the fon of bemenda, etc...

last sunday, sophie and i left for a "mission," which is an exciting word for a business trip. our destination was a town called bamenda. bamenda is located in the english-speaking part of Cameroon, which was quite a relief to me. i could actually have intelligent conversations with people! before we got to our hotel, we stopped by a lake outside of the city. it was nice, but on the way up the dirt road to the lake, we were exeptedly detained by a fallen tree. so we walked the rest of the way, which was probably 3 kilometers away. it was a good hike though. the hotel was the nicest in the city, but dont read too much into that. it was plain, which would have been fine, but the water didnt work. i worked 1 out of 10 times, which was puzzling, so it was like hotel camping. good times. that night we went and had a great dinner with a bunch of retired Cameroonian UN workers. it was so interesting being with them, hearing what they thought about the government and what should be done and what their region was like. they were retired politicians but they farm now. the food was great too.

the next morning we went to a smaller town called bafut and visited a palace there. this palace was a compound which housed the fon (a big chief) and his extensive family. by extensive, i mean extensive. this fon had 16 wives and about 50 children. alot right? his father had 150 wives and over 400 kids! in the compound was a temple that was 600 years old (pictured), devoted to ancestor worship. only the fon and his family could enter it. the fon (pronounced "fawn") gave us a tour of the palace and then took only sophie and i into a small shedlike place in which was kept sacred elements of their religion, like masks and jewelry and ornaments. this place was separate from the public museum and only certain people got to see it! it was incredible. the public museum was interesting too. there was a bible in their native tongue translated by SIL. it was great to see so much cultural identity in a country that has lost so much of it. after the palace, we visited a businessman who started a charity foundation. he was quite eccentric. he wore a white sports coat and and white shirt with rhinestone buttons, which made me feel like i was back in the 50's. that night, we went to a man's house for dinner. he was the head of the opposition party in Cameroon politics, so this dinner was also idealogically interesting. after the meal he presented sophie and i with woven straw bags. the next day we returned to Yaounde, and that was that.

not in california, part II

one of the most distinct differences here is the attitude of the people. many times attitude is something you notice as you go along in a new place, but here it bites at you from the first minute you arrive. in a place where people dont have much control over their situation, they value any degree of power they have. there is no respect for lines, right of way, and especially no customer service. the other day i went to a cafe for my lunch break and ordered a pizza. after an HOUR (no jokes), the pizza was still "on the way, just a minute." our car was coming soon and we had to go, so we asked our waitress to either bring the pizza or let us know if its not coming. she said she would go get it so i tried to pay the bill. i went to the counter and the woman put my bill and money on the counter, ignoring it, and started dealing with other bills brought by the waitresses. coming from california, wher customer service is vital to the success of a business, it is definitely something to get used to.

on thursday night, sophie hosted a cocktail party here at the house for a group of consultants and donors. the consultants were there on an investigative mission regarding anticorruption. it was alright. its interesting to be around such qualified people, but i still miss being around people of my own education level, with similar interests. some great people came though: the secretary general of the central african republic, the french ambassador, and the consultants were from all over the world.

well, two more weeks. ill have some pictures next time i write. sophie and i are travelling from tomorrow until tuesday! keep it real over there.

not in california anymore, toto

regarding jon's post: no. no anacondas yet. the only really exciting fauna ive seen so far are these cool geckos. except the species that are here are tri-colored. i think they have a brown head, grey body, and red tail.

this morning i woke up to a choir of sorts. outside, not 40 ft. down the street, there was this little group of singers outside one of the house's gate. they had muslim clothes on, and played the drums and an eastern-sounding instrument. it was interesting. and why were they outside, playing to one specific house?

today i am sick again. last night a stomach thing came on me suddenly. i was shaking and i almost threw up. i fell asleep with it really bad, and woke up better, but not great. i stayed home today and worked from here. i think it might have been from an accidental bit of water i had. it wasnt even an ounce, but i dont know what else it could have been. the tap water here is practically brown. the first time i took a shower, i looked at the collecting water at my feet and marveled at how dirty i had been. but no, that was just the water. usually i remember to use the bottled or filtered water for cooking, but this time it just slipped my mind.

