National Security and Salads!

So it’s been longer than usual since the last post (this is probably more likely the timing from now on) but it’s been slightly quieter the last few days compared to earlier in the week.

Wednesday was our most frustrating day here so far I would say. At SAJOCAH we are working to adapt a child’s adult sized wheelchair to better fit and support him, and he and his family want to leave SAJOCAH as soon as possible. We had a few ideas and plans in place and it was just a matter of rounding up available materials there to see what additional ones needed to be purchased. Well that turned out to be a bit of a waiting game all morning. I hit my breaking point at one point because I just felt useless sitting there waiting when I like to be a self starter and don’t mind looking for materials if just shown where we could look. We did try to see other clients as we were waiting but no one was available or we were told it wouldn’t be long so we should just wait a few more minutes. Well we were told about Cameroonian time very early on in and I think this was the first time that I was really bothered by it. At home everyone is always go go go to get things done or be somewhere on time, but it is much more relaxed here and although I thought I was adjusting to that ok, Wednesday showed me that I wasn’t quite fully adjusted. I think adapting the wheelchair a) is a task that I don’t feel incredibly competent in to begin with and to be honest was not the most excited to do here and b) needing it to be done in a condensed time for the family to return home puts pressure on Sara and I but not necessarily the other people we are working with on it. So we did talk to Sr. Petra about feeling a bit lost in the morning and to clarify a few things regarding structuring our time a bit more while we are there. She definitely helped us out and made us feel a lot better and I am looking forward to almost starting fresh at SAJOCAH tomorrow. 

Wednesday got a bit more “fun” as we travelled home. First of all we have our new taxi record: 8 adults and 2 children in the taxi, 1 adult on the hood of the taxi down the bumpy/rocky dirt road. I was incredibly impressed that the guy on the hood didn’t fall off, but didn’t even seem to flinch or lose balance at all the entire time. Second, there are 2 security checkpoints along the main road to SAJOCAH. Usually we either sail through these or the taxi is pulled over to check the driver’s taxi registration and license. Not this time. The taxi was pulled over and the National Security guard looked in and then saw the two white girls in the back so asked for people’s National Identity cards. So we gave them our photocopied passports and visas which we had been told to bring with us instead of our originals. Well this guy did not like them and said they could be fraudulent. So we had to get out of the taxi and finally I was able to convince him that mine was stamped and signed to prove it’s authenticity, but no such luck with Sara. Eventually we said he could trust us to go get the original and bring it back to show him and back in the taxi we went (we were very glad he and the other passengers were okay to stay and wait for us). But he came back and got Sara out of the taxi again and took our cell number and said he would call us later and be stopping by where we live to see the original later that today. He never showed but did call on Thursday and we had Mr. Julius talk to him on the phone and the guy said he would be there at 3pm. Never showed and we haven’t heard from him since. Everyone here is pretty sure he was on some power trip. But to be safe, Sara and I have each re photocopied our passport and visa and had them stamped and signed by the Police Chief so that we don’t ever run into this problem again!

Thursday was our first day at working at BCCSDR (whose new name is Centre for Inclusion Studies (CIS) which is much shorter and easier to say). We had a meeting with everyone in the morning and I worked on my inclusive sport project for a bit and then we headed out to the police station to have get those signatures.

Friday we worked on our projects a bit more then went with Mr. Julius and our Professor Lynn who is here for a bit to make a few visits around town. First stop was to visit the project manager for a research study on a pilot program to prevent mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS. The reason for meeting her was that there is currently no inclusion of women or mothers with disability in their research. So Lynn and Julius made their case and although the project manager seemed supportive and had a few ideas on how to change this, no one can be entirely sure until changes and inclusion of women with disabilities is seen in action. We also stopped to visit a few of Lynn’s friends here so that Sara and I can make some contacts for the rest of our stay here. Friday evening we met Ruth who took us and Marcel to a party hosted by VSO’s from France and where a lot of other VCO and Peace Corps volunteers were. It was weird at first showing up at a party we hadn’t been invited to and where we didn’t know anyone but we settled in eventually and it was good to meet other people working here and hear a bit about their experiences so far and suggestions on places to travel.

