Black Vampire

After Reese and I had been "devoured"... it's either that or they drink you're blood and you're "initiated"... but they are almost finished with the movie, so they just wanted to kill us.






Reese and vampire that spit blood in his ear.






The entire "Black Vampire" cast and crew.






With two of the seven "black vampires"... the one in the front called herself "The Bride"...









Interesting few days in Bamenda. Staying at the Ayaba hotel… the upscale spot in town. They have air conditioning, elevators… other amenities previously thought unattainable in the NW. I got them to lower their rate for we Peace Corps and I think I have found a new addiction in Africa.

Yesterday evening, while having a set menu meal in their dining room, we encountered several whorish looking women heading out to the pool. They had fangs. A flood light was set up, noticed a camera and a lot of hub bub. Turns out, the hotel was providing a venue for the shooting of “Black Vampire,” one of those awful African movie productions. A guy we had met the night before introduced us to the director, and I suggested that we should be cast in the movie (with my experience as a nun in the Sound of Music, I thought actress in vampire flick would be apropos). They were really happy to slay a couple of Americans speaking simple English.

Pictures should say it all… we were “devoured” by vampires on the floor of the clubhouse after being hypnotized and drawn in by their special powers. Fake blood all over my new Michigan State sweatshirt (that I bought in the market behind Commercial Avenue in Bamenda, by the way). We have a few lines (I call Reese a woman). Should be out in a couple of months… we might be on the movie posters and plan to provide all with copies.

SO funny.

Maa Buh Cornelius

Allo !

Exciting times for Sister Rose. Wednesday (pronounced Wed Nez Dey) I had my I don’t know the exact tradition, but the stone is a red rock that has been used for hundreds of years, is pounded by the highest ranking queens on one special rock in the palace and is kept inside the temple of the Fondom… a very secret and sacred place.

During the smearing, the Fon tells the people present the new name of the individual. After the smearing takes place, palm wine is poured into the Fon’s own cut (an inverted, hollow cattle horn). He takes a drink, then pours the wine into the ritee’s hands, who is supposed to drink every drop. Then the initiated individual can stand and greet the Fon for the first time. In celebration, a special hollar is used… something like…

“OWWWWOHHHHH! OWWWWWOHHHHHH! LALALALALALALAA”

Turns out, this is exactly what happened for me, except that I was the only person receiving rites (usually a big group). He explained the reason for my name, saying that my noble mission of fighting poverty and bringing new knowledge to my community was worthy of such a title. So, no longer Kelsey Rose, I am now Maa Be (pronounced Mah Buh), meaning Queen Mother of the People. Great pictures… loved being under the hand of one of the most powerful individuals in the Northwest and it was great that most of my friends could be there.



The Mamfor (Queen Mother) and I before I did the rites.





The newest queen's (Marie) daughter, Princess Violet... right before the rites.



Singing right after I greeted for the first time.



Oww oww... royal touch.



Group.



Beatrice and I post rites.



Drinking from the Fon's cup.



Running to greet a bunch of old ladies after the rites.



Having the special rock smeared on me by the Fon.

Palm Wine and Presbyterians.

If you take out camera, they will come. They love to be "snapped."


Fighting with Matt is not easy. In fact, I got slapped twice. Reese defended me by fencing... Matt's broom was no match for Reese's bicycle tire pump that left a large welt on Matt's head.


Escaping the presbyterians only to find they have all come to the hut to drink.


After the hut, on the walk back... what can I say. Do you love my moo moo?


I was a little tired of the crowd. Ready to walk back to Matt's...


On the walk from Matt's house we encountered this David Bowie look-alike.






Sorry it’s been so long. There just hasn’t been much to say.

Cameroon is still dusty, people still drink more than they work, and I am still living in the same village.

We had our in-service training last month that allowed all of the agroforesters to get back together for the first time since training. It was a lovely debacle of marcotting trees, visiting the nightclub in Bamenda, killing seedlings while practicing grafting and eating… eating enormous amounts of food four times a day.

Though IST is supposed to inspire you to go back and be supervolunteer, I just wanted to go back and take a vacation. The village life is slow… too slow for a recent graduate who polished off 105 pages of thesis in two weeks and spent whole nights under the florescence of the computer lab. Here I go to bed at 8. During the day, its sometimes difficult to know what I should be doing… some have said this is the way it is supposed to be. Country life. Slow. Full of siestas. Imagine yourself in a bubble. Fill that bubble with jell-o and chunks of nerf. Then go to work, and you should have some idea what I am experiencing. Motivation is difficult. Organization is difficult.

This weekend I headed north on the other side of the ring road, the primary artery of the NW. I went to Kumbo and then on to Nseh, the village of my favorite Mfome, PCV Reese. You know you’re bored when you travel 6 hours to go to church events that include 5 grueling hours of sermons, speeches and lively offerings to God. Reese and I walked to PCV Matt’s in Mbiyah (he has electricity)… it was his Presbyterian church that had the “cornerstone” laying. It was actually a hole between the two front doors of the church that had a stone over it…. They put a clear bucket in it with Cameroonian newspapers, a bible, some sermons and some coins (they emphasized to the crowd that they were only putting coins in the bucket… so that no one would come in the night to tear up the cement for 35 cents).

After about 3 hours of speeches (each “Big Man” that attends the event has to give a speech… there were maybe 5-10 of those), Matt and I escaped to find a drink. We sat down with some locals and downed two liters of free palm wine (locals are so generous). The others (Reese, Ally and anon) joined us after they realized we had not left to “make water,” but were tucked away in a hut down the street. We enjoyed a some time there, drinking and lying about where we were from (that was just me, actually… I told them I was from Canada) and promising to bring the more obnoxious back to Canada “Tuesday” (that was only me, too). It made the next few church hours more bearable (Sure enough, when we came back I bought a calabash bowl for 800cfa and too much gusto at the offering auction… round of applause for the crazy white lady in the moo moo).

The next day, Reese and I walked back to his village through perhaps the most picturesque landscape I have seen in the Northwest. Dramatic hills, completely cultivated with even ridges of cassava, beans, Irish potatoes… and the from time to time a grass-roofed hut, for corn drying. The slope was incredibly steep… my legs are very sore today… almost too difficult to walk. Yet, we saw woman bent over their ridges on almost every hillside. Unbelievable. We got back and tried to catch one of Reese’s chickens, General Tsao, so that we could eat him…

Other than these specific events, I am very normal. Excitement is limited to reading over the different degrees of action put in place for avian flu, if I can watch surgery when I go to Kate’s (watched a c-section the other day) and whether or not the road is paved. But life is generally very placid, very quiet (except for the occasional Black Widow-style murder… the Akofunguba hairdresser hit her hubby in the head with a 2x4). Still having a good time.

Greetings to all!