so, speaking of work, i havent told you what ive been doing here. thats mainly because i wasnt doing anything for the first couple weeks! i interviewed people around the office for my own benefit and for some school requirements, and read up on the UNDP and learned a bit of french. so basically i did nothing to help. it was very taxing for me to do nothing, honestly. those first weeks passed by like a parked car. however, this week was quite different. i was given the task of reformatting some "problem trees" (charts of developmental problems) that were being submitted this monday in a big report to the prime minister. there were about 20, and they were in various styles depending on the teams that created them. so my job was to put them in a single style and clean them up. this (formatting, editing, designing) is actually something that i like and that im decent at. and its something that they really needed. so thats what ive been doing. not life changing, but necessary.

mt. febe and italy

on sunday i went with some friends to one of the large hills of yaounde. there was supposed to be an art museum at a monastary there. it was closed, though, but it was still a nice view. down the hill a bit from the monastary was a stone platform and a small shrine to mary. people were camping out on the platform, in hopes of being blessed or healed.

i will explain about the friends issue here. maybe because it is Cameroon or maybe because it's the UN, but there is not anyone in my circle of aquaintances that is under 30. ok, one guy is 27, but most are early 30's or above. i have nothing against this age, but for a twenty-year-old, it doesnt make for intimate friendship. plus, there is only one girl. well, woman. i think she is in her early thirties and is not really that friendly to me. the rest are friendly though, and we are slowly starting to become better aquainted.

after hanging out at the monastary for a bit, we met another guy at the mt. febe hotel for some coffee. we sat and talked for a while. it was nice to talk to youngish people. one guy, the guy im standing next to in the photo, grew up in fullerton and still has a house there! his parents were involved with the undp here, and he actually lived in sophie's house when he was a kid. weird. that night was the world cup, and we cheered on italy. it was a good game and italy barely won in the shootout! man, what it would be to feel what that guy felt after he realized that he scored the winning goal, right when his team needed him most.

yesterday was monday, and i stayed home from work because i was sick. today i am fine though. its not good to be sick here, but good thing it turned out to be nothing. today i went and visited that lady, "minnie," who i met at the us embassy. she was adorable. we ate chicken and really great plantaines.

to trust or not to trust. that is the question.

one thing that I miss most about the US is being able to go wherever I want without having to be suspicious or untrusting of people. as soon as i arrived people, even Cameroonians, warned me against walking around or taking the taxis, for the danger of robbing or rape. i am not a naturally suspicious person (probably to a fault) and i don’t really like that. but anyway, that’s where i am. ive started to walk to work lately. the neighborhood where i live is one of the nicest. it has many large houses behind barbed wire. the richer people who live there drive on the streets, and the poorer people who work there walk on the streets. when i pass other pedestrians, they usually glare at me until i give them a “bon jour” or “bon soir,” then they might return it. but yeah, it is hard to be so differentiated. this past saturday i went for a walk with the dog. i was a little nervous, but i needed to get out of the house. i walked up out of the neighborhood and onto a street and down by a sort of monument and up a steep hill to a large building, which was a sort of congressional meeting place. i had made a large loop from the house, and i knew how to get back the way i came, but i wanted to see if there was a shortcut. from the hill i spotted the house and planned a way to get back. as i walked down the hill, i met some boys who were asking about the dog. they were about 12 and 14. we were friendly but then i went the other way trying to find the route. however, the route was not really possible. i would have to go down through a valley full of shanties, which would probably not have been the safest, since i was alone. i turned back and asked the boys if i could get to my neighborhood from here without going around. no i couldn’t. i was about to leave when the older boy said he could take me through the valley. i considered for a second. he was strong, and he would be taking me through a place that he was familiar with and i was not. he didn’t look overly friendly or threatening, though, so i took the chance. he barely looked at me as i followed him down through various shacks and tin-roofed houses. again, people stared. i felt safe having the dog, since most Cameroonians are intimidated by them (most dogs are wild, i guess). it was crazy though, walking down there. and magical in a way. i couldn’t have come down alone. i was alert and guarded the whole way, but nothing happened. he led me right past my house. i thanked him (his name was leonard) and said goodbye, incredulous at what i had just done. i know i do some foolish things, but it was quite an experience.

i think that maybe people are untrustworthy because they are not trusted. i suppose it’s a vicious cycle, but i wish it was not like that. i wonder what would have to change. the economy? the infrastructure? i have heard that the anglophone (english-speaking) side of the country (the west) is safer. maybe they should just stop speaking french.