Saturday we went into town to go to the Main Market to pick up supplies for the wheelchair adaptation and a few other things and meet with Ruth for lunch/coffee. We had no idea where to look for the foam and type of fabric we wanted but a really nice lady came up to greet us and talk to us for a bit so we asked here where we should look. Instead of just telling us she spent the next maybe hr with us taking us to stores that sell foam and helping us find the right fabric and prices! Honestly the people here are part of the reason this place is so amazing. They are so nice and friendly and genuinely interested in why we are here and helping us have the best experience during our time here. We met up with Ruth after and went to PresCafe: our new favourite restaurant. It has lattes, smoothies, salads and sandwiches which we have not seen anywhere else yet. I was sooooo excited to have a salad and smoothie and they were delicious! Perfect on a really hot, sunny day!

ps. would love to hear from everyone either via email or facebook message or even post a comment here (see my comment a few posts back on how to make that work!)

Shania Twain

Every night before I go to sleep, and again somewhere between six and 7am I get a taste of home with Shania Twain's "You're still the one". No this song is not on my ipod despite loving country music. Instead it is piped in through my open window from the house next door. Sometimes I think the song or the cd is on repeat. Sara and I sang along the first few times we heard it, but now it just gets stuck in my head.

Sunday I did not hear Shania in the morning since we woke up to no power and the water went out shortly after we woke up too. We didn't think much of it since the power usually comes back on within 20 minutes but we were wrong this time. We had the best of intentions Sunday to get up and do our laundry (and by this I mean I was going to be using 1 bucket with soap and another to rinse, scrubbing, wringing out and hanging on the line: Mom you would be proud!) and then do some work and research to prepare for our first official week of placement here at SAJOCAH and BCCSDR. But without water and power it makes those plans kind of impossible! Instead we walked to our nearby market to pick up some veggies and a few other things, and then went to a foundation stone blessing for a new building being built for the Special Needs Entrepreneurial Group (SNEG). It was a very cool experience. There was a lot of singing and a lot of prayer. We were somewhat prepared for this as Cameroon is very religious (predominantly Christian), but I still don't think I expected as much incorporation of religion as there was. Looking back it really shouldn't have surprised me that much seeing as the foundation stone was being blessed by the funders of the building: A Reverend Father and Arch Deacon from Italy. All in all though it was a great event to be a part of and the pride SNEG members had in their organization and new building was so evident on all of their faces you couldn't help but be excited too. One thing Sara and I do have to get used to though is attending events such as this and being asked to stand up, introduce ourselves and say a few words. The event has nothing to do with me and I am just there to help them celebrate and I don't feel like it is my place to stand up and address the group. This is their event, about them and their new building that will allow them to run workshops and be an example in the community of a fully accessible building. We had talked about this with Emma earlier in orientation week about how we may often be given a seat of honour (for instance if we attend a wedding), be served refreshments first at an event or be asked to say a few words. I don't know I can fully explain it in words but it is just so foreign to me. The seats of honour at a wedding are reserved for the bride and groom, not a foreign guest who doesn't know anyone there, I by no means need to be served first and I don't like the spotlight on me at an event celebrating others accomplishments or day: it is their moment to shine. Emma did tell us though that people will completely understand if we were to ask to sit elsewhere or decline to say anything (although the latter I still feel is expected of us).

The view of Bamenda from upstation

The main reason for all of this as many may have guessed: we look extremely different than everyone else at these events as we are often reminded as we walk down the street and children yell out (one time an entire school bus) "whiteman, whiteman,whiteman". Usually they just want you to smile and wave at them but today while working at SAJOCAH one of the kids kept saying it every time he wanted me to help with something or just to simply get my attention. The first time he said it I told him that was not my name, that my name was Kim. He said it again, so I repeated it again and eventually he started calling me by my name so I was happy.

The last two days Sara and I have spent at SAJOCAH. Yesterday was overwhelming as we were introduced to a bunch of the children that we may end of working with. I was taken aback by how many people were at the centre and at how hard everyone was working on their therapy sessions. The children that we may be working with have CP and potentially some infants with Erb's Palsy (a brachial plexus injury from birth that often fully recovers with therapy and time: or so I have learnt through research yesterday evening). SAJOCAH also treats adults and children with stroke, as well as orthopedic issues such as bone deformities. It has been interesting taking it all in these past couple of days. There are definitely some different ways of doing things compared to at home and that is exactly the way to describe them; just different and I am curious to learn more about these differences as time goes on. More to come on SAJOCAH as our time there continues.

