hi, this is yoko

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Mandetkene Boutique: Chapter 3, getting to know you

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Beyond watching the construction of the store, we wanted to do more in the town to build trust and raise awareness about the purpose of the store. We decided to go door-to-door to survey residents about what they’d like to see in the store. We also decided to do a summer camp, as Amirah and Jenna had done this two summers ago and it worked well. The following recounts these two endeavors. Endeavor #1: Door-to-Door, getting to know people and concerns I think you can really get to know a person by learning what they buy. The short time we spent going door-to-door in Mandetkene, asking people a set of carefully thought out questions, was the time in which I learned the most about the local people. I could tell you which brand of soap they like, what type of oil they use when cooking, and the types of treats they like. We had a different experience in every house we visited. However, after organizing survey responses in excel, we found many common needs and picked out the pop...
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Thinking About Water ...

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It has almost been 3 weeks in Foumban and we never stopped thinking about water. I remember our first week here, ahh, was such a struggle. Coming from a priviledged living envrionment where clean water access is granted, both of us absolutely lost it the first three nights at our house in Foumban because no water came out of the faucet and we thought it never would. But as time went by, we kind of got used to the no-water situation. I started filtering water with the water purification kit I brought from Japan. step1: Put half a spoon of the Poly-Glu powder into one 1.5L bottle of dirty water . step 2: Stir and shake the bottle for ~10min and let it sit for ~5min. step 3: Filter off the precipitation with a piece of clothes. Before&After: I repeated this whole prcess a few times during the first two weeks, but guess what: WATER CAME!! Surprise, surprise. One afternoon, when one of us opened the faucet, we first heard some sucking noise and then water...
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Dire au revoir

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Well, we are almost done. After the boutique’s opening ceremony, things were a blur. I couldn’t believe where the time had gone! Now, I am off to tour a medical center in Chad, and Yoko is heading to Japan, before we will meet back at our university in September. We can’t believe how quickly the time has gone. As Yoko and I are wrapping up, we both want to share some reflections on our experience in Cameroon. First, I want to say that though our time working on this project IN Cameroon is coming to an end, we will be in contact with the store until it becomes profitable and the Parent’s Council feels comfortable dealing with all operations. We will be receiving monthly documents on the inventory and finances, and are available to answer questions. We hope that the Parent’s Council will soon feel more at ease in its new role managing the store. As I am about to leave, I can’t help but think about what I’ll remember. I am a list-maker, so here’s my list: -    ...
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