CESIE cesie.org is carrying out a Youth in Action, European Voluntary Service project
‘PANGEA – Volunteering for connecting continents’
in Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon – hosted by
CAPEC Cameroon Association for the Protection and Education of the Child.
Four volunteers coming from different European countries: Francesca (Italy), Emese (Hungary), Veronica (Spain), Adeline (France) from September 2013 until February 2014 are carrying out several activities and leading different objectives in a school for low-income families, Bitame Lucia International School located in Nkofoulou village.
Our Italian volunteer Francesca tells us her emotions and impressions about her first months in Cameroon.
A red road that goes up and down, full of potholes and cracks making lively the journey on it. All around is green, sometimes covered by a red cloud raised from the transiting cars. Children walking beside this road don’t seem to be bothered. This is the street leading to Bitame Lucia International School in Nkofoulou. But it could be any street of Africa. This is also the street we, all volunteers, are crossing in this EVS experience.
In this moment we are half way, and only now, after three months, I can try to describe the intensity of the feelings I’ve experienced on my arrival in Yaounde. But it is still difficult to explain something that is keeping on changing every moment. The perception and the awareness of the environment, people and places are changing. Even our manner to relate with and between us is changing. There’s also a change in the way in which we look at our background and at the news experiences and situations we’re discovering. Every time we walk on this street we meet and know several faces. These reflects the many faces of a culture that I couldn’t expect so different. Cameroon it’s also called “Mini Africa”, for its 350 different ethnicities with 350 different languages and cooking habits, behaviors and ways to think. Every day we have to face such a variety and diversity. We can see the contrast in the way some people on the street behave with us, that especially in the beginning made us feel as “strangers”, compared to the openness and kindness of teachers and our hosting family that always make us feel at home. I can still remember the first day we went out on the street and a small child call us “Les blanches”: I can now realise the awareness that we have gained about their point of view, leading us to a positive acceptance of the way in which they see us.
This is the hardness of adaptation. It is a key process that radically changes every mindset and any kind of bias that we inevitably carry with us in our suitcase. But sometimes this adjustment can bring a disclosure, when you find something new and discover new resources. A positive stimulation pushes us to drawn at our personal fountain of creativity, especially in our work and activities to cope with the objectives provided in our program. The surprising results have been caused by the natural coordination and collaboration between us volunteers and local staff. Adaptation, flexibility and open attitude have been useful especially in the relationship with children: with them we can experience a kind of contact and relation that is always enriching for both.
Looking towards the end of this road, there’s a great will to do more, hoping to reach the end with dirty red feet.
For further information, please contact youth@cesie.org
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
