Ce n'est pas souvent qu'on retrouve une fille du Yukon, habituée aux températures glaciales du nord, dans le désert, mais pourtant c'est là que je vais être pendant les deux prochaines années. J'ai échangé le froid, la neige et les orignaux contre la chaleur intense, le sable et les lions. Malgré le fait que je ne connais pas grand chose sur la savane ni sur les types de serpents vénimeux, je déménage à l'extrême nord du Cameroun afin de travailler comme coopérante sur un program en éducation pour CUSO International.
Despite my limited knowledge and minimal exposure to hot weather and all things that creep and crawl, I am putting my adaptation skills to the test by packing up my life and moving it to Cameroon where I will live and work for the next two years. I have taken on a volunteer position with CUSO International as a school development advisor in Bogo. In partnership with VSO Cameroon, I will be working alongside a national volunteer to increase school attendance (especially for girls) in the area and build support in the community for education.
The objectives of the program are:
Objective 1: To improve the quality of classroom teaching and the learning environment for boys and girls in selected schools
Objective 2: To improve education management at school level through greater and more effective community participation, gender equity and improved governance.
Objective 3: To increase access to schools specifically for girls through greater recognition of the benefits of education by parents and community leaders
Objective 4: To strengthen the capacities of organizations involved in education to improve their governance to advocate for gender equality, inclusive education, teacher motivation and quality, at national and local levels.
To read more about the program click here (in French only).Vous pouvez lire plus sur le program en suivant le lien (en français seulement).
I am excited to be taking on this new challenge, but with the excitement comes a lot of hope and apprehensions around what to expect as well as what might go wrong and what difficulties I will encounter. I know I am facing a steep learning curve ahead of me that includes everything from learning how to cook different foods to learning the details of my new job; figuring out what to wear and studying how to speak the language; learning cultural dos and don'ts and learning how to adapt my skill set to a completely different setting. Luckily, with the help of a good friend, I have managed to narrow down a few of my learning objectives for the next few years (in no particular order):
- Learn to speak fluent fulfulde
- Adapt and expand my skill set in facilitation and community development to a different cultural context (in which decisions aren't necessarily reached by sticking a bunch of colourful pieces of paper up on a wall then making decorative animals out of pipe cleaners...)
- Learn as much as possible about local music, dance and storytelling
- Learn to distinguish poisonous spiders/snakes from harmless ones
- Learn to temper my reactions when faced with violence against women and children keeping in mind that the best way to prevent violence is through education...
