound... how i thought “Africa” would really be. those 2 things [landscape and living arrangement] had mama saying the same thing when we went out to visit Omaru’s place... a compound in the grassland. i’d like to spend an evening or 2 out there, as well. just to watch the sun set and rise. i’m sure those are spectacular sites/sights.

dragonfly dreams

10/21/2001:
i dreamt of dragonflies not too long ago. at least i think i did. not sure if it was my dream or someone else’s that i’m confusing with my own... or if it was even a dream.

anyhow... they’re here. the dragonflies. a lot of them. a strange sight b/c i’ve never seen that many of them. they’re not swarming or anything, but still... who’s seen more than a couple of them at a time? at least i can’t remember. it’s great though. having them as harbingers of the dry season. it’s here, too... though not in full.

it’s been almost 2 days without rain. the road is already pretty dusty and the grass on the hills is looking a shade or 2 less green, as well. the weather has been pleasant. that may change. thus far i’m digging this transition between seasons. kinda exciting. i guess b/c it’s new.

speaking of new. just finished my 1st Mambo Bar here in Wum. kids went nuts! like they’d never seen one. they’re wild sometimes. as for the chocolate... i forgot how rich it was.

4 languages

10/12/2001:
i'm in bamenda (all of us from the NW province, actually) for a meeting with the CD. more on that later. just wanted to mention my visit to the mosque today. it’s located in the Hausa Quarter, in Old Town. the mosque is spacious, clean, with some calligraphy here and there. some carpeting up front as well. there was one of those pre-khutba [sermon] lectures. to make up for the sparse/light/terse and untranslated formal khutba, i suppose.

the lecture was great!... in 4 different languages. 4 men up there. 1st, this masri sheikh [egyptian preacher] giving the talk in short bursts of Arabic. 2nd, a Hausa man on his right then translates from Arabic to Hausa. 3rd, a Fulani man on the sheikh’s left translates from Hausa to Fufulde. 4th, a man on the Fulani’s left (another Hausa, i think) translates into pidgin english.

the masri sheikh says a few words, often no more than an incomplete thought, then there’s 3 translations. the fact that i understood the original and the last language (arabic and pidgin, that is) and could thus note any deviations (and there were many) had me smiling from ear to ear. just seeing all 4 men up there and hearing the barrage of interrupted sentences was quite a scene!

not to mention observing how one phrase in Arabic would turn into a discourse in Hausa, then a few sentences in Fufulde and just a couple of words in Pidgin. Lord... i wish someone from back home could’ve been there to witness it. Omar, Alredha, Samer, Salime... anyone! i’d like to know a little more of each of these 4 language before i leave, insha’Allah. even Arabic.

i should mention the lecture’s topic. after all, it wasn’t just a show... i did learn something. raising children was the focus. the sheikh explained the hadith [a saying of the Prophet Muhamamd] about raising children in 3 stages: 1-7 years, 8-14 years and 15-21 years. stage one, you pamper and play with them. stage two, you teach and guide them. stage three, you befriend and council them.

after that they’re on their own... no longer your responsibility in terms of guardianship or accountability for their actions. but, the sheikh added, if you want to seal (ikhtem) your work with them well, you need to make sure they marry early. that's not part of the hadith, though.

hamza

10/6/2001:
i’m laughing out loud right now! just ran into that little man Hamza at the beignet lady’s roadside shack. no hello from the little man. no good morning. just a stern, angry face and a few smacks on my leg. he’s still angry at me from yesterday. i sent a few of the kids home. they were bugging me about groundnuts on the balcony. Hamza had a knife with him... God knows why kids his age can walk around with them??? i took that too so he got extremely vexed. the kid can wail.

every time i remember that expression on his face this morning... just a few minutes ago, actually... i crack up. little big man, Hamza. the kid has issues, but i like him. he’s got character. a rough, child-sized dignity about him. wish they’d put him in school though. he stands outside every morning alone (when everyone’s already away at school) watching the kids at the nursery school across the street play, sing and learn.

