Parlez-vous français?

The other day I was greeted by a man in a language non-native to Akono.  Having never heard the language before and thus not understanding a single word, I returned his greeting with a simple wave. The conversation that followed went a bit like this:

(Anything in italics is translated from French.)

Man:  Why wont you greet me in my patois?  You’re living in our country, you should learn our patois.

Maria: Sorry, but did you think I could learn all 262 languages?

Man:  You could at least try.

Maria:  Okay, I’ll try.  But since Cameroon is ‘bilingual’, how about you try greeting me in English.

Man: *uncomfortably long pause*  Good day

Maria:  Good day, how are you?

Man: *even longer pause*  Thank you.

Maria:  Guess that's it for English...

Man:  Gutentag!

Maria:  Buenos dias!  Como estas?

Man: If you were Chinese, I would tell you ‘heehaw’!
Maria:  No, because that is the sound that an animal makes, and many foreigners dislike that very much.  It’s ‘nihao’.

Entire bar: Nihao!

Man:  Nihao!

Maria: Djam bandu na?  (Bringing out a bit of my rusty fulfulde here!)

Man:  Djam koo dume.

One of Cameroon’s many special qualities is its huge array of languages.  While the two official languages are French and English (with 8 francophone regions and 2 anglophone regions), there are more than 200 local languages (230 according to Wikipedia, 262 according to my counterpart's husband).

As a recent article in The Washington Post stated, “if you randomly select two people in Cameroon, for instance, there is a 97 percent likelihood that they will have different mother tongues. In the United States, there is only a 33 percent likelihood that this is going to happen.”  Furthermore, I’d be willing to bet that if you picked any Cameroonian at random, there’s a strong chance that he/she can get by in at least one other patois beside his/her own.  For example, most people in Akono who have moved here from other regions have learned to communicate in Ewondo.  Oftentimes, people will also learn the patois of their spouse if marrying someone from a different village.  My friend Olivier from Sanguéré-Paul speaks his own language (Mundung), Fulfulde, French, English (at least as much as he learned in school) and could hold basic conversations in at least three local patois other than his own.

Peace Corps Volunteers are granted the unique opportunity to dive into the cultures of little pockets of the world -- cultures that they might never have heard of otherwise.  Before coming to Cameroon, had I heard of Akono?  Did I know that Ewondo was a language?  Nope, absolutely not.  I was focused on just learning French!  Now not only can I speak french (albeit Cameroonian French: “Tu es la? Oui, je suis la.  C’est comment?  Ouaaaaai!”), I can toss a bit of Ewondo and Fulfulde into the mix.  Without Peace Corps, my French would be still be limited to ordering off of menus in Montreal or listening to Quebecois radio with my Mom, translating every other word.  Now, I'm thrown off when anyone in Akono speaks to me in English -- I will automatically respond in French.  Without having lived Northern Cameroon, I would have no idea how to surprise the Fulbe smoothie guy in Yaounde by saying "useko sobajo!" as I walk away. 

PC Cameroon is not unique in offering experiences with new languages.  My favorite language moment occurred while Leana and I were in Zambia.  The official language of Zambia is English.  However in the remote villages, where many of the PCVs work and live, many people lack formal education and the patois are still primarily spoken.  Our host, Mike Preisler, brought us to dig a pond with an agricultural cooperative.  The patois in Mike’s village, and thus the language that he uses everyday to communicate, is Kaonde.  This cooperative, however, consisted of many men and women who had moved from the Congo.  They were more familiar with one of Zambia’s other patois: Lunda, a language that Mike had a decent grasp of as well, and the language that another PCV who joined us, Emily, was fluent in.

Here’s where the fun began:  Having lived in the Congo, a few of these farmers could speak French and Swahili (I only remember a small amount of Swahili, but having spent a couple years in Tanzania, Leana could hold her own in a conversation).  So as we were digging, we were all chitchatting back and forth in five different languages:  Kaonde, Lunda, English, French, and Swahili.  Mike would speak with the farmers in Kaonde or Lunda, Emily in Lunda, Leana in Swahili, and myself in French.  It was amazing to see us all communicating effectively even though most of us (PCVs and farmers alike) were speaking second languages the whole time.  And let me tell you, if I’m going to be shoveling dirt all day, I need a good distraction like that!  It got the whole crowd laughing and having a good time, which I have a feeling is a rare occurrence while shoveling dirt under the hot, Sub-Saharan sun.

After we had finished up for the day, Moses, the host of the site, invited us for lunch.  Upon receiving the food, we each went around and said ‘thank you’ in a different language.

