Busy week, n'est-ce pas? In Bafoussam now for a regional meeting, with all the other volunteers in the West, and a few sneakers from the W. Adamoua.

Wednesday I had a meeting with the students from last year's Batir l'Avenir, and a couple of folks from RIDEV to evaluate their programs (alright, the folks from RIDEV were doing most of the evaluating, i was just trying to keep up). It was very interesting. Two boys did a village clean_up program, that had some success, but hasn't been continued. One boy was going to do a formation on l'informatique (how to use a computer), but the lack of support prevented him from getting started. One girl was going to do pork raising and potato growing, but the people in her group kind of fell apart, so she ust ended up buying something for her church, uniforms for the choir, maybe? She got torn apart a little, because that is really not in the spirit of a communit leadership project. The last girl wanted to work for children's rights, but she wasn't entirely sure how to go about it. So, success rate, less than 100, but we learn from our mistakes, right? All this brings me to think that perhaps the leadership program could use some work before handing over a bunch of money to kids. So. There is that.

I also talked to the Censeur about meeting with the Club d'Environment for planning a pepiniere and eventually planting trees around campus to block the wind and provide shade. Also Liz and the Baham Env: Club want to come visit Bamendjou.

Oh, backtrack, Engineers Without Borders was supposed to get into Bamendjou Mon evening, but they were delayed. They got in Tues Eve, and Henry and I met up with them Wed AM for breakfast, doing a little protocol, checking out the water sites.

Thursday I spent with the Engineers, Dr. Steve and 5 students from U Delaware. Right now, there are 3 solar powered pumps each connected to 3 large cisterns about 1000 gallons each in the communities of Bakang and Balatsit, about a 30 min walk from my house. This trip, the Engineers are planning to create a water tower on a hill between all 3 points, pump water up the hill with more solar powered pumps, and then create a gravity fed distribution system to better serve the communities. They have been coming twice a year since 2007, and will be back in June this year to work more on the tower and distribution system. An awesome group of students, no doubt!

Friday, did badly needed laundry, made banana bread and walked out to Bakang to meet up with the Engineers. So far I have mostly been standing around, translating a little french, and wrangling herds of school kids. But I've also been learning a lot about the water systems. It is really interesting. Makes me wish I was an engineer.

Today, regional meeting. Monday, back to Baf for a meeting about Batir l'Avenir. I have supposed to have been looking for grants for funding, but alas, technological problems!

I got the internet after 4 days of hassle, but as soon as I did, I broke my computer. Hopefully I will get it fixed this week.

Wednesday, the Engineers have a water committee meeting, which I will surely be at. They need to make a community map (hello PACA) to determine where to pipe water to from the towers to assure it will be used. I think I will be helping figure that out, esp. if they do not have time before they leave the country, which is Friday.

Also, Friday, Liz and I will be collecting (hopefully!) the applications for this years Batir l'Avenir, and starting to go over them.

C'est tout pour maintenant, je pense. (THat's all for now, I think).

Love to you all!