Postcards from Cameroon

2007-05-19T04:17:00.001-04:00

The Food Issue

The thing I miss the most here is the wealth of food choices that we can find in even the tiniest supermarket back home. When I first arrived in Dschang and was shown the “supermarket,” I had a minor panic attack. There was hardly anything to buy! I could buy sardines, cans of tuna ($3), powdered milk (four brands, three sizes each), tea, instant coffee, canned peas, canned mushrooms, tubs of margarine (pure trans fats!), Laughing Cow “cheese,” pasta (yippee), rice, and some bottled herbs. That was about it. The entire store contains only one food aisle and that was only to the waist-high shelves. I assumed that the supermarket in Dschang would have the same things that I found anywhere else in Cameroon. Even the one supermarket in tiny Kumbo (where there are two hospitals to provide the demand, I suppose) had all sorts of goodies (like Kool-aid and peanut butter). I guess Dschang is too small.

Local produce is cheap and good. I can find carrots, cabbage, green beans, potatoes, green peppers, and very fine plum tomatoes in my neighborhood market. On market days (once every 8 days in the main market area - see previous posting) if I am lucky and go early enough, I can find “village eggs,” which we would call organic eggs. They are infinitely better tasting than the commercially grown eggs. They are hard to carry since you just put them in a plastic bag and walk carefully. Haven’t broken one yet.

What to do? I decided long ago that I don’t like the local dishes enough to spend the HOURS required to prepare them. To say nothing of the hours it would take to learn to make them. I could hire someone to prepare my meals but living at this hotel precludes that (neighbors needed). So being an intrepid traveler, I had to make do – with the help of friends back home.

With the help of three “care” packages, I managed to make some tasty concoctions using soup and pasta mixes. I usually make up a pot of chopped produce (whatever is available that week) and one of the mixes. Although it sounds monotonous, each one is different. I also make a pretty good marinara pasta sauce with those plum tomatoes. I found another small supermarket run by a really nice man from Lebanon. He has the usual stuff but he carries real cheese and Mars bars. What a find!

2007-03-12T03:31:00.000-04:00

International Women’s Day, March 8, 2007

In the US, International Women’s Day passes without much notice. Here, in Cameroon, it is a BIG DEAL! I found out about the big celebrations only the day before. It is usual for a woman to have a tailor-made dress for the occasion. You select one of three colors/designs but the design of the dress can be anything you want. So I didn’t have an "official" dress, which was the cause of some embarrassment since I was dressed so blandly in comparison.

The day is quite festive with the main event at the town grandstand. I finagled a seat inside (out of the hot sun). There is speeches, poetry, and dance competitions (with the men "officials" joining in – the cause of great mirth among the crowd). But the main event is a parade of the dozens and dozens of womens groups, all in their special dresses with flounces, flourishes, and fancy. Many were organized around HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction, and elimination of domestic violence. Many were rural groups, each with a banner or sign. It went on for about two hours with the high school band playing in the background. Afterwards, I hung out with some of the university women faculty who were a hoot. I met most of them that day – about time!

2007-03-12T03:15:00.000-04:00

Flag Expedition

Some of you know that I was awarded an Explorer’s Club Flag. It is considered an honor to carry one. Each flag is issued "on loan" and has its own history. I applied to carry a flag for the research portion of this trip and was awarded Flag #50. It dates from 1932 and has been all over (and above) the world, including Ethopia, Easter Island, Farallon Islands, and a trans-global balloon flight. And now to Cameroon.

Part of the tradition is to take pictures of the flag at interesting points of the expedition. The first photo is with members of the faculty and administration at the University of Dschang. From left to right, Jonas Pinta, chair of the Botany Department; Pierre Tané, Dean of the Faculty of Science; Anaclet Fomenthe, Rector (President) of the University; me; and Ajaga Nji, Vice Rector for Research and Cooperation.

The second photo is me with the fon (king) of Oku. On my arrival in Oku, he had asked me to return with my observations. Following our discussion, we snapped this photo (and drank a little palm wine).

