Pictures from Tourningal

Different Village, Different Life

I am in Tourningal, my new post, and it is beautiful. My neighbors are very nice and have fed me nearly every meal since I’ve arrived. I got here May 1st; today is the 5th. I have already taken a break and gone back to Ngaoundere (my new banking city) for two nights. I basically spent two nights in my new home, unpacked a little bit, and then left for Ngaoundere. I bought 15 rolls of toilet paper, some drapes, a gas lamp (or what we would call a kerosene camping lamp), and some cheap plastic shelves to try and organize this mess. I took running water (one hot) showers, again, and drank cold drinks. Not to mention, I charged nearly all my electronics.

After 6 weeks or more of living out of a suitcase and staying in crowded, dirty Peace Corps houses, I am happy to have my own place again. It is so difficult to restart, though. My house is full of cockroaches and not "Maureen" clean. Thank goodness for very kind neighbors and random village people. They helped me move all my stuff and set up my bed and unpack a little. It was very much appreciated. When I finally told the kids and adults I wanted to take a little break, they told me they would come get me for dinner later. I shut my door and let the tears of total exhaustion and fear fall quietly (don’t worry, just for a few minutes). Then I tried to push that feeling of being completely overwhelmed and called some of my friends from Mayo-Darle. After a couple of calls about how Mayo-Darle is definitely not "en brousse" I heard a soft knock on the door. It was a young boy bringing me water from the well. The people here are so helpful and welcoming (here and in Mayo-Darle). My neighbor lady came over to ask if I'd found my lamp yet. I couldn't remember for the life of me where I packed it in that hurried and blurry three-day evacuation. I found some candles and she seemed to be able to accept that as my form of light this evening.

I don’t know how to live without electricity. Imagine there is no way to turn a light on when it gets dark at 6:30 pm. If you have to get up during the night to go the bathroom, you need to take a flashlight into that scary dark, cockroach-infested latrine. If your computer, cell phone, or camera is dead, there is no way to charge it, unless you have a solar charger or give it to someone with a generator. It is something we definitely take for granted in the States. It is an amazing amenity that I miss dearly. So, for those of you back home, enjoy it, but take a moment to imagine what it would be like to live without it. Back in Mayo-Darlé, we didn’t really have electricity but we had a big generator for the town and there was electricity for 4 hours in the evening, from 6:30 – 10:30 pm. It was perfect, and now I am realizing how much I relied on that precious time with electricity.

After all that, I should tell you, I am sitting in my house with a flickering light bulb on and my phone and camera are charging in my living room. When I first got here I noticed there was wiring and lights for electricity in my house and I thought to myself, “what a mean joke” because there is no electricity here. However, this evening my neighbor came over and said I can charge my phone in my house today. I thought he was joking. He came in and switched the light switch on; nothing happened. And I said, “ca va” because I thought he was still messing with me. He didn’t give up and soon I noticed the welcomed hum of a generator. I let him work for bit and right when it was getting too dark to see, the light in my living room came on. I was so happy! I could barely control myself. I said “merci, merci, merci” and they started laughing at me for how happy I was to have electricity, even if only for a couple hours, one day.