Elections and what have you

Today is Sunday. Another week has passed, hard to believe it. The time is starting to accelerate here. It’s October already. Normally, I would know it is October because I would see it and feel it. Leaves turning colors, hints of winter in the cool air. You don’t get those hints in the tropics. In Cameroon there are only two seasons, rainy and dry. It is still rainy season now, another month of it remains. Then 6 months of dry season. It gets hot and dusty during the dry season, or so they say.

Last week was probably my most successful yet since I arrived in Bafoussam. I did quite a bit of traveling to the village banks in the region to help them fill out an excel report. It turned out to be a lesson in computers for most of them. One of the banks is still learning how to turn the computer on, and hold the mouse still when they click. I never thought it could be such a challenge to hold the mouse in one place. When they click, they freak out and throw the darn thing across the table. “Relax,” I say, and everyone laughs. It is quite funny. I came to realize that the people in the villages really want to learn computers and they have nobody to teach them. I am going to start traveling to different places each week and giving them computer lessons. I have also started working, with my Cameroonian coworker, on a village computer school project. The idea is to start computer schools in the remote villages that don’t otherwise get the opportunity to learn this valuable tool. The kids there can’t afford to come into the city for training, but they really want it. We are going to start with one village as sort of a pilot, and if it works we will start more in other villages. The first challenge is getting computers. I know there are NGO’s and Corporations out there that donate computers for good causes such as this. If you know of anything, I welcome your input.

I forgot to mention in my previous entry that I shaved my head completely down to ¼”. That is very short. I also do push-ups every day. What is this, the army? Sometimes I wonder myself. The Peace Corps isn’t all tree hugging long hared hippies like some may imagine it to be. I would hug trees myself, except there aren’t any trees to hug in this concrete jungle I live in. Plus, all the Cameroonian men keep their hair very short, I’m just trying to blend in. I’m still missing something though, because I still look a little different than them, I just can’t put my finger on it…Pat also shaved his head, people honestly think we are twins, hilarious, they often think I’m him, he’s me, who’s who?

I finished reading two books in one week. Pretty impressive for me, considering I was illiterate just one year ago. I am starting to read Catcher in the Rye. What a funny book! I’m sort of gonna finish it today. I sort of like it a little too. At this rate I am going to run out of material fast and I will have to resort to the 1-year-old sports illustrated magazines that have been left in this apartment. Speaking of sports, I really really miss baseball, go Dodgers, they clinched the West!

In case I haven’t told you or you didn’t read it through someone else’s blog, there was a pretty bad accident involving 14 volunteers in Cameroon about 2 weeks ago. They were all riding in the back of an empty Guinness beer truck that was going way too fast and rolled over. Many of them were ejected from the truck and injured quite badly. Luckily, there were no fatalities, I spoke to one of my friends who broke her collarbone, and she said they are all very lucky to be alive. It was pretty shocking news considering many of those involved were friends of mine, some of them were from my training group. One girl was knocked into a coma and had to have emergency brain surgery, I don’t know her status as of now, but she was in critical condition last week. Another friend’s leg was crushed by the truck and he won’t be back to Cameroon. That sucks. I guess he is in good spirits though. There were also collarbones and ribs broken by other people. Many of them were transported to South Africa and Washington D.C. where they can receive better treatment. I think most everyone should be just fine and back to Cameroon soon enough. My thoughts are with them.

On a brighter note, it stopped raining outside which means I can go out and do stuff. I am typing this blog entry on Pat’s computer, which arrived here last week with the new group of trainees. My computer was supposed to arrive with this same group but I have not yet heard anything about it. It must be there somewhere, and I will have it soon enough.

Many of you have requested more pictures. I have been pretty lazy with the camera, I apologize. The main problem is that the camera attracts so much attention, as if I don’t get enough already. But I don’t care anymore. I have decided to go on a mission. I am going to walk around this town for an afternoon with camera in hand and I am going to take every interesting picture I can take, and believe me, there are many. I hope you don’t mind nudity because you may get it. If one of the crazy naked guys happens to be out that day, I’m gonna have to get a pic, I’ll try to blur out the stuff you don’t want to see.

Oh yeah, it is election season in Cameroon as well. The elections here take place in about 8 or 9 days. It should be interesting. They haven’t been very “democratic” in the past, but apparently things will be different this year. The current president has been in power since 1980 and he has frequently been accused of changing the constitution and rigging elections in order to keep himself in office. You would think that this sort of behavior would really anger people, but most of them don’t really seem to care. The way they see it, Cameroon has been one of the most stable, prosperous countries in West Africa since he was elected, why mess with a good thing? Stability is all they can really hope for in this part of the world, I can’t blame them for having this kind of attitude.

The main political differences lie between the Anglophone regions of the country and the Francophone regions. In case you didn’t know, Cameroon has two official languages, French and English. There are 2 provinces in which the people speak English primarily since the British originally colonized them. The other 8 provinces consist of mainly French speakers. The current president is a francophone. Many of the anglos don’t like him, they feel that they are neglected, and many of them want independence. That is where most of the opposition stems from in this country. If anything interesting happens during these elections it will happen in the Anglophone provinces, meaning the North West or the South West Province. Stay tuned for details.

I still haven’t received my absentee ballot for the U.S.A, so it appears as though I won’t be voting this year. That sort of hurts. It seems as though it has been a pretty interesting battle out there. I’ll have to admit, I think both candidates are worthless, but I still want to pick my poison. How did the first debate turn out? Any clear winner? It must have been fun to watch those two clowns go at it! I wonder which puppet will win. In Cameroon, most people want Kerry to win. But there are a surprising number of Bush supporters. There are people here who know more about the American elections than their own. I even listen to French news radio, it’s crazy how much the U.S. elections dominate the headlines. It really shows how much of an influence we are in the world. You sort of forget how much of an influence we are when you are lost somewhere in the middle of the giant machine. And believe me, it really is a GIANT machine, you should come over here and get a good view of it sometime.
I am going to run for president when I get back. My campaign starts now.
Until Next time...