The third photo represents the true nature of the expedition. At the left is my main man, Isaac Fokom who has been part of my research from the beginning. At the right is Joseph Keming who joined my work in the second year. I couldn’t do this work without them. We are standing in front of Tree #2 in the Sacred Forest, one of the largest trees in the study. Unfortunately, it is dead because of harvest.

2007-02-05T10:40:00.000-04:00

Forest Conservation News

The news is not good for the forest and the tree I am studying. The forest is still beautiful but it is increasingly disturbed. Large areas have been subjected to fires (many deliberately set). Most species do not seem to be fire-adapted so you see vast areas covered in bracken fern that come in after a disturbance. One of my plots was burnt and 2/3 of the trees are dead. Harvest has also taken its toll. All of the trees in my control plot (never harvested before - photo to left) were dead. These included most of the largest trees in my study. It seems the former fon (king) got paid off by some bark buyers and he allowed the harvest to begin. Every tree I saw had been harvested. The trees that have survived – so far – look sick with the main branches dead and only small suckers coming out (second photo). But two plots were harvested gently and they will probably do ok. There is also a lot of goat and sheep grazing, much more than I saw in the past. Everywhere you go, there are hundreds of the seedling-eating devils. Wherever there are goats, I find no seedlings. This is probably also true for the other forest species. But data is data and I will work it up and sound the alarm – if anyone will listen, much less do anything about it. The new fon (the former one died recently) asked me to write up a report about what I saw. The jury is still out on his conservation attitudes. Time will tell.

2007-02-05T10:04:00.000-04:00

Wilderness Camping

I made three trips up to my highest camp (close to 10,000 feet). It is completely rustic although we "rent" a man’s hut that we use to build a fire to keep warm and the guys cook on – just like they do at their homes. The fire is made inside and the smoke goes out the grass roof. It stays pretty toasty in there. I had never been up there so early in the year and I was surprised at how cold it got at night. Before, it got into maybe the high 40s but it got to freezing this time. Each morning, the tent and everything else was covered in icy frost. The first trip, I was shivering cold during the night. The second trip I brought an extra layer of clothes. So I slept in long underwear, fleece pants and top, wool sweater and jacket. The guys just have a t-shirt and light jacket and use flip flops around the camp! In the photo, the summit and the grassland savanna can be seen in the background.

Left to right are Isaac; Lufsamba, and Joe, my indispensible field assistants. This photo was taken in front of the palace.

2007-02-02T10:06:00.000-04:00

Life in Oku

If life in my bungalow in Dschang is like camping, life in Oku was even more rustic but better than camping in the forest. I rented a three-room "apartment" in the village (bedroom, bath, and a third room that served as my parlor, field room, office, and kitchen). It was pretty comfortable once I got used to the "life" going on just outside my window (life begins at 5:30 am here). Families use their houses only for sleeping it seems. Everything else – visiting, preparing food, doing laundry - goes on in the courtyard. People live in compounds, which are a series of buildings. In my case, the buildings were in a square, with my apartment and a series of rooms that they rent on two sides and the family house and kitchen on the other two sides. The kitchen where they have their wood fire for cooking. They also eat and take baths in there. It was interesting to observe this way of life – since I have never lived in a compound before.

This place was luxury compared to 99.9% of the people in Oku. Most people live in mud-brick houses with dirt floors and no electricity or water. I had electricity (with a wall plug for the computer), tiled floors, a flush toilet, and a sink with running water. The water was shut off occasionally so I had to store water in a pail. Once the water was off for three days and I had to decide between water to drink or use it for, ahem, flushing the toilet. The problem was solved when the water came back on but I stored more water after that. I cooked on a one-burner camping stove that burns butane in these little blue canisters (you can find these all over the world). It worked well. I heated water for bathing with a Sun Shower that uses the sun to heat water in a black bag. It heated water well but the air temp is so cool that bathing was a shivering experience. Needless to say, bathing was out of the question in camp, brrr.

