aaaaand.... she rebounds

Second week at post, finished. I’m doing much better since I last wrote. That first week was probably the toughest, but I’m feeling much better about village life now. First off, my house is much more in order. I’ve finally got some basic furnishings (a dresser, a bed, a bookshelf, a table and two chairs), so now my things are more organized. After three long months, I’m no longer living out of a suitcase… finally. Even though my living room and kitchen are virtually empty (and the other two rooms in my house totally empty), I can at least sleep somewhere, put my clothes and books somewhere, and sit somewhere. Huge improvements over before.

New and improved room – with dresser and carpet!

I also found some “magic chalk” that kills cockroaches. I had heard about this elusive chalk from other volunteers during stage, and had mentally noted that I would probably need to get my hands on some, though I was baffled as to how – was I really supposed to go to the market and ask for “magic chalk” and expect to get a straight answer? But, happily, I stumbled upon it at market, so now I wake up every morning to find an assortment of beetles, roaches, ants, and other creepy crawlies on their backs, still twitching a little, though definitely dead (the chalk apparently targets their nervous system). I prefer them dead to alive, so this is good.

Things are looking up in the realm of work, as well. Beginning with that second week, I began to work in earnest with Magloire on my job at the Centre d’Accueil Pour les Jeunes or CAPJ (literally: “Welcome Center for Youth”), the organization I’m officially partnered with. We spent an hour one day going over Magloire’s vision for the center, and I think this was my turning point, where things started to look up.

Magloire envisions that CAPJ will be, essentially, a youth center, with several objectives: (1) to provide youth with activities that focus their free time so they avoid risky behavior life drinking all day, unprotected sex, etc; (2) to educate youth about HIV/AIDS and/or other health issues that they identify as important; (3) to provide practical training and education to youth that can open them to more opportunities for their futures (for example, computer information classes). As he envisions it, the CAPJ will have several branches of different programs, one being the Centre d’Écoute. The Centre d’Écoute will basically be a peer educator program about HIV/AIDS and STIs, but he hopes to create programs in information technology (with computers), a design program, and others as well. This is all very exciting. At the moment, as far as I can tell, the CAPJ doesn’t have any youth involved in anything, nor are any programs really set up. This means we’ll be starting at square one by recruiting kids to be a part of the Centre d’Écoute, but once we start working with them, I can see how this CAPJ could really come off the ground and be an exciting way to engage youth and provide opportunity to improve their lives.

One of Magloire’s other visions is to create an Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PVVS, in French). This is challenging to do discreetly, because there is a lot of discrimination against people who are HIV+, despite a fairly widespread and accurate knowledge of how HIV is transmitted – for example, people won’t shake hands with someone who is HIV+, even though they know that this won’t cause HIV transmission. Generally speaking, therefore, people who are HIV+ usually don’t want their status broadcasted, especially in small villages like Ngambé Tikar where everyone knows everyone’s business; many HIV+ people try to keep their status hidden. To create and advertise publicly an organization for people living with HIV/AIDS would be like creating a flashing red neon sign that said “look! Here’s all the people in your community who are positive!” No one would join such an organization and willingly open themselves to discrimination like that. Magloire wants to use the youth center as a way to create a PVVS Association, but keep it hidden. This way, people won’t need to specify that they’re going to a meeting for PVVS, but they can say they’re going to a CAPJ meeting. It’s fairly ingenious, since the CAPJ will already have several branches of activities, so this could just be another one.

In any case, when Magloire explained this and I finally understood a bit more what my primary project will be here with the CAPJ, I was ecstatic! It’s all right up my alley – training peer educators, doing education about health (especially HIV/AIDS and STIs), working with teenagers, working to create an HIV/AIDS group – it’s really exciting. What is fun and exciting about working with an organization that is not yet formed is the chance to build it from the ground up – there are no rules; instead we get to create the rules, to set the standards, to reach for the stars. It leaves me feeling optimistic each time we talk about CAPJ, even though I know there will be many obstacles to its eventual success.

The Centre d’Accueil Pour les Jeunes with Magloire and Lydie, another woman who is involved at the center (and her kids)

This is the actual building, that is, the CAPJ itself. There is a lot of work to be done; Magloire wants to expand it and spruce it up quite a bit – add cement floors and all that jazz

I’ve also started to discover some secondary side projects that I think will be worthwhile – the principal of the local high school asked me if I wanted to teach an English class four times a week. I politely declined, because my job is not as an English teacher, but I think it could be a worthwhile side project to come in maybe once a week or every two weeks and lead conversational classes for more advanced students; I could even sneak in some sensibilisations about health topics by doing them in English. Another avenue for side projects is working with the health club at the high school; since they’re on holiday break now, I haven’t met with them yet, but I’m hoping it will be fun/worthwhile. Magloire has also created Club de l’Amitiés (literally: “friendship clubs”) at both of the elementary schools, which are comprised of elementary school students who do sensibilisations and animations about HIV and AIDS. Magloire said he created them because he thinks it’s never too early to begin talking and teaching about HIV, STIs and AIDS (I wish you could see how my heart nearly burst when he told me that). I’m hoping to work with these students as well. Other work includes going to the pygmy campements to see if there is some work there that may or may not be incorporated into projects at the CAPJ.

I’m also hoping that I may be able to find some work to do at the hospital. The hospital here is pretty spiffy – it is clean and appears to be well-run, and it has a doctor (I think most hospitals this rural do not) and a microscope, so they can do HIV, malaria, and other testing (again, I think microscopes are a sign of a well-run institution, since they are also hard to come by). Perhaps I could do rounds with the doctor, or provide some other sort of support. Who knows?

Another task for me is finding a tutor to begin learning the most commonly spoken local language here – Tikar. Peace Corps will reimburse volunteers who hire tutors to learn local languages for the first six months of service, so I really want to take advantage of this to learn Tikar. Thus far, I’ve learned just a few greeting phrases, and I have a long way to go. I recently found out the name of a man who teaches (taught?) Tikar at the elementary school, so I think he would be a good person to hire as a tutor.

In any case, I’m happy to find myself with my hands full with long-term home improvement projects, work projects, and the ever-continuing goal to meet people and make friends. Emotional state much improved: now at a seven or eight.