By mariacort3s
So I'm currently living in Kribi! The last month of study abroad with SIT consists of ISP: Independent Study Project. Students have the option to use between a research project, an internship, or a creative project. I have chosen an internship with an organization called Women's Promotion and Assistance Association (WOPA) and I am focusing on peer education regarding HIV/AIDS for female sex workers, truck drivers, and moto taximen in the coastal city of Kribi! For my program, when you choose an internship you have to also have a smaller research project incorporated into what you are doing so I'm going to focus on sex tourism in Kribi and if it prevalent here or if sex work is more of a local business. Tomorrow I am actually going to interview someone at the Ministry of Tourism and the in the afternoon, my adviser (also the president of WOPA), is taking me to where most sex workers live to pass out surveys.
Kribi has been great, the beach is nearby but the heat is never too far. I am constantly sweating because of how crazy the sun is here. Sadly, SIT doesn't let us ride the moto taxis due to safety because there are no car taxis in Kribi just motos. So walking has been my frenemy here while it is too hot, it is also good because it is the only exercise I get.
Anyways, other students went to other cities in Cameroon. We are allowed to go anywhere if it has a purpose to what we are doing (except the Anglophone region due to the Anglophone crisis and to the North because of Boko Haram) or you can choose to stay in Yaoundé. I am not sure if this is how every SIT program works but this is how ours in Cameroon is.
As always, adjustment is not my friend. It is always hard to get to know a new town, new people, new family, so all of that is a lot to handle. Also, at the end of this one month we need to have a 35-45 paper written so that's… #drama! I've began writing already (only two pages in) regarding my literature review and background information. I have to stay more on task because this is not something you can leave for last minute. Oh no!
In a month, I'll be leaving Cameroon and landing in Portugal to meet up with my aunt who lives there. It feels so surreal that this journey is coming to an end. Even though I am mentally exhausted, it is such an incredible feeling to be here no matter what. I'm getting to a point where I am homesick but I have my whole life to be at home and only one month here! I can't let that get in my head because then I'll lose sight of my time in Cameroon. Time is just crazy, I can't believe how quickly it has all gone by. This has been such an amazing learning experience.
My days have been spent reading scholarly articles, writing out my ideas, making interviews, and surveys. For my down time, my academic director let me borrow her book "King Leopold's Ghost" so I've been reading that to relax me but also to learn. It's great so far so I'm recommending it. It's about the Congo's history with King Leopold from Belgium and how he was the first modern crime against humanities. I go to the office from 9-4 pm (M-F) and do whatever is needed. I shadowed the president, Madame Folack, to a meeting she had with Kribi's disabled community. I wish I could show you guys how creative and interesting the wheelchairs are here. They are not the typical wheelchairs but rather a mix with a bicycle. It's so fascinating.
Well thanks for always reading! Life is cute, complicated, but it is what you make it. I'm trying my hardest to enjoy every moment while also giving me myself some me time so I can have my extrovert energy levels fully recharge so I can be as social as possible. The hardest thing about studying abroad here is how social Cameroonians are, my American individualistic self is not used to it even after months of being here. I'll like to do me but while Cameroonians loves to be social which is amazing, it's so beautiful how community oriented they are. Sometimes I wish I was more like that, I barely knew the people that lived in my floor in Fulbright last semester but being in Kribi for 1 week I have met all my neighbors and the family and friends of my colleague who took to the houses of everyone she knew.
All of the socialness, the amount of French I speak, the amount of French I don't understand, and the lack of English I can speak drains me so I go to my room each day around 9 pm and recharge my batteries. I write in my journal and listen to my music for around one hour and then I fell asleep. The malaria malarone pills give you really crazy, realistic dreams so unless you constantly have nightmares (which a friend in the program does so the pills are not good when she's sleeping), its like a movie when I'm dreaming so it's something to look forward to each night, haha.
Thanks always! Happy November!