Family Visit

Well it has been way too long since I’ve updated my blog (sorry Mom!) so here is a rather brief update.

My parents and brother came for a three week long visit over the holidays- it was SO great to see them! We first went down to the beach at Kribi for a couple of days. There we stayed in this funky cottage along a stream and a couple minutes from the beach. We took a canoe ride to visit a pygmy village; the river was so beautiful. After that we had a memorable feast of fresh shrimp right along the sea and rode out to the Chutes des Lobes, one of the few waterfalls that go straight into the sea. We made our way up to my village and got to enjoy the experience of travelling in Africa (complete with 6 hour road blocks and stops by the police). We spent about 10 days in Bandrefam so had plenty of time to see my daily life there; laundry and getting water at the source, traditional foods, greeting the Chief and having a billion people come by my house to greet us. We visited the town of Foumban which is a hub of crafts and had a long but fun day of visiting workshops and bargaining for masks, copper bracelets and wooden bottle openers. We also visited a great museum in Baham- the docent there was so knowledgable and seemed thrilled to share her culture with us. Our final day trip in the West was to the waterfalls in Bafang; it was so beautiful there and we got to hike down to the bottom of the falls (of course I fell attempting to cross the stream and get closer to the falls!). After leaving village we went to the beach at Limbe for a couple of days. There we were able to relax and get the red dust from village off while soaking in the ocean. We again had fresh grilled fish right by the sea and also visited a great restaurant by the gorilla sanctuary (where we saw gorillas, drills, baboons etc). I had an amazing time with my family; it was great to see them again! I really loved sharing parts of my Cameroonian life with them, plus it was fun to play tourist here!

Right after my family left I went down to Yaounde for my Midservice, where we shared best practices and had medical check ups (I’m still healthy!). More importantly Midservice was a chance for me to catch up with friends, many of whom I haven’t seen since IST in April. It was great to see everyone and helped me to get over the inevitable home sickness after my family left. Plus it was fun to explore the big city of Yaounde.

To be honest it was a bit difficult for me to get back into the groove at post after all my travels and being with family and friends. But now I’m back into all of my daily tasks and work too. I’m still doing some work with tofu, my womens group and a high school health club. But right now my main focus is my library projects; a community library in Bandrefam and one at the Lycee de Batoufam. (Visit booksforcameroon.com, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsFviXAfqt0, or check it out on facebook). We are having French books donated and I am working to build up the capacities of our libraies; ensure that the spaces are secure, build shelves and train librarians on library management.

So basically its been a great couple of months and even with a little bump in the road (my ‘midservice crisis’) things are going really well here. I am loving my life in village and am trying to enjoy every moment of it!