First week at Beka Hossere…

Here are some details about my post.

Beka Hossere is a small predominantly Muslim village on the outskirts of a large city called Ngaoundere. It is in the Adamawa region, which is the southernmost province in the Grand North. The Grand North is known to be culturally different from the Grand South due to its predominant Fulbe ethnic tribe (prevalent throughout West Africa) and heavy Muslim influence. I typically wake up to the Adzhan (call to prayer) every morning and hear it at my house throughout the day. Many men in the community have multiple wives (but never more than 4) as is the local tradition. Majority of the community does more or less subsistence farming. My primary role is to advise community members on their existing businesses (usually farms), and/or help launch other income generating activities in a sustainable fashion.  

The volunteer before me had opened the post 3 years ago and had the house already set up quite nicely. Opening a post has a different set of frustrations and difficulties altogether and I’m lucky a volunteer has cleared the way so that I can focus on my projects.  I have a small mud brick painted house with a tin roof. There is a decent sized bedroom, family room, and separate dining/kitchen area. The latrine is a tiny room connected to my bedroom with a concrete floor. This is my only qualm as the latrine hole is damn small and rather difficult to use.  I have electricity but no running water. However, there is a forrage (French word for ground water pump) about 100 meters away, so I have to carry water to my house a few times a week. Also, in town is a major Peace Corps boarding house (about 2-3 miles away) with internet and other amenities.  Thus, I should have decent internet access.  Overall, I’m very content with my post and I think I’m a great fit here.

First week at post has been pretty quiet. I have basically been settling in and playing a lot with kids. The hangout spot for the neighboring kids happens to be my porch so the house is always popping. I have attended some girls’ group activities that my predecessor has been organizing for quite some time. Another love letter incident also happened here in bizarrely similar fashion to the first one. Anyways, I have also gotten a chance to meet a couple professional contacts which will be pretty crucial. In particular, I made contact with a community development specialist that works for the Ministry of Agriculture in Ngaoundere which I hope will be useful. I am also in the process of searching for NGO’s that I could collaborate with. One of the biggest frustrations that volunteers site is the absence of local NGO’s, counterparts, and support, when working on projects. My predecessor has also repeatedly emphasized the importance of this. Also, I have lost even more weight my first week at post. I’m not sure if it’s the lack of food options or that I detest my own cooking. Luckily I have been eating dinner at Nana’s almost every day. The menu is rice cous cous (nothing like what we consider cous cous in the states. This is kind of a blandish substance with the consistency that is between mashed potatoes and bread) and gumbo (this is a slimy flavored sauce usually with some type of meat such as beef). Everyone eats out of the same plate and bowl because it’s Muslim tradition. Not the most sanitary situation but it works.

In any case, more later