Kate's Posting

Note from Dad:

Sue and I talked to Kate on Saturday, 11-3-2007. She left for her posting the next day and maybe unavailable for the week that follows as she visits there, so I am posting for her. Kate is excited about her posting; she will be living in a small village called Ngalane. This village is right outside the South Provincial Capital of Ebolowa. Ebolowa is a town of about 50,000 (Kate is skeptical about their population estimates) people made up of the Bulu people. It is located in a lush green valley on an artificial lake. Kate’s posting consists of working with the local people on slash & burn sites and none timber forest products. This is a new posting as the Peace Corp is expanding into southern Cameroon and has not had an individual posted there before, so it will be challenging. Her house is brand new and is at the end of the road and the start of the deep dark jungle.

This area is the ancestral home of the “pygmys’ who still have forest encampments in the area. Ebolowa is about a two hour drive south of the Capital Yaounde and a few hours drive from the Atlantic Coastal town of Kribi and is accessible to visit. Kribi evidently is a beautiful town with white sandy beaches & palm trees. Between Ebolowa and Kribi is a the National Park Camp Ma ‘an. This is a wild park with gorilla, forest elephants, lions, leopards and all the other fun African Wildlife. East of this town at some distance is a World Heritage Site call Die Reserve (believe it is a forest reserve). I believe Kate’s nearest PCVolunteer will be posted about 30 miles away. She is friendly with this girl and shares a passion for needle crafts. This is about as much as I know about her posting. We look forward to hearing from Kate about it after her week stay there.