Click here to view our Picture GalleryCameroon
by Jessica Rimington
Getting there
transit to Ngaoundere, Cameroon
So there are really two phases to our story. The first and perhaps the most stressful phase began in Newark, New Jersey airport on a cold, cloudy, windy Tuesday. Our flight arrived into Newark from Boston 45 minutes late due to air traffic... causing us to subsequently miss our flight to Paris, and our flight from Paris to Cameroon, and subsequently our connecting flight from Douala, Cameroon to Ngaoundere, Cameroon. It was insane! Continental Airlines told us that there was no way for us to get to Ngaoundere until the following Thursday, January 5th...because the in-country flight only ran once a week. .........What followed was 1.5 days in Newark airport. On demand, I could draw you a map of Terminal A, B, and C - including bathrooms and Starbucks locations. I won't get into it all... because probably the only thing worse than experiencing those 1.5 days of stress would be reading a detailed account of them. But...in brief: after changing our tickets multiple times, being caught in the middle of a feud between Air France and Continental, speaking to 3 different airline superintendents/managers, talking with over 13 airline employees, taking a 737 plane, a bus, a train, a small plane, a taxi, a motorcycle, then a short walk, we made it to Ngaoundere by Friday December 30th (only one day late!). ...even if our final arrival to Cameroon did involve Cady throwing up due to a malaria pill reaction.
Cameroon Children's Environmental Forum
Ngaoundere, Cameroon
As soon as we stepped off the small plane at the Ngaoundere airport, I saw two small children holding up a sign: "Welcome to Cameroon Jessica and Cady". For the first time we met Alice (teacher and primary organizer of the Cameroon Children's Environmental Forum) along with her fellow teachers/group leaders and her brother Willie.
We went straight to the hall where the students were waiting for us! We spent this first afternoon getting to know each other. The Cameroon Children's Environmental Forum was founded by teacher, Alice Kongla, after attending the Young Agenda 21 conference in the Netherlands. Although, the group has only been around for one year there are over 300 youth involved from 5 schools!! We worked with a small, selected group of 35 students. Most of the students were of primary and middle school age, but there were also a few high school and college students who participated.
The following day we began the first day of the One World Youth Project workshops.
We began by letting the youth open the cultural exchange box from their sister-school in Burkesville, Kentucky! They were so excited by every item! I think our most difficult task was explaining what a 'snowman' was (there were several things within the box that pictured snowmen).
Next the students watched the documentary from Kentucky. Everyone giggled when the Burkesville students shouted on film, "Hello Cameroon!" A crowd formed around the computer screen to watch the footage and interviews of Kentucky. At one point all the students faces looked confused and then they expressed looks of sympathetic pain. "What is in her mouth!?" one of the youth members asked. I looked at the screen. "Oh! Braces." I explained the concept of braces -everyone seemed satisfied and not as concerned. I ended the explanation by stating that youth will often keep these braces on for 3 years. This created another wave of shock, and perhaps a bit of horror.
Everyone seemed to enjoy listening to the Kentucky bluegrass music in the video! Cady and I tried to teach a few of the youth how to square dance.
After a break for lunch, we began the UN Millennium Development Goal workshop.
Each sister-school pair in One World Youth Project is assigned one of the UN MDGs to work on together. Cameroon and Kentucky are working on Goal 6: Eradicate HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. By the end of the day on Saturday the children had come together to write an action plan for a project to help prevent malaria and diseases caused by poor sanitation (ie: Cholera). Their plan is to host a town-hall-style discussion for the community regarding disease prevention techniques....and then raise funds to purchase trash cans for the community. There are no public trash cans in Ngaoundere. Trash is piled up on every corner. We watched small children wade through it looking for food and plastic bottles to sell. In the past any trash cans installed, were stolen and used as drums (or for other uses). The children came up with the idea to get or make trash cans with hard metal legs that can be secured into the ground. I'm hoping their sister-school in Kentucky can figure out a way to participate in this project, or adapt a version of this for their community.
Glances of Cameroon
I saw much of Cameroon moving. Sitting on the back of a motorcycle, clutching on with a bit of fear, but enjoying the way the wind hitting my face made the temperature seem not as hot. When I picture Ngaoundere in my mind, it's very much an image of blurred colors. We were both moving: me and Cameroon. And, therefore I think we saw each other differently than if one of us were stationary. I suppose that's very much what travel is. The visitor is only transient -trying to catch glimpses of movement and paint them into a scene of life -into something cohesive. Let me catch some glances for you:
1. A few policemen sit on the side of the street. Both of their faces glistening with sweat. They sit staring at the dusty road. Next to them is a Fanta sign.