2006-12-04T10:28:00.000-04:00

Students

The students are amazing. Everything they learn is from lectures and they are writing like mad to get it all down. Since there are no textbooks to look up anything, they need to get every word. Someone told me that they can get through a Ph.D. and never see a textbook. They don’t seem to have any laboratories so they have little practical knowledge. Whatever their limitations, they make up for in their enthusiasm. I’m not sure how they are evaluated. It seems they attend classes and at the end of the year, they take a comprehensive exam and if they pass it, they go on to the next year. Once I figure this out, I will clarify this.

Tuition is just $100 for the entire year and it is kept low so that young people have something to do. They struggle along with very little money or even much of a hope of a job when they finish. However, they must come from families with at least some means since they come from all over the country. They need to find some kind of housing and meet expenses.

For second year students, I designed some simple exercises based on some botany labs I used to teach. I introduce the topic (Leaves, roots, etc) and use the laptop and projector as a “microscope” or as a way to demonstrate the topic. I give them a few questions based on what they are looking at. At first they seemed really shy about interacting with me. They are not used to speaking with their teachers. The first two labs, I had to talk them through it. By now, they are used to my style and they seem to like it. Here they are looking at flower parts and working on identifying some basic flower morphology.

I suggested to the Dean that they use the office that they built for me and convert it to a Departmental library. They love the idea. So these students will have access to at least a dozen recent textbooks and the CD ROMs that come with them.

2006-11-24T10:08:00.000-04:00

At the Market

To buy produce one must go to market. Big Market Day is held every eight days and Small Market Day is every three days after that. Either day, sellers bring their produce or other things to sell to the main market area. It is a bustling place with hundreds of people moving around, small boys with their wheeled carts to carry your purchases, and cars trying to weave around the masses of people. It is exciting and a little intimidating since any purchase necessitates the interaction with the seller and of course, it is all in French or Pidgin or some combination of the two. However, I enjoy the interaction and of course, getting really fresh produce. It is time-consuming. Not like a quick trip to Publix.

My favorite things to buy are "farm eggs." These are MUCH better than the commercial eggs which are tasteless things. They also hang around without refrigeration for who knows how long. I also like passion fruits. They are the best fruit in the world and taste a bit like a sour version of a kiwi. I buy as many as I can when I find them. The tropical fruits are really good too (papaya, pineapple) and about 25-50c each.

I bought peppers and tomatoes from these women. Hard way to earn a few francs.

2006-11-13T09:56:00.000-04:00

At the University

The university is pretty small as far as infrastructure is concerned although there are 13,000 students. It has an "upcampus" at the top of the hill and a "downcampus" about a mile away at the bottom of the hill. The upcampus was built by the US as a land grant college. I don’t know the year but the buildings look 70s era. The buildings are really solidly built but are slowly crumbling away since there is no money for maintenance. Everything is dirty, mostly due to the very dusty dry season. Many things are broken and left unrepaired (cabinet doors, broken tiles, dangling light fixtures). The American builders also never finished the job since they were accused of spying (on what I can’t possibly imagine) and left. My office is located upcampus although all my classes are downcampus. Fortunately, where I live is about halfway between them and it is an easy walk to either place.

It is a challenge to teach here. The most annoying thing is that there is no water on either campus except for a spigot outside the main building upcampus. Even though there are toilets, you must flush them with a bucket from a 55-gallon drum. The toilets have a sign on the door "Sanitaire," a misnomer if I ever heard one. They are also unisex and locked for faculty use only. The students have no access to toilets that I know of. Guys have it easy, they go anywhere but I don’t know what the girls do.

The other really annoying thing is that the power goes out for at least some period of time every day. At least once a week, it is out for the entire day. This week is has been off more than on. If the power is out, it is out over the entire city. This usually happens when I am settling down for a productive time of writing or course preparation or when I am intending to go to the faculty internet room to do email and such. Can you imagine FPL getting away with that? A former Fulbrighter told me of this so it seems to be a chronic problem. They seem to take it all in stride.
Once reason I chose to live at the "resort" is because they have their own water source. Anyplace else, the water can be shut off for hours, days, or weeks. I can live without electricity but not water. I see people bringing containers up the hill to get water from the campus tap or doing laundry. The Centre Climatique also has a generator but they only fire it up at night. So while the rest of the city is dark, we have lights and I am grateful for it.

