mid-training site visit

 I got back from site visit not too long ago, where I got to see my post.  It is called Bandjoun, and it is in the West region of Cameroon, where the climate is mild and there aren’t very many bugs!!! My town feels small, but I was surprised to find out that it has a population of about 120,000.  This number seems a bit deceiving, as most of the rural area surrounding the main village is also considered Bandjoun, and the people out there are counted in the town’s numbers.  The area is very beautiful, with many hills and lots of cornfields.  I am lucky because there is a wide variety of produce available at my post, which is not always the case for other volunteers.  I loved my site and got to spend time with my predecessor who was very nice and gave me some great insight.  I wanted to post pictures of my apartment, but I decided to wait until her stuff was out so we could have a realistic view of what I start off with.  One of the insights my predecessor left me was that I can, starting at my house, take pretty much any road and end up in “town,” or “centre-ville,” which is actually more of a single road with vendors and small stores and bars on one side.  Anyone who knows me well knows that this convenient layout suits my sense of direction very well!

The view from my favorite walk home from centre-ville at my post, Bandjoun

I have been assigned to work with two companies in Bandjoun.  One is a microfinance institution called BATOCCUL and the other is a community development organization called RIDDEV that focuses on women, youth, and IT issues.  I got to meet my “counterpart,” the person who is my go to for questions about projects, resources, and groups in Bandjoun.  Her name is Helen Rose, and she works at BATOCCUL.  She is a sweet lady, but our relationship and especially our ability to communicate with one another (Helen only speaks French, and I only speak English and bad French) have A LOT of room for growth. 

One of my main assignments while I was on site visit was to open a bank account, which has to be set up now so that when I get to post I can receive my allowance and have money to live on.  Thus, it was necessary for Helen Rose and I to set up a time to go to Bafoussam, which is the nearest big city to Bandjoun.  This is another great convenience of my post, because Bafoussam is only about 15-20 minutes away and has almost anything I could want (well, except what’s on my earlier mentioned wish list, of course).  This was my first real lesson in what kind of patience is required in order to survive in Cameroon… 

First, let me say that this entire correspondence was in French.  The bank insisted that I needed a copy of my passport in order to open a bank account.  I, on the other hand, insisted that the peace corps had told me I only needed my local Cameroonian ID card and my official letter from the peace corps in order to open the account.  After arguing politely, and after Helen telling me that I was very “negligent” for having “forgotten” the passport copy (I still don't know if she was kidding or serious or some combination of the two), I was forced to call my trainee leader, who luckily was in Yaoundé at the time.  We waited for him to get to the headquarters, find my passport in the vault, make a photocopy, and fax it to the bank branch.  When it arrived, it was so illegible that you couldn’t even tell the picture was of me!   After much pleading and explaining that I could not live in Cameroon without having this bank account opened THAT DAY.  They said they would start my account, but the next day when I got back to Bafia, I would have to photocopy my passport (I wasn’t sure there would be electricity), find a travel agency (I don’t know where the travel agencies are or how they work), and send by mail the photocopy in a way that it would get to the bank branch within 2 days (ummm….. hahahahahaha).  Anyways, 3 or 4 hours after I started this process, the bank lady asks a coworker if I needed a copy of my passport and he said, if she is peace corps, nope!   I was given a cheap writing pen with the bank name on it, and I smiled appreciatively and thanked her, saying I was happy.  

My predecessor introduced me to a PAINTER in Bafoussam.  He was very nice and very good!  Can you see Barack and Michelle? (Enjoy this picture - it took a good ten minutes of French for me to convince him to let me take it!)