Guess who's been productive?!

Guess who's been productive?! MEEE! Well…productive for here.

Last Tuesday Obam took me out "en brousse" (into the bush) to go visit a bunch of tree nurseries and farms/farmers. Clearly he told me we were just going to "see" them, so I wear a dress and sandals and then we end up hiking all over half the country through the forest…it was pretty neat though. I met a lot of people, everyone is related to Obam, and I like to make fun of him for that. My favorite part was this palm plantation (they grow palms like crazy here to use the fruit/nut for palm oil…which was my staple food in Bangangte with my family). The plantation was enormous and tucked back away from the road…it was beautiful actually…just all these lines of palms and moss and ferns covering the ground below, reminded me of Jurassic Park. We walked all the way through it and came out on this hillside that had been completely cut down and was just a mess of fallen trees and brush. From the plantation, as well as everywhere else (my bedroom) you hear nothing but chainsaws day in and day out. I'm not sure if it's picked up recently due to the dry season…but it's interesting, as Obam said "this is truly deforestation". I even got woken up one morning around 4 AM by the sound of an obviously enormous tree cracking and crashing to the ground. On Friday, we went out to Obam's village and started pegging (setting out sticks to represent where the trees will go) in the forest for a banana farm. We hacked off two raffia fronds with a machete, guesstimated 3 meters, cut them, and then used them to create equilateral triangles and place trees at the corners. The definition of "doing what you can with what you have" as the Peace Corps likes to preach. I asked a lot of questions about the future farm, and Obam said they will just clear the whole area in order to plant the trees. Now call me a romantic…but I am not comfortable with this idea…coming from a country where all I've learned my whole life in school is that "cutting the rainforest is b-a-d bad". Especially when I saw this huge Baobab tree that I fell in love with. Which Obam told me the wind would knock over onto a nearby house…if you've ever seen the base, and most likely roots, not one of these, that isn’t likely…add to the fact I've felt nothing but a light breeze in this country to date. So after these 2 excursions I'm starting to get a little bit confused about what an agro forestry volunteer is doing in the rainforest. Agro forestry is suppose to be about PLANTING trees in and around fields to improve the soil, prevent pest damage, etc…and here in the South people are at the point where they feel the forest is doing more harm then good and it's a constant battle against it (it's not a problem in the West where most volunteers are, and the forests are already gone). Thus, not sure how some young kid from Wisconsin is going to do anything somewhere where everyone clearly knows more than I do! Ahh…the internal struggles of a Peace Corps Volunteer.

Everything at my house has been going very, very well! My neighbors are excellent, even the girls my age (which is usually the group that hates me the most here), and the little kids have finally stopped looking in my windows. As much…now they knock on my door several times a day to bring me fruit. One day I got a papaya, 2 little green things I gave to someone else (sh..that's a secret), a cassmangue (I have no idea in English), and TEN bananas! They just didn't stop! Now in addition to my landlord, and the neighbor right next door, the man across the street calls me his daughter. And random things occur, like him and my neighbor "father" coming to my house in the middle of the night drunk and yelling at me for not letting them see me before I went to sleep, and telling me they only know I am alive and safe if they see me with their own eyes…(Luckily, having just left Madison, WII can handle drunken men better than the average Jane). Going to and from Ebolowa and my house can be an experience. You either have to wait out front for a motto by the police barrier…where I swear everyone within 5 miles congregates…or walk in until you find one. I usually choose the later…I like to avoid feeling awkward at all costs, which does not come easy here! The last 2 times I've gotten a cab have been adventures in themselves. First time we turn the corner and come across a motto accident, and pack 4 bleeding, yes…bleeding, people into the cab with the 4 of us already in it to take to the hospital, cab a.k.a ambulance. Then I get picked up by a cab with a lady driving, I'm pretty sure, the first time. From experience, the first time driving a stick…oh what a ride. Today I chose to walk into Ebolowa, to "put myself out there", as they say. I have to pass through a small town called Nubelle, which is just one stretch of road packed with people all the time. I get harassed when I'm in a car…but I decided to buck it up and just walk through. I survived. I've also started running again, and I'm going to do the same route for about 4 weeks until I've seen everyone on that stretch of road and I won't be bothered (so I think). Since I've started running my neighbors and Obam talk about it all the time. "Kate, I saw you doing sports this morning at 6." "Kate, you were up so early." "Kate, you are very athletic"…They also know everything else I do at all times, practically before I even do it. "You left last night to eat dinner in town, and then you came back this morning at 6:30 on your bicycle." In case I didn't know or forgot anything I did on any given day, I have at least 20 other memories to help me out!

Furniture wise…I got a bed! I had ordered it 3 weeks ago and it was finally finished. This is how to transport large items works here. I go to the carpenter, there is my bed, assembled on the front lawn. He disassembles my bed. He says he will go find a cab. He disappears for 15 minutes. I stand on the curb being yelled at by passerbys. He returns in a cab. I make cab stop at gas station to get change for my large bills. We drive 5 minutes. We get stopped at a police barrier (think, board with nails) for 2 minutes. I am told 1).I am white, 2). I am pretty, 3).Would I like to marry him? No. We drive 5 more minutes. Me and the driver hold the bed frame through the windows to the roof of the car. We stop at my house. Driver and carpenter and small boy child carry my bed parts into my house. Carpenter assembles. Carpenter asks “Are you married?”. I need to buy myself a fake wedding ring. THE END

Lastly, on a personal note I know some of you will appreciate, some of you will hate me for, and some of you will wonder who is this random girl in Africa who would take the time to write about this. My feet are amazing in this country…I wear shoes constantly (think, ant/cockroach killers, hookworm/chigger protection) and I have never seen my feet so beautiful. Those of you who know them…you would not be able to pick them out of a foot line up. Alright, I leave you with that! Thanks for reading!