Dear Noah, Thank you for thinking of me to visit with your flat body. You had quite the adventure here in Cameroon! I am only sorry that my response will be getting to you much later than your teacher had requested. Though, I hope by the time you get this e-mail you will still be able to share the story and pictures with your classmates. “Flat Noah” arrived in the country of Cameroon in the first week of May. Cameroon is a country on the West Coast of Africa. If you look at a map of Africa, you can easily find Cameroon by looking at the part of the coast which curves inwards, and looks like it is in the armpit of the continent. Flat Noah arrived in the capital city of the country which is called Yaounde, you say this like “yah-oooon-day”. This is the city where the most important members of the government, and even the president live, just like in the US capitol of Washington DC. Our president here is called Paul Biya. From Yaounde, Flat Noah traveled by bus to my home in Ebolowa. If you look on a map you will be able to see the capital, Yaounde, as well as my, city which is located further to the south. Upon arriving in Ebolowa, Flat Noah arrived just in time to participate in a great adventure with me and several other friends of mine. My city, Ebolowa, is in the South Region of Cameroon. In this country we have 10 regions, which are kind of like how the US has 50 states. My region, the South, is a very special region. It is one of the 2 regions in Cameroon that is mostly covered by tropical rainforest. The rainforest we have here is known as the Congo River Basin rainforest. It is the second largest rainforest in the entire world, and I am lucky enough to live there! The people in my city and surrounding area are called the Beti people. This is just a way of naming this group of people who share similar languages and traditions. The main languages Flat Noah heard on his visit were a language called Boulou (say “boo-loo”), and French. If you want to practice saying “hello” in these languages you can say “bonjour” in French and “mbolo” (say it like “em-bow-low”). Flat Noah got a chance to see a lot of the different people in my village as well as several different animals. He saw farm animals who get to roam around free here, like goats, pigs, chickens, and dogs and cats. He also saw many big insects like grasshoppers, spiders, cockroaches, and other wild animals like lizards, grey parrots, and even a monkey who lives in the neighborhood! After Flat Noah had a quick visit in my village he waited with me for the arrival of a few friends, who are also volunteers in the Peace Corps like me. One of my projects that I have been working on while volunteering in Cameroon is Environmental Education. This means that I go into schools and work with kids like you and your first grade class and teach them about different things in the environment. Some friends and I had the idea that we should use our bikes to travel to different villages and different schools around my town of Ebolowa. Since we are in the rainforest, we wanted to teach kids about the rainforest, how people sometimes hurt the rainforest, and what people can do to help protect it. Most people here love the forest, but it’s a struggle for them to be able to farm and provide for their families while also protecting the natural resources and animals. We decided to ride our bikes because this way we could travel further, but not have to use cars and create more pollution or use gas. Thus, Flat Noah got a special seat on the handlebars of my bike for the entire bike trip! We started in Ebolowa at my house and then visited 4 other towns, which you can also try to find on your map (although some of them might be too small to be written). During the next week we visited Lolodorf, Ngovayang, Bipindi, and finished in Kribi. Flat Noah got to ride over about 100 miles of the most difficult roads in the country, some that cars can’t even use. Roads that pass through very thick parts of the rainforest, pass waterfalls, go through tiny villages, and finally come out at Kribi which is a city on the Atlantic Ocean. Here he got the chance to see beautiful beaches, more waterfalls, and see the sunset over the Ocean. It was a good way to end Flat Noah’s trip to Cameroon! I will attach two pictures of Flat Noah on his trip. First is of Flat Noah with me, and our shared bike. This picture was taken on the road between the two towns of Ngovayang and Bipindi, in a very beautiful part of the forest. It may be hard to see, but there is a large waterfall in the distance behind all the trees. It was one of my favorite spots we passed on our trip. The second picture is of Flat Noah and several village children in Bipindi. Many people noticed Flat Noah on my bike and called him my “little brother”. These kids were interested to see your picture and hear the story of Flat Noah. Thanks for coming on our bike trip! Good luck finishing the school year and have a great summer! -KateP.S. Flat Noah had a difficult ride and got a little muddy and worn out by the difficult trip, so I am unsure if you would like him returned to you. Let me know and I can send him back if you would like!