2006-11-02T08:47:00.000-04:00

Principle of Limited Good

In Anthropology, there is a concept called the Principle of Limited Good. It means there is only so much luck/success/money to go around and if someone is getting too much of it, there is that much less left for everyone else. If someone is trying to get ahead, say, by having a successful business, others will try to bring him down. The operation of this Principle is a cultural thing and its daily operation, I’m sure, is mostly subconscious. It often prevents people from even trying.

I had a discussion with one of the faculty members and it seems that the Principle is happening here, occasionally with deadly consequences. Sometimes other faculty will scheme to try to keep another from getting ahead. Sometimes budgets will be cut so that a research program is hurt. Sometimes it can get deadly. One faculty that I met during one of my past visits here was a highly talented chemist who was testing local plants for medicinal properties. He was getting funding from abroad and had a well-equipped lab and a number of students. He was advancing rapidly and was working his way up the administrative ladder (more money and prestige). When I was preparing for this trip, I asked about him only to learn he died in a car accident. There is some suspicion that this was no accident. The driver of his car came through without a scratch (apparently he swerved the car so that the passenger side was demolished) and he was also suspected of causing a similar accident. In any case, it was not investigated since it was “just an accident.”

I have had personal experience with this in the past – not yet on this trip. I have had dealings with no fewer than three people who seemed to go out of their way to try to make me fail. On my first trip, one suggested several “detours” when I was investigating how to get the project started. On the second trip, one advised me to take a particular trail to get to the forest that caused a five hour hike for nothing – there was a MUCH shorter and easier way. One particularly egregious example was when I went to the other end of Cameroon where another person was to arrange a demonstration of tree harvest (harvest is forbidden on Mount Oku, where I was working) and to arrange some interviews. After four days of frustration, I finally understood that what I was seeking was impossible (for various reasons) but he knew it all along and let me flounder around anyway. I left without accomplishing anything. I have to wonder what is in store for me on this trip. My defense is knowing what to look for and to expect the “detours.”

2006-10-16T10:52:00.000-04:00

Everyday Life

Everything that is so easy back home is a major effort here. For example, I needed to buy some paper for my printer and for general uses. I didn’t bring any because it weighs too much. Back home, you can find printer paper at any Office Depot or even at Publix. Here, items are sold at individual “stores” which are no more than shacks. One will sell hardware, another plastic items and some seem to carry the exact same small items. Produce is sold by vendors along the sidewalks or roadsides.

So back to my search for paper. As I walked down the street, there seemed to be a section where the shops specialized in books, newspapers, and, yes, reams of paper. That took care of one thing on my list.

Food is another interesting quest. Food is sold in much the same way. I buy bread in a bakery (makes sense) but other items can be found in different shops. For example, I found butter and oatmeal in one shop only. I found olive oil in the bakery. So I have to remember where I found things for the future. Like I said, everyday chores take much more effort here.

2006-10-16T10:42:00.000-04:00

Life in Dschang

I arrived in Dschang on Thursday October 5, four days after arriving in Cameroon. I spent two days in Yaounde being escorted around by embassy staff. I got to meet the ambassador and see the work they are doing there. They arranged to drive me to Dschang and helped me to buy a cell phone and a voltage regulator (a fancy surge suppressor and a very necessary item, as I will describe below). On Friday, I looked at a few housing options. The houses I looked at are considered high-end but they are pretty basic from our standards. I finally settled on a chalet at a resort called the Centre Climatique. The resort was built by the Germans in the 1940s and has beautiful grounds.

The main advantage of this place is that it has reliable water and electricity. The power can be shut off at any time for a few minutes or up to a few days. The same is true for the water. Even the university is not immune. The resort has a generator and its own water. So if the power goes out, the generator kicks on. The water, however, is somewhat more variable.

