At The End of The Day

It's been awhile. In a few days Cameroon will have its 2011 presidential elections, however, that doesn't mean much to anyone really outside Cameroon. Will have an update about that in a month... Frankly, at my post en brouuse, no one really cares. My friend's mother said she is not voting, "Voting is for the youth, not old people like me." She's about forty. ...For the next couple weeks we are going on "Standfast" which means volunteers are not allowed to leave their post. Taking precautions if something terrible goes down. There are people running...you see flyers all about the town. I find it funny the current president has his photo with the slogan "The People's Choice" and his picture of him is in his late 50's. He's currently in his mid 80's presumably.


Just the other day I became engraged with my 8th grade students (beginner spanish). It's a class of two hours, and half way through they gonged (the school bell) and the students started exalting, "Senora, je suis fatigue, c'est la pause". No, it is not the pause I bellowed back. It's just the change of classes for others. There was chatter and laugther by some. I became so fed-up I told one of my trusted students, "Watch my things!" I stormed right out of the classrom to the principa'ls office up the hill across the route en terre my feet dusted with red. I said, "Right now I need help." As all Cameroonians, they walk slowwww. We finally made it to the classroom of apprehensive teenagers with the look of undeniable fear.

With the deity of the school there, I had the class around my finger. I yelled in my broken Cameroon French (a joke for the actual French poeple) and yelled, "I don't understand. You know me. Education is not a joke. You come here and joke around waisting your time. Its sad!. You are lucky to be here, getting some type of education in this poor country in Africa. There are others who can't even scrounge enough money for food and you're here joking that everything is joyous." I continued to scream and highlight the fact they are lucky, out of the poorest continent on the planet they laugh at the joke of an education, cliche as it is, is their only hope, corruption aside, foreign aid. I finished, "Le future du Cameroon ici qui blague, je suis desolee." After I started to kick students out and will minus one point on their exam next week. Don't come if you don't want to, there's the door, it's your choice and your problem ultimately. My philosophy. Take it or leave it.

Finally, to be a happy 2nd year volunteer, it's what matters at the end of the day right? So irritated by apathetic enthusiam for anything, in the evening I drifted to my student's house, the one who gives me hope. I chatted with the mother in broken fufulde and French and with the sister. I smiled, ate some Cameroon mint (not too bad) and went home rejuvinated. It's the small things that make it worthwhile here and keep me sane in a backwards society