2. The Christmas tree inside the teacher's house was about 4 feet tall. It had plastic flowers and shiny bits of paper sprinkled throughout its branches.
3. At night time tens of people crowded outside of the clubs and restaurants. It was so dark outside that you really only knew of their presence from listening and seeing a vague sense of movement. Maybe if my eyes were better adjusted things would have seemed different. But, I could see the stars clearly- very clearly -blue and white.
4. Alice's two neighbors came over one morning. We talked of Condaleeza Rice, Bush, Kerry, and the environment. They said they cried when Bush was re-elected. They said they had loved Clinton. They were impressed with Clinton and Bush senior's recent relief efforts in the wake of the tsunami and Katrina.
5. The church was set apart from the road by a thick stretch of dirt. If one were to just pop into the scene and see this church, one would never suspect that a large town existed just a short motorcycle ride away. But it does. The church was painted white and made of cement. Inside everyone was already sitting. I'm not a religious person, but when we sang it really did seem like the light from the windows poured in with more strength.
6. The local Nestle company had donated supplies and small visers to all the students of the Children's Environmental Forum who were involved with One World Youth Project. So everytime we saw the children they wore their Nestle visers.
7. We saw a lizard. Big, fat, juicy tail of mulled red, clamoring stickly under parked cars. It was hot and my face sweat shiny - like the slippery lizard's body I suppose.
8. As we walked up to the Muslim temple/shrine, I felt as though I easily could have leaped years back in time. It looked just as it might of over 100 years ago. Cady, all the children, and I took off our shoes and poured into the temple. All of us were equally fascinated. I touched my hand to one of the stone pillars inside. "A female virgin was buried alive in that column as a sacrifice," someone told me. As we walked through the temple we came across men sitting on the ground (some on mats) chatting. My most vivid discovery was the peacocks. On top of each building (the roofs were thatched straw peaks) was a peacock. It looked as though the peacocks were sitting on huge nests of straw. On one straw peak I saw an egg.
New Years Eve in Cameroon
Alice's brother, Willie, invited us to attend a New Years Eve party he was emceeing. Willie is a prominent figure in the community and there were only about 25 guests in attendance -most in fancy gowns and suits (we were in t-shirts and stretchy pants...and felt under-dressed!) The dinner/party lasted all night (till 5am)...but Alice, Cady, and I left around 1:30am. After saying 'Bon Anane' many times, joining a cha-cha line, making fools of ourselves after being pressured to try a traditional dance, and taking many photos -we departed having thoroughly enjoyed our New Years away from the USA! The party was held outside in the courtyard of a professor's house. It was a very beautiful scene -open night sky above us, fancy red colored candles on each table, sparkling Christmas lights strung around the courtyard. Everything seemed to be glistening- the lights, the stars, people eyes.... yes, we learned that people in Cameroon very much like to drink on New Years Eve. Alice, Cady, and I only dranks Fanta...but the entire night we were pressured to switch beverages.... people just kept putting down huge bottles of champagne, beer, and wine on our table...at one point Cady and I counted 14 bottles! This seemed to be about average for each table (the only difference being, ours were unopen).
Leaving with...
Ngaoundere, Cameroon
I leave Cameroon with ... with... inspiration from the youth who all shouted in unison the last day: "We are the future leaders of Cameroon". And, I think they probably are -the girls and the boys. And, I leave Cameroon being overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth we were shown. I leave Cameroon amazed that during our entire time there- no one was ever rude to us. Everyone was friendly, nice, and helpful. (Okay- well there is one exception... the flight attendants of Cameroon Airlines were some of the most unhelpful people I have ever met...but I guess that is a well known fact in Cameroon). We saw so many smiles in Cameroon.
And, I remember Alice's laugh. It traveled from down deep -somewhere unmistakenly gutteral and motherly and it projected out, out -with smiles of bright white teeth. It bounced off the walls of her house and enlivened the dimples on the cheeks of her twin daughters. It seemed to make even the noisy clinging and clanging outside become more cohesive.
