VSO staff and volunteers

I wanted to say a bit about the VSO people here. The finance and support officer has the temperament of Koushan which may be an Arabic male trait. I rang the VSO volunteer who lives next door to me in the compound and asked her what was in the house. She came and looked and told me and at that time there was no cooker or fridge and she said to make sure I didn’t come without them presumably because sometimes volunteers do get abandoned without basic equipment. Anyway when I mentioned that she had said they weren’t there he went totally awol i.e. ‘I am in charge here’, but he does calm down and can also be quite nice. Last night he rang me to check I was OK. Then there is Celine who is the Programme Manager for Participation and Governance (P & G) which is what I am doing. She is quite trail blazing in such a role for a woman, but in the gender training she did not believe you could have rape in marriage. Apparently no Cameroonian tolerates homosexuality – they just don’t acknowledge it as a possibility.

On Friday night there was a dinner and I met some of the other volunteers up here. What they all have in common is that they are all bar me and Iris bi-lingual in French and English and many speak several other languages. There are at least 4 couples then almost totally younger volunteers so far apart from a lady who is volunteering at the university (and who came to the dinner, looked very glamorous, but didn’t speak to anyone other than staff) who is probably nearer my age. They all seem to have MAs or PHDs in international development and on first impression fall into 2 camps, the earnest (first priority is integration) and the a bit smug (I am so clever and well-travelled). They have all been very welcoming. Yesterday a mixed race French Canadian Helene took me round the market in the morning and was really helpful showing me where to buy things such as bread, fruit, the best juice, herbs and sauces. She came for a year then came back as there were no available jobs in Canada. She is not particularly evangelical about the work, has no interest in learning Fulfulde, but the place obviously pushes some buttons somewhere. Then I travelled in this unbelievably clapped out car which had an immediate puncture to Bogo with Yvette who is from the Netherlands and is now in her 4^th year though she plans to go back soon.

I talked to both of them about how they coped in the immediate short term as I’ve had the old panic attacks on a reasonably regular basis and they were very reassuring and said they suffered the same thing, even Iris the serial volunteer says she gets them every time. We were warned we would suffer and to be honest it hasn’t been that bad. Even here there are 2 vso volunteers and a peace corps volunteer who are away in Maga this week-end so they will be able to show me the ropes.

My boss looks like the guy who took us on the camels in Tunisia complete with a Palestinian headscarf. He has worked in the same job in Bogo for 37 years. We haven’t really spoken more than a few words, but he has a very kind face, came to collect me yesterday and I have to be at the Hotel de Ville , mon bureau (office) at 8pm on Monday. Normally I will start at 7.30am.