In a few
days the newest group of trainees will meet up in Philadelphia to prepare for
their departure for Cameroon. This happens twice a year, but this group is of
particular significance to me and my fellow stage-mates.
They are the group that will serve as our replacements, as many of them will
take over posts that we are currently serving.
Given the
clear-cut timeline of Peace Corps service, I can’t claim that this milestone
snuck up on us. Our imminent departure has been a common topic of conversation
lately, ever since our Close-of-Service (COS) conference a few weeks ago. The
goal of the conference was to help us prepare logistically and emotionally to
leave Cameroon and return home, a transition that we have repeatedly been told
will be more difficult than our arrival in Cameroon. But the conference also
celebrated our collective successes these past two years, and my group of
Volunteers has a lot to be proud of. I’m sure that many of you back home have
been aware of the various security issues that have affected Cameroon these
past few years, and we had a staggering number of Volunteers relocated because
of some of them. But not a single member of my group left due to relocation,
and all of them embraced their new towns and work projects with enthusiasm.
We’ve endured frequent street harassment, terrifying medical ailments, and
dramatic cultural and linguistic barriers. And we still got quite a bit of work
accomplished. Our programming team was proud to announce that all of the health
indicators have been met ahead of schedule, and we are well on our way to
accomplishing our agriculture targets.
The
conference was held in the beach town of Kribi, as a sort of celebration of our
two years of service. The rainy season weather made the waves more of a hazard
than usual, but we still enjoyed some time on the sand and some of my braver
friends made it into the water. We also enjoyed some of the best seafood that
Cameroon has to offer-one night we went down to the fish marina and I feasted
on a kilogram of shrimp. It seemed only fitting-Cameroon’s name originated from
the Portuguese word for shrimp-Camerones!
One of the
more surreal parts of the conference was the realization that it would be the
last time that we would all be together in Cameroon. We all flew over together
when we arrived, but our departure is staggered over a few weeks to allow to
the medical team to give us our final clearance. I learned about some of the
exciting COS trips my friends are have planned-one group is headed on a West
African tour, another from Tanzania to Johannesburg over land, and yet another
on a three-month Eastern European odyssey. It might be fair to say that PCVs
tend to have a bit more wanderlust than the average American…
As for my plans, I am opting for a weeklong
“extended layover” in Morocco. I’m ready to get back home and catch as much of
autumn fun as I can, but the opportunity seemed too good to pass up and I was
able to convince a few of my friends from home to fly out and meet me. The trip
is still in the planning stages, but the more I learn about the wonderful
things to do in see in Morocco the more excited I get.
Now that
I’ve been back from COS conference for a few weeks, the imminence of our
departure feels quite real. I have started telling neighbors and other daily
acquaintances when I will be leaving Bamenda, and many of them seem surprised.
I guess I have lived here long enough that people have forgotten that I have to
go home eventually. I am in the process of preparing for my final projects,
sorting out all of my accumulated possessions, and doing some planning for
Morocco and my return home. It definitely isn’t time to start saying good-byes
yet.
No comments:
Post a Comment