Getting there
transit to Ngaoundere, Cameroon
So there are really two phases to our story. The first and perhaps the most stressful phase began in Newark, New Jersey airport on a cold, cloudy, windy Tuesday. Our flight arrived into Newark from Boston 45 minutes late due to air traffic... causing us to subsequently miss our flight to Paris, and our flight from Paris to Cameroon, and subsequently our connecting flight from Douala, Cameroon to Ngaoundere, Cameroon. It was insane! Continental Airlines told us that there was no way for us to get to Ngaoundere until the following Thursday, January 5th...because the in-country flight only ran once a week. .........What followed was 1.5 days in Newark airport. On demand, I could draw you a map of Terminal A, B, and C - including bathrooms and Starbucks locations. I won't get into it all... because probably the only thing worse than experiencing those 1.5 days of stress would be reading a detailed account of them. But...in brief: after changing our tickets multiple times, being caught in the middle of a feud between Air France and Continental, speaking to 3 different airline superintendents/managers, talking with over 13 airline employees, taking a 737 plane, a bus, a train, a small plane, a taxi, a motorcycle, then a short walk, we made it to Ngaoundere by Friday December 30th (only one day late!). ...even if our final arrival to Cameroon did involve Cady throwing up due to a malaria pill reaction.
Cameroon Children's Environmental Forum
Ngaoundere, Cameroon
As soon as we stepped off the small plane at the Ngaoundere airport, I saw two small children holding up a sign: "Welcome to Cameroon Jessica and Cady". For the first time we met Alice (teacher and primary organizer of the Cameroon Children's Environmental Forum) along with her fellow teachers/group leaders and her brother Willie.
We went straight to the hall where the students were waiting for us! We spent this first afternoon getting to know each other. The Cameroon Children's Environmental Forum was founded by teacher, Alice Kongla, after attending the Young Agenda 21 conference in the Netherlands. Although, the group has only been around for one year there are over 300 youth involved from 5 schools!! We worked with a small, selected group of 35 students. Most of the students were of primary and middle school age, but there were also a few high school and college students who participated.
The following day we began the first day of the One World Youth Project workshops.
We began by letting the youth open the cultural exchange box from their sister-school in Burkesville, Kentucky! They were so excited by every item! I think our most difficult task was explaining what a 'snowman' was (there were several things within the box that pictured snowmen).
Next the students watched the documentary from Kentucky. Everyone giggled when the Burkesville students shouted on film, "Hello Cameroon!" A crowd formed around the computer screen to watch the footage and interviews of Kentucky. At one point all the students faces looked confused and then they expressed looks of sympathetic pain. "What is in her mouth!?" one of the youth members asked. I looked at the screen. "Oh! Braces." I explained the concept of braces -everyone seemed satisfied and not as concerned. I ended the explanation by stating that youth will often keep these braces on for 3 years. This created another wave of shock, and perhaps a bit of horror.
Everyone seemed to enjoy listening to the Kentucky bluegrass music in the video! Cady and I tried to teach a few of the youth how to square dance.
After a break for lunch, we began the UN Millennium Development Goal workshop.
Each sister-school pair in One World Youth Project is assigned one of the UN MDGs to work on together. Cameroon and Kentucky are working on Goal 6: Eradicate HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases. By the end of the day on Saturday the children had come together to write an action plan for a project to help prevent malaria and diseases caused by poor sanitation (ie: Cholera). Their plan is to host a town-hall-style discussion for the community regarding disease prevention techniques....and then raise funds to purchase trash cans for the community. There are no public trash cans in Ngaoundere. Trash is piled up on every corner. We watched small children wade through it looking for food and plastic bottles to sell. In the past any trash cans installed, were stolen and used as drums (or for other uses). The children came up with the idea to get or make trash cans with hard metal legs that can be secured into the ground. I'm hoping their sister-school in Kentucky can figure out a way to participate in this project, or adapt a version of this for their community.
Glances of Cameroon
I saw much of Cameroon moving. Sitting on the back of a motorcycle, clutching on with a bit of fear, but enjoying the way the wind hitting my face made the temperature seem not as hot. When I picture Ngaoundere in my mind, it's very much an image of blurred colors. We were both moving: me and Cameroon. And, therefore I think we saw each other differently than if one of us were stationary. I suppose that's very much what travel is. The visitor is only transient -trying to catch glimpses of movement and paint them into a scene of life -into something cohesive. Let me catch some glances for you:
1. A few policemen sit on the side of the street. Both of their faces glistening with sweat. They sit staring at the dusty road. Next to them is a Fanta sign.