he plays, too. sings along every now and again. but he doesn’t know all the words. it’s quite a contrast. all of them across the street, clean, in uniform, singing in rank-and-file. him alone. dirty-faced and ragged. free to do as he pleases i suppose. every now and again he joins in. late and with the wrong words.

the god of small things

10/3/2001:
“Smells, like music, hold memories. She breathed deep, and bottled it up for posterity.” -Arundhati Roy, from The God of Small Things

it seems like every Wednesday it rains. in truth, everyday it rains. but on Wed and Friday afternoons i look forward to playing ball and i’m usually disappointed. the rain. come dry season it’ll be too hot or too dusty. i’ll be fasting, too. we’ll see... as always.

10/6/2001:
QUICK NOTE... just finished reading The God of Small Things this morning. wonderful book. so creative so real. how she wrote it with the freshness of a child and the wisdom of a grand old mother, simultaneously, i don’t know. but it spoke to me on so many levels. i’m thinking about recommending it to Rama. i’ll try to react to the book in more detail after it settles for me. driven by a quote from the back cover i finished the last page and flipped right back to the 1st. it’s that good. that full, rich and intricate. so real.

school bike

9/6/2001:
well, no meeting tomorrow. saw the Principal today and she told me to just come around Monday. thinking i probably won’t go to Bamenda after all. at least not this weekend. maybe after i check out the text/reference book situation at the school library. speaking of books... i wandered into Presbook here. a few interesting titles. literature. religion. geography. didn’t get anything. will look for used copies 1st. maybe ask around, too.

today i rode the bike to school. around noon. i spent some time toeing in the brakes. needs more work though. front brakes are weak. shifting mechanism, too. the ride. nice. i’m definitely out of shape but totally looking forward to getting into it. the time is cut considerably by biking vs. walking... duh! really though, the distance is not the problem. the hills. it's downhill and uphill, both ways.

the last hill is the toughest. scary coming down and rough coming up. once coming in the school gates getting up the climb to the Government Teacher Training College (GTTC) building is nearly impossible. i’ll do it someday. one day. soon. all-in-all biking may not be the best way to get to school. hot and sticky by the time i get there, i’m sure. so... other than the ~1-hour trek that leaves motorcycle. and i have no helmet, yet. ashia for me!

hey... i roasted peanuts today. “fried groundnuts,” that is. also cooked beans and rice. both are all right. peanuts a little on the over-roasted side. but good. the beans a little on the bland side. but good. need palm oil! what has it come to??? “add palm oil to taste.” also need patience with the beans. took all day. made a lot though.

had some issues with the kids. just kinda nagging and always expecting food now. really shouldn’t have opened that door. oh, well... now i’ve got to do this “you can’t come inside the house and you won’t get any food!” and “stop knocking on the door so much and don’t call me ‘Whiteman’!” they’re cute though. especially Petel and Marie-Claire. she’s a stubborn one.

day 3, wum

8/31/2001:
my landlord came around today to look at the house. he lives in Bamenda. retired principal. has a son in Kansas City. seems like a nice man. things are coming along pretty slowly on the house. carpenter came today and fixed the front and bathroom doors. also made me a little cutting board. Davis is his name. he should be making me a bed when Kenneth gets back. hope he can make a few other things, as well... chairs, stools, table, wardrobe, etc. curtain rods, too.

the Principal and i visited the District Officer today. he’s Francophone. good to have french. really need to continue with it. we’ll finish the rest of the required protocol on Monday. tomorrow Florence (the lady who runs the off-license down the street) and i are going to the Principal’s around noon. need to do much laundry in the morning. much laundry. also need to find a place to put a line up for drying my clothes. we’ll see...

the boys and i just ate some fayn chop (i.e. good food). agusi pudding, plantains and rice. the 2 former foods having been donated to me by the Principal. i don’t as of yet know her name! oh... the boys i ate with (my little neighbors) are Hamza, Petel, and Patrick Henry. i need to work on my pidgin skills. rice cooking skills, too.