I have two bedrooms and two baths plus a small kitchen and living room (furnished). I even have a fireplace, which I haven’t used yet. I have a basic kitchen with a sink with a counter, a two-burner propane stove, and I will get a small frig by the end of the week. That’s all – no shelves or cabinets. My rent includes everything – laundry, cleaning, a nightwatchman (who often sits on my porch!), and best of all, access to a car and driver. I have been warned by everyone not to take the taxis. Here the taxis are motorcycles and they are dangerous. So having access to a car was the clincher for me. All this for about $250 per month. It is also within an easy walk to campus. But it is still a bit like camping in a rustic cabin. And this is the luxurious option!

I have located the main “department store” where I can buy some basic food and household items. Although this place is furnished, none of the household things like pans and dishes are included. I have some of my camping things which will do for now. I will get some the things I need soon.

2006-09-23T21:51:00.000-04:00

What is it used for?

The African cherry is a multi-use tree that has a very hard wood. It is used for tool handles, especially for hoe handles. One of its names (in the Oku language) is eblaa –the hoe-handle tree. It is commonly called by its herbal name “pygeum” – pronounced “pidge-um.” You can find a hoe handle in nearly every household made from the timber of this tree. It is also a preferred firewood species because it burns hot with little smoke. Since fires are built inside houses, this is an important attribute.

But by far, the most important use is for medicines. Traditional doctors told me that it has a long history of use for “men’s problems.” Herbal remedies are made from the bark, and sometimes the leaves. All traditional doctors, both male and female, touted its use for a wide number of ailments. One doctor said, “We have thousands of plants here, pygeum is number one.” Another claimed, “if not number one, it is number two.

Most remedies reflect its known anti-inflammatory and pain easing properties. Many healers use it to treat malaria and other fevers. Several use it for various stomach problems. Some include it in a popular aphrodisiac reflecting its long use for men’s problems. Women’s problems are also treated and it is often used in general tonics to promote good health. The African concept of illness and healing is closely tied with their cosmology so that the African cherry is often used to treat mental illness, for illnesses caused by witchcraft, and in protection ceremonies. also found that it is important in the treatment of animals and it is considered to be the most important plant in traditional veterinary practices.

2006-08-29T14:35:00.000-04:00

The African cherry

The African cherry (Prunus africana) is a large tree that lives only in montane areas of Africa. What does montane mean? A montane habitat is found in tropical areas, where a mountain has its foothills in a rainforest and as you go higher in elevation, the habitat gets colder, windier, and has more intense solar radiation. One interesting feataure is that montane forests look remarkably like the forests in my home state of Wisconsin. This is because as you go higher, plants and animals faced similar challenges in colder northern climates. But I digress.

About 40 years ago, the bark extracts from the African cherry were found to be effective in the treatment of enlarged prostates. Harvesters peel the bark off the tree and the species has the unusual ability to regrow its bark, as long as it is harvested gently. The bark is shipped all over the world where the extracts are made into capsules sold under its old scientific name, Pygeum. You can find it in any health food store and it can be found in formulations with saw palmetto, which is used for the same purpose.

So much of the bark has been harvested that the species was included in the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Appendix II. This means that licensing is required of exporters and importers and the trade must be monitored. In 2000, a bark extraction factory (owned by the French company, Groupe Fournier) called Plantecam closed its doors because of reduced harvesting quotas on Mount Cameroon, business and political decisions in France and Cameroon, competition from other exporters, and depletion of the resource in another part of Cameroon, Called the Bamenda Highlands.

It may seem surprising but until I started my study, no one determined sustainable harvest levels. Except for the harvest quotas on Mount Cameroon, no one ever looked at the effect of harvest on populations of trees or even on individual trees. From the very beginning, the harvest was known to be destructive. Although many trees recover from removal of its bark, at least half eventually die. The question of sustainability is the focus of my study on Mount Oku, the location of one of largest remaining populations in Cameroon.