the 4th of July

now, as a loyal american having a dirth of social contact, i naturally wondered if anything anywhere was happening for the fourth of july. yes there was, at the US embassy. steve nakashima obtained an invitation for me and i was set to go. it was a lunchtime reception, and business or traditional attire was required. definitely no picnic on the lawn or anything. sophie was also going to represent the UN. any americans could attend but all the ambassadors and politicians were invited too. sophie's office chauffeur drives a nice-looking black car with a little UN flag on the front. it was quite exciting to step out of such an official looking car in the driveway of the US embassy. because of sophie, we didnt even have to show ID. i could have been anyone with any sort of weapon! we walked down a sort of hall and shook hands with the american ambassador and his wife. there were many ambassadors there. as sophie and i were sitting, she kept pointing out people to me: "there's the chinese ambassador and his wife, there's the secretary general of finance," etc. the european commissioner (the rep of the EU) came up to me personally and chatted because he saw me with sophie earlier. it was very exciting. inside the embassy there was a small expo of cameroonian and american businesses and all around the grounds were booths of american foods. i had hot dog, in honor of our traditional independence day. there were a couple booths of california wines. the first bottle i looked at was from woodbridge!!! i forget the brand (maybe something with "jonathan"?) but i thought that was too funny. i had a tiny bit. it was good compared to others that ive had, but really, i dont have a taste for wine and i think it gives me a headache. but as i sipped it, i thought of how the juice of these grapes was made in the fields around where i grew up!. i didnt see the age, but it is quite possible that they were growing when i was in high school! both the wine and i have aged quite a bit since then. i also met an older lady who worked for a bible translation group here, and she had been trained at SIL. she was also from fullerton. small world.

well, i am dissappointed that the germans lost. the italians were always crying on the ground. a french guy here had a good point though. if germany won, then it would be poor form for france to beat them in the finals at their home turf. i had never thought of the diplomatic ramifications of the finals outcome. however, france may not win anyway...heres a question: are the teams tired? they cant make goals to save their life and then they go into ages of overtime. im sorry, but soccer is not my favorite sport to watch. i hope that portugal wins tonight. it would be such an upset! and i love upsets.

an absence of comfort

today i got a staff email in my undp mailbox (guest.cm.1@undp.org) with the subject line "Absence of Comfort." i was perplexed. what could this absence of comfort bring? no water? no air conditioning? no chairs? no roof? needles in our eyes? would i be even be able to understand this absence of comfort, since the staff emails are always in french? as it turns out, Comfort was a woman who was taking leave for a few days!

so...the world cup! brazil let me down big time, especially since at the french/brazilian match, sophie and i were the only brazil fans in a room full of frenchies. no matter though. my new team is portugal and i will tell you why: 1. they are gorgeous; 2. they are the smallest country in the final four and who doesn't like an underdog? 3. i like their jerseys; for me, this is a key factor in choosing a team! 4. my mother's family is portuguese; 5. they have an awesome goalie; anyone who saw the shootout against england can attest to this.

this weekend was quite relaxing. i read and watched movies and went out in the city a bit with sophie. today i interviewed the head of the governance department of the undp. he was really great and had some good insight into the problems here, chiefly corruption. i hope that the UN and other governments can help to change that here, which most believe to be the root of many national problems. this is an illustration of how men indeed are a fallen race. unchecked, their greed for wealth and power outweighs their concern and responsibility for the people and the nation.

happy canadian independence day

the first week at the UNDP office is over! i do not have a specific assignment yet, so i have been manufacturing things to do. i have interviewed a few people in the UNDP office, as well as someone with UNAIDS. i also sit in on some meetings, which is not easy because they are in french. i get the idea of what is going on, though. these photos are of my favorite place in the house. its a screened-in veranda on the second floor. as you can see, its like a tiny resort or something. the view is alright. Cameroon is actually quite beautiful, but the gorgeous hills and forests are blemished by rundown houses and buildings. when i drive through the city, i imagine what it was like before the colonialists arrived. it would have been paradise. thats the way it went, though. last night i had dinner and watched a futbol match with, get this, the ex-prime minister of Senegal and a top French economist. they were at the UNDP doing consultation. they were so friendly and had so many stories. it was a great night. so thats about it for now. i am going to relax this weekend, read and watch movies. try to shake this jet lag.