The Youth Minister’s visit that I mentioned in my last post launched the madness that is the Fete de la Jeunesse, or Youth Week here in Cameroon. Classes were cancelled all week and we replaced by a bevy of song/dance competitions (traditional and modern), handball tournaments, soccer tournaments, fairs, skits, poem readings, and lectures, and everything culminated into a giant parade through town of every somewhat-youth-related organization in the greater Bertoua area. Seriously, this parade was massive! The East Region’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade or Pasadena’s Tournament of Roses…ok maybe without floats… We all lined up at the “Place des Fetes” at 10am and the parade did not finish until about 2pm. Granted the procession did not exactly start on time, but still. For the occassion, I had to wear the traditional West African style-mumu (or however it is spelled) called a caba (or however it is spelled haha). Conveniently that means for these 4 hours in the African sun, I was wearing a light sack that breathes very nicely and covers my shoulders so I only burnt my neck and managed to make it through the whole ceremony without a heat stroke. While waiting I discovered another American girl, from Southern California no less, who has been working with the catholic church through a French non-profit — go figure!
The whole week was an incredible learning experience that changed the way I saw my center, my colleagues, and my students. As I watched everyone working together to prepare the skits, dances, songs, and poems, I was almost taken aback to see how close everyone was. Once the traditional classroom setting and codes of behavior were lifted, I could see how much the kids and my fellow teachers really care about each other. My colleagues and I did not miss a single performance, and the support I saw coming from the three younger men I work with kind of took me aback. The CMPJ is one big family. They fight and they celebrate like a family. As in any family, these kids don’t always get along with their parents (the teachers) or their siblings (each other), but in the end there is a powerful love there that cannot be denied. I loved watching my students interacting outside of the classroom, with each other and with other kids from different schools. The CMPJ is an island of misfits in a way — everyone enrolled at this center has dropped out of high school for some reason or another and generally has a pretty rough lot to deal with from day to day. So, even though they may fight and tattle on each other and cause all kinds of mayhem during the school week, in some ways, they are all they have. Seeing everyone and everything through this paradigm changed everything. Suddenly the whippings and the yellings were less jarring — however unfortunately, this is how families go in Cameroon. It is hard to say that the lashings come out of love, but now I can see that they are not as inhuman as I once thought.
I think it is safe to say that I am finally starting to settle in here. The bipolar emotional swings have mellowed and the little things that grated before (people yelling at me on the street, the gazillion marriage proposals a day, the bugs, the heat, the dust, the inefficiencies, and Africa time issues) are starting to become little more than background noise. I have started teaching real classes and especially after the fete have a much warmer relationship with all my students and my colleagues. I have also just started up this week at Bertoua’s women’s center, the Centre pour la Promotion de la Femme et de la Famille (CPFF) teaching lifeskills/health classes! This week I chose to do a basic introduction of HIV/AIDS with both centers to go over some of the myths that surround the disease here in West Africa, and it blew my mind how differently the two groups have reacted so far. I have two classes at the youth center and three at the women’s center. The kids were far less invested in what I was teaching, but also far more willing to listen, whereas the women were hugely invested and interested, but many clung very tightly to their myths and conspiracy theories. I had one woman stare me down and tell me that 6 Belgian nuns have already been convicted of injecting African children with HIV for population control measures. At one point I tried to start a discussion about possible reasons for Africa’s high infection rate (of the 34 million cases worldwide, 20 million are in Africa), and some one insisted that this was proof that the virus was introduced purposefully by white people no matter what I told her. The first woman was by far the oldest of the group and had 6 children and the second woman was unmarried with 3 children… Almost everyone in my session yesterday had at least one child — today, there were far fewer mothers, but each one upwards of 4. Although HIV is generally a taboo topic in Cameroon, the women at the CPFF were very open. When I asked the kids at the CMPJ if they thought HIV was a problem in their community most said, no not really, and made no show of hands when I asked if anyone knew an HIV victim or even the resources available in Bertoua for HIV victims. At the women’s center, everyone was in loud accord that yes HIV was a huge problem in Cameroon, in the East, and even in Bertoua. When I asked if they knew anyone affected by HIV, everyone could cite a family member who had recently been diagnosed with or killed by the disease. Another very eye opening experience. I have only barely skimmed the surface, and am already starting to make lesson plans for weeks to come, not to mention doing research on conspiracy theories so I can be prepared with responses when those kinds of questions/accusations arise next (because they will).
