Newbies in the North

Consolidation is over and no one was closed!  It didn’t last too long, everybody got along, and I was able to keep working, so it really wasn’t bad at all.  The final result was just that whenever the girls ‘en brousse’ (in the rural areas) travel, they have to text not only the Movement Phone, but us too.  Movement was created after the first kidnapping for the people in the North.  We have to text it 48 hours before traveling to get permission, and then when we are traveling we have to text them when we leave and when we arrive.  We also have to go to Larbak, Douroum, and Mandama to see where they all live so we could find them if we ever needed to.  Luckily the logistician from Garoua is going to drive us, so it will be a lot quicker and save us money. 

Halloween in Guider

I’ve been teaching my youth center kids ‘Heads, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes’ and ‘the Hokey-Pokey’ to teach them some body parts vocabulary, help with pronunciation, show them some American culture, and have fun.  They love it, but the Hokey-Pokey is surprisingly hard to teach.  I guess I shouldn’t call them kids though; they are mostly between 14 and 22 (I think, there have been a lot of new additions since I asked them).  All but one of them are women, and a lot of them have kids.  There is usually a baby in the room.  It’s kind of weird to be teaching while one of your students is breast-feeding at her desk. 

Electricity in mud-brick, thatched-roof houses.

Our grant money came in for the latrine project.  We are doing it at a school called Cetic de Lamorde.  It doesn’t have any latrines, so we are building one structure that has four stalls.  So far we bought the cement and rebar, and the school got the sand.  The school is actually paying for about half of the project, either buying stuff like the sand or through the labor, which is awesome because it gives them a lot more buy-in.  The school principal is also a technician, so he is in charge of things.  I went over there yesterday and there is already some progress on the hole.  It’s pretty cool to see some actual physical evidence of my service (other than maps). 

The trees in Guider make it look like an American suburb.
If you only look straight ahead.

The other day I was walking down the street and this random guy stopped me to talk, which happens most days.  He told me that we should start jogging together; that we can run to the bridge (6 km away) and back, then stop at the bil-bil market and drink all day.  Bil-bil is that weak, kind of sour beer that they make locally.  The guy reeked of it. 

The view from Mount Ngaoundere

Yesterday the new Northies got up here!  We had a party for them and one of our friends whose service is up.  There is a place in Garoua that has shwarma, so we got a bunch of those and beer.  It was a pretty fun party, hopefully a good welcome for them.  Our region is still small, about 20 people, but at least it’s getting bigger instead of smaller.  Between the newbies and a couple of people from my stage who moved North, over the passed month we gotten ten new people. 

The Gorges de Kola: now with water! 

The next couple of weeks before I go south will be really busy.  We are having a bunch of people in Guider for Thanksgiving and a food security conference this week, and then another friend up here is leaving so she is having her going away party in Garoua.  I have to take the train on December 10^th to do my mid-service medical tests before my flight home, and I’m going to come to Garoua a day or two early to help my friend move into her new house (hopefully she has her house by then).  I’m getting really excited for my trip home.  Especially to see my dog. 

Friday prayer

Undercover buddy cops for halloween