Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Monday, August 21, 2017
A Day In The Life
6:30
AM
Wake
up.
Thank
God for last night’s sleep and ask him for the grace to faithfully live by my
Christian values this day.
6:45
AM
Morning
meditation.
7:15
AM
Breakfast
of banana, papaya and mango. Since I am not a coffee drinker, I found a fruit
company that makes a good pineapple juice. I enjoy some wheat bread from
a local bakery with peanut butter (bought from some other missionaries in
country) and honey produced by the Cistercian monastery!
9:00
AM
Today
I was scheduled to offer “Beginning Excel for Accountants” in the youth office
at 9 am, but I have learned nothing starts on time here. We had about 10
attendants. I spent a couple hours sharing the basics of Excel. I assigned some
homework so they could practice making a simple spreadsheet that included a
personal budget. Although the initial course was only scheduled for two
days, it is clear that some people would like the classes to continue and learn
more of the advanced functionality of excel.
11:45
AM
Headed
to Mass at noon.
1:00
PM
Went
home for lunch and a short rest.
I
am filling in for Fr. Godlove, who is away on vacation, so I prepared for the
catechism classes he has been offering to the youths since they have not had
school for over six months. I spend some time organizing my thoughts and
preparing my notes. I also borrowed a copy of the catechism from my
neighbor (mine is back in storage in California).
3:00
PM
Headed
to the cathedral.
Internally,
I was concerned about relating to the youths and presenting in a way that would
be engaging and helpful for their formation. Those in attendant spanned
from about 7 years old to high school age, and I found it difficult to keep
their attention. Despite the challenges, it was a good experience because
it stretched me and helped me to learn how to minister to the youth over
here. In all honesty, I am much more comfortable addressing and speaking
to young adults but that was not my audience.
4:00
PM
Left
for French Class. I ended the catechism class early because for the last two
months I have been taking French classes at a nearby institution. The class is a two hours, and is offered three
times a week at Franco Alliance. Our instructor is a lively and entertaining
Cameroonian Frenchman.
6:30
PM
I
had dinner with a Cameroonian neighbor, Brenda, and her family. She introduced
me to her nephew who was visiting from Yaoundé. The young guy’s name was
Bright and we talked about his ambitions to study in the U.S. at one of the Ivy
League schools. We then sat down and enjoyed the meal Brenda had cooked
during the day.
8:00
PM
I
headed home and did my evening mediation. Then I checked emails, responded to
texts and relaxed a bit.
10:00
PM
Get
ready for bed. I end my day by doing an Ignatian-style Examen and thank God for
the blessings.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Change of Plans
Ok, since we are still in the strike that began back in
November and has affected the education system nationwide, including my role as
Campus Minister of CATUC, I have been reassigned to work with the Youth
Ministry team. This is a good alternative and will certainly keep me more
engaged with the youth and young adults of the Archdiocese of Bamenda.
When discussing my alternatives with Archbishop Esua, I had
been informed that working in Youth Ministry would involve going out to bush
parishes and the need to “rough it.” Given my appreciation for camping
and for the outdoors this was much more of an enticement than a
hindrance.
Fortunately for me I did not have to wait long before one of
these visits was scheduled for our team. Just over a week ago we all packed
up in our 4x4 and headed out for Menka Quasi-Parish in the middle of some
beautiful hills. The drive there was an exciting adventure
and required us to get out and push the vehicle a few times.
Below is a video of one these episodes.
The parish itself was a surprisingly large church that was
serving the surrounding area and was preparing more than 200 youths to receive
their sacraments. Our purpose over this weekend was to hold a youth rally
and let the youths know that we, back in Bamenda had not forgotten about them
simply because they were way out in the bush.
We held several talks over the weekend; we sang, dance, ate
and prayed! It was a blessed event and a great experience for me
personally. Because I may have been the first white man to visit in a
long time, I was engaged to take many pictures with several of the youths, and
was a much curious figure for the littlest ones; who weren’t sure whether to
come close or run away! All of it makes me smile as I think back over the
weekend and picture the faces of the kids and youths.
Here are a few pictures of our adventure in Menka!
Thursday, April 13, 2017
Observations, Appreciations and Challenges III
Part 3: Challenges
Apologies for the long delay in writing the third part of this series but we are in the middle of an ongoing strike which has resulted in closed schools and blocked access to the internet. Nonetheless daily life has continued, albeit differently than was originally expected.
Apologies for the long delay in writing the third part of this series but we are in the middle of an ongoing strike which has resulted in closed schools and blocked access to the internet. Nonetheless daily life has continued, albeit differently than was originally expected.
Despite these new challenges to living in Cameroon I would
not alter what I consider the more difficult aspects of residing in sub-Sahara
Africa. There have been many adjustments, all of which have
understandably come with the territory. For instance, most of the food
that I have tried I have enjoyed experiencing especially the roasted fish and
fried plantains. That said, I have not and don’t believe I will acquire a
taste for “palm oil,” which is often used in preparing several of the dishes
here like cooked vegetables and black beans. On a more superficial level, as a
result of being a chocoholic finding good dark chocolate has proved to be
cumbersome at best and relatively expensive.
It has also been an adjustment to learn to do my laundry on
a regular basis by hand in my bathroom sink. Washing machines are quite
rare and dryers are non-existent to my knowledge (which is actually not a bad
thing because we therefore use clotheslines and in a small way benefit the
environment).
All of these challenges have been fairly standard and to be
expected. But what I have found to be the most frustrating is the lack of
consistent running water. We can go weeks at a time with no running water
and as a result learning to “fetch” water has been a new skill acquired.
If we knew the water was not going to be available based on a schedule it would
be easier to manage but at times I have been in the shower, all soaped up and
the water has disappeared for some time. When we are lucky the water may
trickle back enough to finish quickly, but if not then hopefully you have some
water stored on the side. If indeed running water is not available for
weeks then this makes showering a most appreciated luxury.
Often times we have not had running water inside but outside
the rains are coming down hard. It should come as no surprise then that
when this has been the case I have wondered if it would be culturally
unacceptable for a naked white man to go outside and soap up under the natural
flowing waters from the sky. My guess is that this would not go
over too well: Janice and Chad you don’t need to worry about unexpected phone
calls from the bishop’s house. Haha!
I had basically figured out an acceptable solution to this problem when my friend Catherine was going to bring me a camp shower to string up in my bathroom but she has had to postpone her trip due to the socio-political unrest in this country. I did however find all the necessary components to make a hand-washing station but since I did not have all the necessary tools I had to enlist the assistance of the carpenters on grounds and paid them in the currency of Guinness!
All in all the challenges have been eye opening and have
helped me appreciate the things I take for granted, and also to realize the
daily struggles that my Cameroonian brothers and sisters face even for the most
basic needs. Walking in solidarity with them, even in small ways will, I
pray, help me to grow in awareness and compassion for the millions of people
who live with so little in comparison to my accustomed western lifestyle.
Yours truly,
Marco-please-don’t-stand-too-close
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