Un An

Well, this is kind of a late post because my one year anniversary in Cameroon was back in August.  In any case, I'll post some photos from my first year in Cameroon.

2011

August  -- I arrive in Yaoundé with 8 other trainees.  We've been selected for a French immersion program in Ebolowa:

September -- 45 more trainees arrive in Yaoundé.  Here we are attending a Cameroonian talk show:
 

October -- probably one of the perks of being an Agroforestry/Environmental trainee is the fact that we get to go on field trips.  Here's some of us during our visit to the West region of Cameroon:
 

November -- I go to the South region to check out where they're sending me:
 

December -- after nearly 4 months (3 months for most), we swear in as volunteers:
 

2012

January -- I arrive at my post, not sure what to do.  I decide to check out a fish pond in a nearby village:
 

February -- I lose a ton of weight.  Part of it has to do with having to prepare all the food myself.  Its either preparing it myself or eating bush meat, which I try, but decide later that its not for me.  Here is a photo of my friend, Fabrice, who is giving me some cooking tips:
 

March -- I visit a local beekeeper:

I also went to Bamendar for IST and Kribi for vacation, but I already posted those photos elsewhere.

April -- I attend a water seminar in Bamenda:
 

May -- My boss pays me a visit.  Since I was heading to Ebolowa afterwards and I didn't want to be in an overloaded bush taxi, I decide to hitch a ride with them to Ebolowa:
 

June -- Garbage is a problem, well, pretty much anywhere, so I tried to follow the three R's.  Here, I experimented with various polypots -- one made from plantain stems courtesy of the Peace Corps Cameroon agro tool kit, one from plastic, and one from a coffee bag:
 

Of course, the neighborhood kids saw these polypots and pretty much destroyed the plants I was trying to grow.  It was a sad day when that happened.

July -- I attempt an agroforestry demo plot:
 

Its not an easy task in the south though where slash-and-burn rules.

Well, that's already one year of photos, but here's a bonus pic from August 2012:
 

This guy has some grubs (ie bugs, worms) in this bottle.Yup, the locals eat them. 

Anywho, on to year 2!  On y va!  Me nge ke!