pre Christmas thoughts

J1 decided he was not coming out with the others. He was travelling a lot with the marines and a family holiday in a not very luxurious place was not his idea of fun. He would be doing it just for me which was not best use of our resources.

 

Celine my manager here was very sad to know that I am coming home. I still feel a bit ambivalent about leaving early, but also feel that my luck may run out if I stay much longer for

• Not getting sick (another volunteer is back in hospital again this week with typhoid and malaria)
• Not having things stolen (aka Gwendoline and her 2 bag snatches)
• Will it really make any difference to those in power at the commune who were NOT pleased that I got 2 wells fixed this week one of which had been broken 5 years? What is that about other than they think they must be the only person who takes credit for achieving anything? It’s quite crazy, sickening and disheartening all at once.

 

The weather has got very hot again though we are supposed to be in the ‘cold’ season. The advantage is that it is cooler during the night. This Friday and Saturday I have been involved with a group looking at reviewing the institutional development process that we are undertaking with the communes. It was quite a heavy, rather boring 2 days. One intellectual colleague ran a session on ‘outcome mapping’. A bit of me thinks, ‘you know Hazel, if you really listened to this, you could utilize these catchy phrases in interviews and sound impressive’ , the other bit of me thinks, ‘how many variations on evaluation can there be and how dull and self important he is’. Cameroonians are very quiet and patient about training and bring into play their usual capacity for sitting very still for long periods of time. Of course it doesn’t mean that they necessarily learn anything either!

 

Every now and then I think of you all in the midst of Christmas frenzy, decorations, dinners, parties, excess – I don’t miss it!