Election Announcement Day

I have been travelling a lot lately, for various reasons, but it just happened that I would be in Bamenda for the day the election results were announced. For your information back home, Bamenda is the seat of the opposition leader. I arrived last night around 8 PM. Everyone on my bus was handed a piece of paper issued by the Bamenda City Council that called for peace.
This morning I woke up around 8 AM. Muriel and I (both made temporary residents of the Bamenda office because of standfast) went out in search of breakfast. We walked to the usual spaghetti-omelet shack, but they were closed. The second place we went to had an open door, but turned us away (at 9:30 AM) with the excuse that they were tired and wanted to rest. Upon questioning at a third place, we were told that people were afraid because of the election results. I asked that woman why she was still around if it might become dangerous and she just shrugged, saying “what can I do?”

I would estimate half the stores in Bamenda were closed, although there were a few taxis running. I was able to get to my village without mishap, and sat down with a friend to watch the results be announced. 2 hours later, I left his house. In Cameroon, “election results being announced” means a man from the supreme court sits in front of cameras reading the statistics for each polling district. I watched the Minister of Transportation sleep. I watched the men (and women) of the supreme court sit around looking bored, but stylish, in robes and wigs that imitated Great Britain from a few hundred years ago. I heard Garoua’s statistics announced as having 900,000 votes for Biya while less than 200,000 people voted at all in Bamenda. (Bamenda is larger than Garoua).

My second stop in village was the school. It was 1:00 on a Friday, but there were only a few students in an abandoned classroom. They appeared to be practicing for choir, but one student told me they were praying for peace.
After that I went to visit a friend who lived nearby. She praised my bravery multiple times, saying that soon she would “go to the village” for safety. After I told her she was already in village, she said “well, since you are here, we will stay here”.
My final stop was to visit my neighbor and landlady (and to stop by to say hi to my replacement volunteer). She wasn’t home so I gave her a call. She was out at a nearby bar, drinking while waiting for results to come in. I joined her and sat and discussed for a few hours before coming back into Bamenda. (At this point, they are still reading statistics that no one really cares about anymore).
Bamenda at 6:30 was dark and quiet, with only a few taxis and motorcycle taxis to break the silence. I saw a large group of policemen milling about aimlessly.
My impression? Other than the defaced billboards of President Biya, no one will protest over the election. I have been repeatedly told over the past few months that even if they don’t like the president, people will not fight, because at least they have food.
We will see. It is currently 8:30 at night, and the final results have not been announced. They started reading numbers at 11:00 AM.

What I Do

Yesterday morning I got a call from my program director. He asked me to write a blurb describing what I do in country so that it can be sent out to the incoming volunteers. I figured that it could be interesting to you also, while you are waiting for all the posts that I haven't done yet. Sorry!


What do I do in Cameroon? Just like most ICT-Education volunteers, I started by teaching at secondary school. I taught 12 different classes for 12 hours a week with students varying in age from 11 to 20. Mostly I taught basic skills like Word and Excel. After I finished classes for the day I would often open the computer lab to students with free time. During free time I had students who would ask to learn a broad variety of topics, so I was able to cater more to individual skill levels.
My computer lab had 15 computers in various states of disrepair. My principal was supportive in my efforts to maintain the lab, but there often wasn’t money in the budget. Salvaging parts from other computers was usually the preferred method of repairs.

A few days a week I held classes for the teachers at my school. Most of the teachers wrote their tests out by hand and calculated grades with their cell phones, so there was definitely a need to learn. The principal mandated all teachers to attend, but still the attendance varied wildly. Some days I would have two teachers, some days ten – which was still far less than the 70 teachers who worked at the school.
Through my connections with the school and friends in village, I became acquainted with CATTU, a teachers’ union. They wanted a website, but did not know how to start or maintain one. I developed a simple website for them and then ran training classes for their staff on HTML.

After I completed my work I could always find time for a drink with friends in village, or for a quick cooking lesson from my neighbor (when I say quick, I mean for the 3 hours that it seems to take for even the simplest dishes). The taxi drivers who went to my village were always enthusiastic about teaching me the local dialect, and teachers at my school would teach me pidgin in between classes despite the signs banning the use of pidgin on school grounds. I lived close enough to the regional capital that I went into the city once a week to visit other PCVs and go shopping for luxuries like lettuce.

After a year of teaching at secondary school, I received an opportunity to move posts. I went from a small village in the Northwest region to a large city in the Southwest region. I now work with the Delegation of Basic Education (a division of the government) instead of at a secondary school. Instead of teaching kids, now I teach adults. Currently my students are the staff members of the Delegation, but I am organizing seminars that will take me all over the Southwest region. The seminars will focus on teaching teachers and inspectors basic computer skills as well as computer maintenance and how to use the internet.

Coming into country I was a bit intimidated at the thought of teaching, as I had minimal experience in the field. However, the pre-service training that you attend gives you practice and tips and you soon find yourself wrangling kids like the experts. There is nothing quite as frustrating as teaching a class of 80 students with 15 computers, but when they walk 3 miles on a Saturday just so they can use the computer to practice typing, or bring you a present of live grasshoppers, or get so into the topic you are teaching that they stand up and demand homework, you know it is worth it.

Welcome to Cameroon.

Allison Lacker
PCV 2010-2012