2. The Christmas tree inside the teacher's house was about 4 feet tall. It had plastic flowers and shiny bits of paper sprinkled throughout its branches.
3. At night time tens of people crowded outside of the clubs and restaurants. It was so dark outside that you really only knew of their presence from listening and seeing a vague sense of movement. Maybe if my eyes were better adjusted things would have seemed different. But, I could see the stars clearly- very clearly -blue and white.
4. Alice's two neighbors came over one morning. We talked of Condaleeza Rice, Bush, Kerry, and the environment. They said they cried when Bush was re-elected. They said they had loved Clinton. They were impressed with Clinton and Bush senior's recent relief efforts in the wake of the tsunami and Katrina.
5. The church was set apart from the road by a thick stretch of dirt. If one were to just pop into the scene and see this church, one would never suspect that a large town existed just a short motorcycle ride away. But it does. The church was painted white and made of cement. Inside everyone was already sitting. I'm not a religious person, but when we sang it really did seem like the light from the windows poured in with more strength.
6. The local Nestle company had donated supplies and small visers to all the students of the Children's Environmental Forum who were involved with One World Youth Project. So everytime we saw the children they wore their Nestle visers.
7. We saw a lizard. Big, fat, juicy tail of mulled red, clamoring stickly under parked cars. It was hot and my face sweat shiny - like the slippery lizard's body I suppose.
8. As we walked up to the Muslim temple/shrine, I felt as though I easily could have leaped years back in time. It looked just as it might of over 100 years ago. Cady, all the children, and I took off our shoes and poured into the temple. All of us were equally fascinated. I touched my hand to one of the stone pillars inside. "A female virgin was buried alive in that column as a sacrifice," someone told me. As we walked through the temple we came across men sitting on the ground (some on mats) chatting. My most vivid discovery was the peacocks. On top of each building (the roofs were thatched straw peaks) was a peacock. It looked as though the peacocks were sitting on huge nests of straw. On one straw peak I saw an egg.
New Years Eve in Cameroon
Alice's brother, Willie, invited us to attend a New Years Eve party he was emceeing. Willie is a prominent figure in the community and there were only about 25 guests in attendance -most in fancy gowns and suits (we were in t-shirts and stretchy pants...and felt under-dressed!) The dinner/party lasted all night (till 5am)...but Alice, Cady, and I left around 1:30am. After saying 'Bon Anane' many times, joining a cha-cha line, making fools of ourselves after being pressured to try a traditional dance, and taking many photos -we departed having thoroughly enjoyed our New Years away from the USA! The party was held outside in the courtyard of a professor's house. It was a very beautiful scene -open night sky above us, fancy red colored candles on each table, sparkling Christmas lights strung around the courtyard. Everything seemed to be glistening- the lights, the stars, people eyes.... yes, we learned that people in Cameroon very much like to drink on New Years Eve. Alice, Cady, and I only dranks Fanta...but the entire night we were pressured to switch beverages.... people just kept putting down huge bottles of champagne, beer, and wine on our table...at one point Cady and I counted 14 bottles! This seemed to be about average for each table (the only difference being, ours were unopen).
Leaving with...
Ngaoundere, Cameroon
I leave Cameroon with ... with... inspiration from the youth who all shouted in unison the last day: "We are the future leaders of Cameroon". And, I think they probably are -the girls and the boys. And, I leave Cameroon being overwhelmed by the hospitality and warmth we were shown. I leave Cameroon amazed that during our entire time there- no one was ever rude to us. Everyone was friendly, nice, and helpful. (Okay- well there is one exception... the flight attendants of Cameroon Airlines were some of the most unhelpful people I have ever met...but I guess that is a well known fact in Cameroon). We saw so many smiles in Cameroon.
And, I remember Alice's laugh. It traveled from down deep -somewhere unmistakenly gutteral and motherly and it projected out, out -with smiles of bright white teeth. It bounced off the walls of her house and enlivened the dimples on the cheeks of her twin daughters. It seemed to make even the noisy clinging and clanging outside become more cohesive.
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