Mutuelle Commuautaire de Sante de Bertoua is our community health insurance group's name. The banners were over the main road in town for our first General Assembly meeting. I was pretty damn proud of these banners.
The largest hospital in the East
Mr. Defo and Mr. Feutcha at the general assembly meeting- two people in the Mutuelle that I work with.
Register for health insurance!
Emmanuel - my counterpart, starting the presentation. The powerpoint was very impressive until the power went out....
Participant asking questions
Discussing the formation of the Mutuelle
The Board of directors, surveillance committee and the executive office.
Board of directors, elected by the assembly and now being sworn in by a Ministry of Health official
Every meeting ends with food
Outside our soon to be office for the Mutuelle
Needs a bit of work
okay, alot of work
Party at my house before I headed to the states!! I made groundnut sauce, fish, rice, hamburgers, cake and snickerdoodles.
People from my bank
At every party, there must be dancing. This is Mathew- the security guard at the bank
Barry and Lucy
Our friend Santos had too much to drink, not really a surprise there. He was surprised to see drawings in marker on him when he woke up
Ready to go to America!!!!!! This is what I wore getting off the plane. I got some looks in JFK. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures while I was home :(
Kate Cook !!! in Yaounde when I got back from my vacation. She's making dinner with... parmesan and some kind of asian dipping sauce- another one of kate's "tasty" creations
Gin sachets, daquiri mix and ice cubes in a bowl... its always good when we're together
The spice rack at the transit house. Appetizing.
To use the blender at the transit house- it takes four hands and a butter knife stuck in the side of the machine.
My dog gets a bone after I've been gone for so long. Cameroonians thought she stole it from the kitchen
Grandpere at a funeral. Funerals are multiple days and this was the last day- the big party.
Friends
Before dinner they pass out a taste of boiled peanuts and dried corn which I guess is supposed to be appetizing?
One of the many table of food. Chickens and goats hanging out.
Dinner party at a friends house
Grilled fish topped with onions. Yams with Ndole- the starchiest root vegetable you've ever eaten, not remotely like yams with bitter greens that have dried fish and groundnuts mixed in. Oh and a new bottle of whiskey to celebrate the occasion.
Lisa and Evan
Evan before heading back to the states
This is the start of halloween. Trevor is supposed to be some Nike runner from the 80's
Joe was a fulfulbe
Elyse and I stringing beignets (doughnuts) for a halloween game
Evan dressed as a market mommie
"buddy the elf, whats your favorite color??" And the dog as a raindeer
Lisa dressed as her boyfriend Evan, Carles as an African Caesar, me and my friend Destine
Halloween is the most difficult out of all holidays to explain to Cameroonians but they came and had fun anyways
Elyse, as a character from a trashy romance novel
Bobbing for apples
My cameroonian friend killed me on this game
Appoline, Carles, and I
Yikes!!! Carles is going to America! This was right before he was about to leave to the states and reunite with Ann-Maire- my old postmate.
This is a typical picture of us.
Our friend Santos Birthday
First ever birthday party and cake... the cake had a rough moto ride but it was still delicious.
Santos and Nik
Marie and Santos
The bertoua kids
A big chief from a village in the Western Province came to Bertoua and this was his arrival ceremony. He only brought to of his wives, the other couple dozen stayed back in village.
A women's group doing some traditional dancing for the Chief On the floor is money
My counterpart emmanuel going up to the ladies dancing to honor them by putting bills of money on their foreheads while they dance. I went up after him and did the same- and the crowd loved it
My favorite local Chief (the one on the left), being honored by big Chief
A little girl was the first to pay her yearly contributions to the village savings fund. She also sang the national anthem and was adorable.
A village group from the Northwest Region stopped by the ceremony to pay their respects to the Chief
Group photo!
A bug that looked like a leaf, sneaky
Classy elyse
Marie, Carles and Avril Lavigne. This restaurant has a creepy life size poster of her.
Elyse, Tita and I. It was probably 70 degrees so I wore a sweater.
Deep in the market
Red palm oil, basil, celery, parsely, and tomoatoes
Small and extra small dried fish. Not my favorite.
Plantains
The back kitchen of our favorite restaurant
Yummm Achoo soup and vegetable. Translation: Spicy palm oil flavored sauce over carbohydrate mush that has the consistency of play dough. Bitter dark green leaves, and konda (pidgin for cow skin) on the side. Take my word for it, its delicious.
You have to eat the soup with your fingers though
Obama flippy floppies
A palm wine break. Its kept in large jugs and here they serve it in jars. She's straining it right now for bugs or other things that don't belong in it.
My friend destine brought over dinner one night and she's showing me how to eat it. She rolls the mush carbo balls in her hand and then uses it to pick up the delicious dark greens.
Huge bugs outside of my house. Pan fry them with oil and they're a crunchy snack.
Another dinner party. Thats duck and in the long platter is viper.
A huge fish
Happily ever after, Carles made his first trip on a plane and is now in living with Ann Marie in Chicago!!!!
Marie, Elyse and I farming! Not our corn but Maire is getting papayas down from the tree
Gardening! I borrowed the best farming tool Cameroonians have here from my neighbor. Yeah.. that little thing in my hand is it.
Gardening was going well until Elyse locked herself out of her house for about 2 hours. In the pictures she's posing with her break in tools (pieces of wire).
Given up gardening, hanging outside the house while elyse tries to break in, I'm so strong i can bend wire!
At the bar listening/watching to the Cameroon vs Morocco world cup qualifying match. The first half of the game wasn't on TV anywhere in Cameroon - supposedly they didn't pay for the rights to air it. But these crazy people dancing around from bar to bar was pretty entertaining.
Connie came to the east to visit!!! This is at our neighborhood place.
The start of a great thanksgiving. The speckles are because of the dust- it's now dry season and really dusty
Ridiculous dancing at a "club"
Trevor and I doing the.. back rub? I don't know
Ladies of the kitchen, Elyse, Lisa and I.
Real turkey!!! That is the dad turkey and the mom is in the pan.
Packin the stuffing in.
Naturally I planned food for three times as many people. A ridiculous amount of potatoes.
Gorgeous homemade stuffing, pie crust and eggs
again, the amount of potatoes alone could feed all of the volunteers in cameroon. This pictures shows less than half of all the food too.
I brined the turkey a day before and from this picture you can tell just how good it was.
Neighborhood kids on their homemade playground
My neighbor's puppy. He's only a year old and eats $16 of food a week plus whiskey. More than I spend!
When I moved into my new house.. i moved my own stuff down the street. The neighbors loved it.
The side of my house
My living room
My kitchen!!! Complete with appliances and a new spice rack