A pic of my room which I know you have all been dying to see ;)

Sara and I cooked our second home made meal tonight: rice with sauteed vegetables (did I mention that I am basically a vegetarian here? Aside from the fish which I love I have not had any beef or chicken basically due to being picky and I did try one bite and just couldn't do it. I may try some chicken eventually but just not ready to yet). It was really good and were quite impressed with ourselves so far I would say!

Sidenote: I am sure you will be sad to hear that Sara and I still have not done the laundry.........but we did have it sent out to have done today. But we are looking forward to trying to do our own laundry one weekend when the water is running! (and yes we will capture this moment on film!).

Graduation from Orientation Week

Sara and I successfully graduated from orientation week by venturing into the "downtown" of Bamenda to do some shopping on our own Thursday afternoon. Didn't buy anything to exciting...mainly just some household type products and some basic foods that we hoped to cook providing we eventually got our gas cook stove for our kitchen. (The cook stove arrived today so we can now cook dinners :) ). We just went to the supermarket so we didn't have to do any bargaining but we managed to get there and back without getting lost and by getting our own taxis for the first time. We were pretty proud of ourselves.

Friday morning Emma, Marcelo, and Shela (all BCCSDR staff) went with Sara and I to Treasure Center which is a school for children and young people with intellectual disabilites in Upstation, Bamenda. It is an amazing school. Beautiful setting and although the school has been around for about 9 years, they moved into new facilities a few years ago and just completed the modern shower building recently. There was so much OT focus there without an OT that it made Sara and I pretty happy to see. Each child, parent and teacher help establish a goal for the child, and then work together through a variety of activities to help the child reach that goal. Once goals are reached, they pick a new goal! As the child gets older a lot of the activities have a vocational focus so that they can be employed after graduating from the school. Although Fridays at Treasure Center are usually sports days for some reason they weren't doing them yesterday. So I plan on going back to Treasure Center one Friday to see the sports activities they play to help me with my project for BCCSDR.

So what is my BCCSDR project? (or one of them). Well I will be working on preparing a document regarding inclusion in sports for people with disabilities including specific sport adaptations and modifications that can be implemented. Pretty sure all of you know that this is a pretty great and perfect project for me to be working on! I'm excited.

Friday night Mr. Julius took Sara, Emmanuel and I out for dinner in town. I had roasted tilapia (what we would call grilled), vegetables and chips and a beer (tried a Beaufort light this time).  Honestly, the potato chips (fries) here are amazing!!!!

At Mbingo Baptist Hospital

Today Sara and I took a taxi to meet Emmanual in town and then headed to Mbingo to go to Mbingo Baptist Hospital (a private hospital in Cameroon) with Emma and Marcel. Mbingo is surrounded by gorgeous landscapes, beautiful green covered hills and valleys. At the hospital is also a school for the hearing impaired where children come from all over and board there while going to primary. The goal is that the children will then be integrated into mainstream high school. Aside from our walk and experience visiting Mbingo, the taxi experience there and back was a new one for us too. Once we got to the outskirts of Bamenda our cab stopped and we had to transfer to a different cab. But at these new cabs we were required to wait until the driver had the amount of people he wanted. Although he originally told Emma that the back seat would be for the four of us, he took on more passengers so that we drove to Mbingo with 4 in the front (the driver basically on Emma's lap) and 4 of us in the back. I have no idea how the driver drove like that but we made it there. On the way home it was the same thing after waiting for a bit as taxi drivers argued over which cab got to leave with their 8 passengers first. Sara and I have been told a cab with 8 people could be what we experience some days on our way to SAJOCAH.

