For a country that doesn't experience winter, life in Cameroon is full of transitions. The most obvious ones tend to be weather related; at the moment we're in the midst of what feels like a never-ending rainy season and all conversations seem to touch on the effects of the current “cold”. (Full disclosure: I don't think it's dipped below 60 degrees the entire time I've lived here). But there are other transitions at work as well, and as my first full year in Cameroon comes to a close I'm more acutely aware of them than I think I have been in a while.
One of the more visible transition going on at the moment is also quite familiar: the closing of “summer” holidays and the preparation for the students' return to school. It seemed a little strange to me that Cameroon follows the same calendar that America does; after all, it's not like Cameroonians experiences summer in the same way that we do back home. But the rainy season here is also a busy season for farming, and children provide much-needed labor in their time off from school, which brings me to my next transition.
During the school holidays, I've noticed an interesting exchange of children in my neighborhood. As far as I can gather, it seems like children from the “village” (less developed areas) often come to experience city life for a few months. Their more urban counterparts often head out to the village to spend time with their extended family members and offer a hand on the family fields. My landlady's family experienced both: she sent her children off to the village in the Littoral (another region), and welcomed a new set of children that were somehow related to her for a few weeks during the month of July. Prior to coming to Cameroon, my frame of reference for school vacation included idyllic summer camps, family vacations, and occasional jobs in air-conditioned buildings. Although I've never heard any sort of complaint regarding the way school vacations are spent, the kids in my neighborhood seem quite a bit more excited to resume school than I can ever remember American kids being.
Even the process of heading back to school in Cameroon is slightly different than it is in America. One of the major sources of economic stress for many families is school fees. Nearly all schools in Cameroon (including public schools) require pupils to pay an annual fee for attendance. For public schools these fees aren't too steep (approximately $80/year), but for a family with many children of school age, these fees can quickly become overwhelming. Once you add in the required books for each year and a few sets of mandatory school uniforms for each child, the period right before school begins can become quite financially taxing.
My own life here isn't excluded from what appears to be this season of transitions. August has been a month unlike any other so far, and it's hard to believe that it's almost over already. In this month alone, I attended two Peace Corps conferences, traveled down to the sticky, mosquito-infested Southwest for a few days, and had more house guests than ever before. It's been a great month, but what most distinguishes it from all preceding months is how much time I spent in the company of other Peace Corps Volunteers.
Cameroon is a great country in which to serve as a PCV, at least in terms of the Volunteer community. There are more Volunteers here than in almost any other country in the world, and I've met some incredible people. But as close as I feel to many of the Volunteers here and as often as I see them, serving as a PCV tends to be a primarily solitary experience. Since arriving in Bamenda last November, I've spent more time on my own that I ever had before. And while I think this is on balance good for me, having other Volunteers constantly around was certainly a welcome change. My friends Clare, Anna, and I managed to make cream cheese brownies a reality last weekend. Just think about that one.
All of the time I've been spending with other Americans recently has hopefully prepared me for my most anticipated transition-I'm headed back to America this week for a much-needed dose of life back home. It seems a little unbelievable sometimes that life continues in America in my absence, and I'm sure that spending a month stateside will contain some unexpected challenges. But I'm beyond excited to see my family, friends, and puppy again, and can hardly wait to jump back into life in America.
And not to worry, my Cameroonian friends haven't missed any opportunity to mock the amount that I'm looking forward to seeing my dog.
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