To any prospective PCVs reading this: even if you walk away from your Peace Corps service with nothing else (though trust me, you’ll walk away with A LOT), chances are you will walk away having learned a new language.

On that note (sorry if you've seen this already via facebook or err...my mom):  A few months ago, I put together a quick video to demonstrate the wide variety of languages that can be found in Cameroon.  While the main patois in Akono is Ewondo, so many more can be found even in this small village.  (And this video really only scratches the surface).  You can check it below!

Mobile Youth of Akono

A major theme that came up often during my field studies program in East Africa was rural-to-urban migration – a phenomenon in many, if not all, developing countries in which many people will move from their villages to seek economic gain (among other advantages) in the up-and-coming cities.  While it’s true that this allows for family members to make a bit of money to send home (sometimes), it also robs the rural villages of a young workforce.

Akono is definitely affected but this rural-to-urban migration phenomenon.  The other day while I was in a nearby village farming cassava with a women’s cooperative, we were laughing about how out of the twenty women present, only two (myself included) were under the age of fifty.  The women admitted that all of their children who were my age had moved to Yaoundé or another city.

In Akono it is evident that there is a lack of young adults.  Equipped with four primary schools and three high schools, the village attracts many children from surrounding villages, who either spend the school year at relatives’ homes or rent a bedroom in one of Akono’s many lodges.  When school year is over, they return to their own villages.  Once they graduate high school (or if for some reason they drop out of school – a far too frequent occurrence), they often leave for the big city where they hope to find work.  The young men that stay in town typically opt for a job driving motorcycle taxis.  So, aside from the children, the moto-taximen, and the people who were affected here to work government jobs or to work for the church, the majority of the population consists of older people.

I’ve heard from many different people (e.g., the cassava cooperative, some of my fish farmers, even friends from my old village in the North) who say that the youths seek easy money.  Driving moto-taxis is a good way to make a quick buck (and if Cameroon had more of a saving culture, these drivers would be doing quite well for themselves).  The women at the cassava cooperative claim that the Cameroon's modern youth have little-to-zero interest in learning or practicing agriculture because it is work that takes much time and effort.  (And thus they found it quite amusing to see a young white lady wielding a hoe under the hot African sun.)

Anyways, that was not exactly what I came here to tell you about, but it’s a good introduction.  What I came here to tell you about today is this amazingly dynamic group of youths in Akono who started a volunteer organization to work towards development: Jeunesse Mobile d’Akono (Mobile Youth of Akono, or JEMA).

JEMA, an association consisting of mostly men (I’m pushing to recruit more women) between the ages of 20 and 30, focuses on developing Akono through education, health, and environment.  While I've been hearing that young people from Akono typically move to Yaoundé, it's exciting to have found a special group who have not only chosen to stay, but have chosen to stay and help their community.

I was first introduced to JEMA a few months ago, but recently we’ve begun working more hand-in-hand.  It started last week when I taught lessons about malaria to two of the primary schools.  A few days after my lessons, I met with JEMA and they told me that one of the main things they wanted to do for Akono was to help reduce the high rates of malaria.  So a few days later, we visited another primary school so that they could first watch my lesson, and then teach alongside me to other groups of students.  So far we’ve reached 585 students and plan to reach out to the high schools in the coming weeks.

In their study of local needs, that they found was that the hospital was not fully equipped for proper sanitation.  I can’t really give you a reason for why a government hospital happened to not have enough gloves, soap, bleach, brooms, etc., but that’s just how it was.  So members of JEMA got together and each contributed 3,000CFA ($6), and today we went to present our donation to the hospital: 2 buckets, 2 pairs of gloves, 2 bottles of bleach, 2 bags of detergent, 2 brooms, and 2 squeegees.  It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing.  And what’s even better than "better than nothing" is that this group of young people saw a problem and cared enough to make a change.

I am incredibly excited to begin working towards development with this dynamic group of young people.  But do you know what’s even cooler than our shared interest in development?  They are interested in learning as much as they possibly can.  So, people are late for our meeting?  No problem!  Let me just whip out this book about the discourses of famous politicians.  Or, let’s ask Maria about where she came from, or about how the other places she’s visited in Africa compare to Cameroon.  Or, let’s discuss the global economy!  Or even, hey Maria!  You know aquaculture… why is that pond a different color than that other pond?

Never a dull moment with JEMA!  I’m proud to be associated with this association.  I look forward to the work that we will accomplish together, as much as I look forward to expanding my French vocabulary with all of our intellectual conversations.

Members of JEMA, myself, and the head doctor at the Akono Centre de Santé.