Thought of the day: One thing I have noticed is that almost all of the facilities or organizations we have visited so far have had workshop rooms or a focus on vocational rehab and learning or relearning a trade such as basketweaving, knitting, shoe making, farming etc. And almost all of the people we have met has said that part of the focus is on providing people a mean to support themselves financially once they are out of rehabilitation and back in their communities. Everyone is so passionate about people with disabilities being economically independent and a valuable and contributing member of the community - such a great thing that I don't think Canada has quite figured out to the same extent. Sure we have vocational rehab but it is most often linked to insurance and does not occur concurrently within the rehab facility. Yes the types of vocations are quite different but they seem to have figured out how to match the vocations people will be doing in their communities to the rehabilitation plan right from the start and continue once a client returns home, as opposed to only when the client returns home and it is time to go back to work.

That brings us to right now where we finally have internet in our apartment and will be heading out to pick up omlette and chips for dinner tonight.

(check back later because I will be adding pictures to the post hopefully tomorrow sometime!)

....and then the lights went out!

So it is now day 4 here in Bamenda and it has been a whirlwind of orientation week with three more days to go. Yesterday we went to Commercial Av to check out the supermarkets where some North American products are sold, as well as the food market in town. One of the supermarkets has a bakery attached so we are excited to check that out more. And the food market is a maze!!! So many stalls, so many laneways that Sara and I will definitely get lost in there, but I think we're okay with that and we are excited to go for our first shopping trip there ourselves next week. We did purchase a few things there, as well as some bananas and papayas at a few other stalls to begin practicing our bargaining skills: hopefully mine will improve :).  Last night we went to get omlettes and potato chips (fries) from a food stall near our house.....and then the lights went out! They came back on shortly after, but went out again for about 10 minutes and came back on as we were heading home with our delicious smelling dinner. And it was delicious! Honestly, some of the best fries I have ever had. The omlette was also good, a little strange with spaghetti in it but you didn't even notice it. After dinner we headed to the office to go on the internet...and then the lights went out!

This morning we headed to SAJOCAH where we will spending three days a week. It's a bit of a bumpy ride but not too bad and only takes about 40 minutes. We got a brief tour and met Sister Petra and the other staff. I honestly can not be more excited to start placement there on Monday. Everyone is so friendly and both the clients and staff were all working so hard, and were so welcoming to us. A lot of the children there came right up to Sara and I to shake our hands, one didn't want to let go as we got back in the car to head home. Sr Petra told us that they are expect more than double the clients they currently have in May so looks like we will be busy which I think is exciting!

We were about to eat dinner tonight........and then the lights went! This time for about 20 minutes, came back on for two, and then out for maybe five more minutes. And now I think I have to explain that I really didn't know how dark it could be until experiencing a power outage here. It is literally pitch black, and you know how usually your eyes adjust so you can at least make out figures or shapes to kinda of get around? Well that never happened the entire time the lights were out. I couldn't see my hands in front of me. And when the lights do come back on it's almost a shock to the system they seem so bright. But we have now learnt our lesson...as soon as it gets dark, the flashlight comes out and gets taken everywhere with us just in case!!!

Biggest gift since I have arrived here: seeing Mr. Julius', Emmanuel's and Sr Petra's faces when we told them about the fundraising we did and how amazingly generous Sara and I's family and friends are. So THANK YOU! The BCCSDR and SAJOCAH also send their thanks and are so so grateful. The joy, shock and gratefulness on their faces is something I will never forget!

The journey to Bamenda (and the 1st day here)

Sara and I finally arrived in Bamenda around six pm on Sunday afternoon after quite the eventful journey. Flights to Brussels and from Brussels to Douala, Cameroon were relatively fine minus a few crying babies that all seemed to be sitting right near us. But we still got some sleep in! Favourite thing of the flights, Jet Airways "feet baskets" under the seat in front of you. So much nicer than a foot rest and made for quite a nice sleeping position. Mr. Julius (the Bamenda Coordinating Centre for Studies in Disability and Rehabilitation's [BCCSDR] executive director had prepared us well for the airport and we got through customs and baggage claim pretty easily. But when we stepped outside into the extreme heat and couldn't find someone holding the BCCSDR sign we slightly panicked. Then all of a sudden I spotted someone waving across the street with a security officer and our sign! Apparently security was extra high that day so Aloys was unable to get to the usual greeting point, but we found him and were soon on our way.
I don't think it's possible to explain the feelings or what we thought when first driving through Douala, overwhelming and surreal are probably the best descriptors. And although this is a terrible North American analogy, I did kind of feel like I was in a taxi during the Amazing Race. Too much to take in so quickly. Aloys and CY our driver for the evening took us to our hotel for the night which was in a Catholic Mission House. Simple, clean and a perfect spot to finally actually sleep, but getting food was Sara and I's priority before sleep. So Aloys and CY drove us down to the seaport for grilled fish and plantains and Castel (a Cameroonian beer). The entire meal was great and Aloys gave us three rules for the evening and our bus ride to Bamenda the next day: No crying, No snoring, and No stopping while eating (we had to finish it all). Sara and I both managed to follow all three rules and there wasn't even a chance where we thought we were going to cry!

