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.

happy anniversary!

12/31/2001:
today is mama and baba's anniversary... almost forgot. no present for mama. but heartfelt understanding, inexplicable gratitude and utmost respect. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! :)

christmas music

12/31/2001:
in bed. it’s morning. Paul [my neighbor] is playing Christmas music. really loud. Nat King Cole or Bing Crosby, i think. Jingle Bells, White Christmas...

...how does it make me feel? i don’t know??? ambivalent, i guess:

• 1st: the setting is off... it’s out of context. it’s not Christmas, it’s not white out and one-horse-open-slays are about as far away from here as possible.
• 2nd: it’s Christmas music. i don’t celebrate the holiday... but that’s not fair. the music is more cultural than religious. more American than anything. i'm just not sure i ever liked the music.
  

i suppose that’s why it’s so strange to hear it here... and strange that it gives me that warm, fuzzy, nostalgic feeling on a chilly morning like this. it reminds me of home. i miss home. the things i took for granted and never thought would trigger feelings like this.

ambivalence. my mind thinks, “Great! Christmas music... followed me all the way out here” and my heart feels the presence (or is it the absence?) of family to hug, hot chocolate to drink and serene winter landscapes to take in.

mission to kala

12/28/2001:
back in Wum... just finished reading another Mongo Beti book, Mission to Kala. 2 days, short book. it’s Friday so i’ll quote now and elaborate after jum’aah [prayer]:

This unshakeable stoicism in the face of all life’s accidents and vicissitudes is probably the town-man’s greatest loss, when he abandons village, tribe and local culture. We who choose the city have lost this ancient wisdom: irritable, ambitious, hot-headed, fed on illusion, we have become the world’s eternal dupes.

...to view life “without a trace of illusion or ambition.” is that what Medza learned on his mission to Kala? what i’m learning here. to see things differently. more simply. not simplistically. but, in fact, closer to reality... for what they are, for better or for worse. to be patient. with things one can’t change AND things one can change but not necessarily in one word/argument/outburst/stroke whatever.

because, ultimately, things can’t be changed that easily. people don’t change that easily. at the risk of contradiction, life isn’t that simple. it is complicated. people are complicated. the wisdom lies in seeing and accepting that. it is simple, life simply does not make sense or follow set patterns (needless to say, neither do people) ...and when one accepts that, his or her life is made simpler.

is that what Medza learned in Kala? that life is totally unpredictable. and the more we rebel and protest the more it seems not to go our way. when we finally accept the “absurdity of life,” as Medza does, we’ll be better equipped to deal with it or accept whatever complexities it brings. simple.

grinning ear to ear

12/23/2001:
there are some things i don’t expect or ever think i’ll see/hear/taste/do here in cameroon... not crazy stunts or nasty food. simple things, things that happen all the time back home. but i’ve been so out of the loop, so deprogrammed, so well-adjusted that when they happen i just sit there in awe. jaw dropped and mouth agape... grinning from ear to ear like a silly little boy.

i never expected to see mama interacting with Cameroonians. Special English has a whole new meaning! but when mama and the imam of Masjid al-Rahma here in Douala (a Malian man) held an extended conversation on topics ranging from bin Laden and Sept. 11th to development in Africa to cultural/intellectual exchange b/w west and east (past, present and future)... all in fusha [classical Arabic]! i just sat back and watched/listened in amazement. BIG GRIN and sometimes a giggle or a shake of the head... disbelief. never thought i’d see that here.

Douala... this city has everything, for better or for worse. the gap in wealth is disgusting... b/w locals and ex-pats and b/w poor locals and rich ones. as an aside... where do i stand?! i suppose i never expected to see supermarkets like Score [owned by Pick 'n Pay, South Africa] and Cash Center or every American/European product you can think of on the shelf for 10s of 1000s of cfa [central african francs]. maybe it’s good i see this from time to time... decreases reverse culture-shock in the long run. remember that people are living like that still.

but i don’t want to think of that... what happened to simple living? small is beautiful? Babadjou! let me wrap up this entry... never thought i’d eat hummus, labne, babaghanoush, falafel, tabouleh, fatooosh, kebbeh, sambosa... all that. moms and i ate at this Lebanese restaurant, Le Pacha a few times these past 2 days. not cheap. i had that silly disbelieving grin on my face more than a few times as i ate that food. kattayef... wow!

will i be grinning and disbelieving like that when i get back home in 2 years? to all those little things that i took for granted... family, friends, food, flowers. i hope and pray so. to feel like a little kid again. a fresh look on all those things... an excitement and joy overflowing. small is beautiful. and little things make me happy.

leaving limbe

Limbe Botanic Garden
lbgmcp@camnet.cm
Dr. Ndam

12/22/2001:
that’s the contact info for the conservator at the Limbe Botanic Garden... a Mt. Cameroon Project. hope i can spend the long break in Limbe doing horticulture and education at the Garden.

i want to get my hands dirty again. find myself in amongst the trees and flowers there. learn about tropical plants. do some EE work with their interpretation/PR department. establish some connections... that’s what i want [insha'Allah].

in Douala now. at a cafe in Akwa with mama. my mind is on a million things. where to go / what to do / what she wants to buy, etc. will be back again tonight to talk about grinning from ear to ear these past few days. until later...

EE SOW

12/21/2001:
sat down with Tonya and Sarah [fellow PCVs that also teach at TTCs, i.e. teacher training colleges] and chatted about EE [environmental education]. this is Sarah’s 1st year SOW [scheme of work]:

First Term
WK 1: Our Environment
WK 2-3: Ecosystems
WK 4: TEST
WK 5-9: Plants
WK 10-12: Water
WK 13: TEST

Second Term
WK 1-5: Animals
WK 6: TEST
WK 7-8: Air
WK 9-12: Soil
WK 13: TEST

Third Term
WK 1-2: Population
WK 3-4: Urbanization
WK 5-6: Biodiversity
WK 7-8: Revisions and EXAM