A Life in Brackets

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Yesterday my post mate and I went to the prison in town.  We had gone a few times before trying to talk to the registrar, the guy in charge, but he hadn’t been there.  This time we got to talk to him.  I’m not really sure how prisons work here, I’ve heard that prisoners actually have to pay for things like meals, but that could have been wrong.  Either way, prisoners throughout the country make handicraft items to sell.  Usually they make bags in different sizes and jewelry.  One of the prisoners brought out the stuff that he sells to show us; I ended up getting a couple of things while we were there. 

My house with more decorations.  It looks like someone lives here now

One of my post mates is an economic development volunteer and wants to help them sell their goods.  Another is a health volunteer and wants to work with them on health issues.  We also found out that there are 7 youths in the prison – five awaiting trial and two more serving their terms.  I talked with the registrar about working with them to teach them life skills and things that will help them once they are out of prison.  I probably won’t start until after I get back from TOT/TDW, but the registrar seemed very open to us working there.  Maybe we can help make a positive difference.  Life in the developing world can be hard enough; I can’t imagine life in a prison in the developing world. 

The registrar was also very interested in us – what we were doing in Cameroon, who we worked with, how much we were paid, things like that.  He wanted to know how we would make money to do things like buy a house or get married later.  We told him that we were only here for a couple of years, and things like that would have to wait until after we went back home.  He had an excellent way of saying it – he said our lives are in brackets.  This is kind of just a side thing and we will get back to our real lives afterwards.  I liked that.  It pretty much is how I feel.  I love what I’m doing here, but it does feel like real life is on hold.  Once I get back I’ll have to worry about getting an actual career, where I’m going to live, and everything else.  For now, my life is just in brackets. 

These mats really bring the place together

One of my post mates had an interesting comment the other day that I’ve been thinking about.  The call to prayer was going on, as usual, and he said that the call to prayer would not be ok in America.  I thought about it and he’s right.  I can’t imagine how much public outcry there would be if a mosque started putting loudspeakers up to call out in Arabic five times a day (here it is way more often than that, they do it to tell people when to wake up, when to wash, etc.).  It’s funny, we have no problem with church bells going off, but call to prayer would be unthinkable.  Of course, church bells aren’t five times a day, but even if it was just once I don’t think people would be all right with Arabic coming out of loudspeakers in America. 

Right now we have friends visiting, the first we’ve had up to Guider from the Grand South, and hopefully the first of many.  We were so excited that a couple of us even bought some more stuff to decorate our houses – I got a couple new mats for the floor, another thing to hang pictures on, and printed out some more pictures to put up.  The whole cluster is in town plus two others, and another is going to come tomorrow – we’ll have nine people in Guider!  All of our houses are full, it’s crazy.  It’s great to show people my post.  We all love it here and want everyone else to come to see how awesome it is.  If I’m going to live this part of my life in brackets, I can’t think of a better place to do it. 

At the vacation challenge.  Lots of dancing, there is another one tomorrow.