Thursday, January 17, 2008

Returning to (Cameroonian) Civilization

After our Country Director went to our post to follow up on the burgulary that happen at our house in November, things finally started looking up. Authorities arrested 2 or the suspected 6 men on Monday. That basically means that we're going to go back to Mokolo and stay for awhile until we know slightly more on the whereabouts of the other 4 or some other morcel of information that indicates assured security.

We'll be able to slowly make the transition back to Tourou over the next week it seems. We're allowed to go up to Tourou during the day to conducted work activities and stay in Mokolo at night.

In the mean time Leah and I have been stuck in the warp that is Yaounde. I'm "homesick" I guess you could say... for Tourou and the Extreme North. (Although I have to say I was homesick for the U.S., especially at first after returning here, because we had such a great vacation and our status here in Cameroon was in limbo.) We're not big fans of Yaounde; there's more aggression; and people seem more cutthroat.

Lately, I've felt more justified of my feelings of Cameroon. Many people have mentioned that Cameroon is one of the most difficult countries in which to work chiefly because of high levels of corruption at all levels and overt aggressiveness not commonly experienced in the U.S.

On another note, we've received all of the requested funding for the Tourou Library. With five projects fully funded we're hoping that we can start implementing them.