So after a great meal and a good sleep we met Aloys Sunday morning for the bus ride to Bamenda. I think this is were my first culture shock moments hit. First was when we drove into the bus station and  plus guys ran towards the cab and started yelling into the driver and Aloys various cities and prices trying to convince us to use their bus company. We ended up going with a company called Garanti which as it turned out was no guarantee at all! The first half of the bus ride was fantastic we had three seats together and the bus was not even close to being full and we didn't make any stops until just over 3 hrs into the trip (midway). And then the bus broke down! Now we had been told this was a possibility with the buses in Cameroon but still frustrating and we had no idea when it would be fixed or another Garanti would come along. Well we didn't have to wait too long but the next bus to come along was already overflowing, plus add our fellow passengers from the broken bus and what you get is Sara and I sitting for the next 4ish hours on the steps of the back stairs onto the bus! Not the most comfortable, and no view but the driver kindly lent us his jacket to sit on. But we made it to Bamenda which was the goal so travel within Cameroon mission 1 accomplished!

Sara and I's "seat" on the bus!

After descending upon the city of Bamenda from a small mountain top (amazing view overlooking the city), we met Emmanuel (BCCSDR administrative assistant) at our new home for six weeks, the Bamenda Guest Home and Hotel. We each picked our rooms and then headed to dinner of grilled fish and bread which we brought back to our house to eat (I have a feeling I will be eating a lot of fish here, good thing I like it!).

Our home and view!

Which finally brings us to today and our first day of orientation. We met Mr. Julius and had a meeting with him and Emmanuel and the guest home's manager and assistant manager to make sure we knew the everything about the place and who to go to for anything we needed. We also discussed potential projects that Sara and I will be working on for the centre during our placement. My project is to draft a manual or guidelines regarding the practical implementation of a sports program for people with disabilities. So as you probably all guessed I'm pretty excited for that! Emmanuel than took us through the various roles of the BCCSDR (research, education and coordination) and than out for lunch in the city for ama jamma and corn fou fou. I liked the ama jamma, not a fan of corn fou fou. We then went to the bank and headed back to the centre to learn some do's and don'ts of Cameroonian culture. Biggest challenge: it is inappropriate for females to cross their legs in public. Second biggest challenge: remembering all the do's and don'ts as Sara and I both want to learn to be a part of this culture and therefore the last thing we want to is do something disrespectful that Emmanuel has already informed us about. But we both made a list of them and so pretty sure I will review it from time to time and the best way to learn is through experience so just going out in the city more and interacting with people will be a huge help and learning tool.

That was an incredibly long first post (so don't expect the others to be as long) and pictures will eventually be added (including exactly where  Sara and I sat on the second leg of our bus journey :) ).  But I wanted to leave you with one more story and thought provoking experience I had:

Emmanuel brought to our attention that while eating lunch today 2 other white females came in to eat at the same place and none of us acknowledged each other. Later Emmanuel asked us why and we didn't have an answer, we just don't greet everyone we see. Emmanuel said if he were to be in Canada and saw another black person he would automatically greet him and ask him how they were, it is just common courtesy and polite to do. And after he talked about it, I agree! Why don't we say hello to each other more often? Especially to people we don't know? That tiny bit of acknowledgement from anyone could completely brighten someone's day and make them feel that they matter. Imagine it really was common courtesy in Canada, or everywhere in the world? Sounds kind of simple, yet we don't do it so why not start. So I challenge all of you to say hello to someone today that you pass on the street, in an elevator, in a store  wherever it may be  just say hello and smile! I think you might then smile brighter too!.