Comice and Christmas

Well the Comice have been postponed until January, which I found out when I was on my way to Yaounde after waking up at 4:30 in the morning to catch the three hour bus there. At least I was able to stay in the Case, and I had to buy a few things for my house that I can't get in Lolodorf anyways. Also I took this picture of a dump truck that ran into a building near the Case.

Yup

Apparently this is not exactly the first time that this has happened. According to August the Comice used to happen every four years, but they stopped in 1990. After a ten year hiatus Paul Biya said in 2000 that there would be a Comice in 2004, which was then put off until 2006, and then put off till 2008, and then put off until 2010, and I guess since it will (supposedly) be in January it has been put off until 2011. That seems to be kind of how things work here.  I know a few people just from Lolodorf and Bibondi who had already left for Ebolowa just like me (except they don't get their travel expenses covered by the Peace Corps) and they just got left high and dry when they postponed the day before. There is a volunteer who unfortunately lives in the area that the Comice will be held, and she said that they are using entirely too much concrete in the cement mixture, and none of the buildings they have built are drying. This is of course to counteract the fact that usually they use too much sand in the mixture to save money, and all the concrete buildings start falling apart after just a few years. Sometimes it is hard to keep thinking you can make any difference whatsoever when there doesn’t seem to be anything that works like it is supposed to in the whole country.

At least my work is going really well, and even if the country as a whole is not going to completely turn around any time soon, I can do some good here in Bibondi. I already have some plans for projects I want to work on and just today when August was showing me the school that is being renovated he told me about the garden that they are going to start clearing the ground for in January. 

August is the guy with the cane, and this is the school.

All of the parents of the children are going to help, and when they sell the produce it is going to go towards hiring a new teacher because there are six classes and only five teachers, so the people from the village have to help out and teach some of the classes. I am going to work on the farm, and use it as a demonstration plot for Agroforestry techniques so that the rest of the community can see them in action. He was trying pretty hard to recruit me to teach English once a week for like an hour a day, which I am going to at least try. I also distributed all of toys that people sent me to all of the people I have met with young children to give to their kids for Christmas. I know that isn’t technically development work, but it does make you feel good.

When I was in Yaounde I also picked up a replacement for my broken bicycle pump, and I was able to explore the parts of the village I hadn’t seen yet on bike.

The rest of the village looks a lot like the other parts of the village.

I stopped to talk to a lot of people who where all pretty confused as to why some white guy was riding through their village on a bike, and unfortunately met up with one particularly drunk guy (it was before noon, but that is just how people roll here) who refused to believe that I was not French, and said that it was my fault that he didn’t have a nice house, or food to eat. I tried to tell him I was here as a volunteer, and I could help him if he had any problems with his farm, but I think between my broken French, and his drunkenness he didn't really understand. It kind of got me to thinking though, the developing world really is a completely separate world from the developed world, and I really am just kind of a visitor here. That night as I was on the internet I saw this map which kind of drives the point home.

On a lighter note here is a kid fishing.

I'm pretty sure he told me they were not biting

This will most likely be my last post before Christmas because I won't have my computer, so Merry Christmas everyone. I will be spending it on the beach, but I would trade the beach for Christmas in Michigan with all of you guys any day.

My Christmas Tree in Bibondi, Thanks to my Mom and Dad.

Also Happy Birthday Alex.