My Home Stay House

This is the kitchen. The stove is a gas stove. Gas is expensive though and not always available so my host family also had an outdoor kitchen that they used more often than the indoor kitchen.

This is also the kitchen. I have moved into my house at post and can't wait to get a table in my kitchen. For some reason counter space is not a thing here. I think it might have something to do with many people still cooking outdoors or using outdoor kitchens.

This is the sink. I did not think that helping my host mother with the dishes would teach me how to do dishes here in Cameroon but it did. I thought that she was going to have to explain it to me but just watching her and helping her with the house hold chores, like dishes helped me get ready to do these things on my own. So, watch and you will learn.

This is a marmite. It is a big heavy pot that EVERYONE uses to cook just about anything. I do not think that I saw anyone use any other cooking ware. I already have one at post that I also use to cook most everything.

This is baton de manioc. Many people here like it and eat it often as a snack or as part of dinner. I am sorry to say that I was never able to swallow a mouthful of it. It is not to my taste. It is a very Cameroonian thing though and I would suggest that everyone who visits Cameroon should give it a chance because who knows maybe it will be the best thing you have ever tried. It is mashed up manioc that is fermented and rolled up in some type of leaf, that I cannot remember right now, and tied with a string. It always looks good, I am often sad that I do not like it much.

This is the dinning room. I ate all of my meals at this table unless I was eating at school. I had breakfast and dinner here all the time and usually had lunch at the training center. This is also where I often talked to my host mother after dinner. I was surprised by my French many times here.

This is the hallway that lead to the bedrooms. My host parents' room is on the left and the bathroom is on the right just across from it and my bedroom was the next door down on the right. They also had the only washing machine that I have seen in Cameroon, although it was not hooked up. The water only ran every now and again so really it was probably that doing laundry by hand is more reliable than waiting for there to be enough water to run the machine. I was just surprised because I was told by many Peace Corps Volunteers that washing machines did not exist here, yet I found one.

This is the short passage to the bathroom. These buckets are for bathing or flushing the toilet when the water is not running. This was most of the time. I was lucky to have a well just in the backyard. I am so glad that I did not have to go all the way to a forage or anything. It was great!

This is where I took all of my bucket bathes. When I first got to Cameroon it took me an hour to wash my self from a bucket. Now I would say I can bath faster from a bucket than I can with a shower... or at least I can take a bucket bath just as fast as I can shower. We had a shower at my home stay and I did take advantage of it whenever the water was running. Once you get used to it though bucket baths are not too bad.

This is the washing machine that everyone told me did not exist. Ta Da! Here it is! My host parents rented out the other half of their house to another family so further down this hallway is a door that leads to the other side of the house. The door was usually locked but the neighbors considered my host parents to be like grand parents to their children so they would go over and visit all the time.

This is my bedroom. It used to have a lot more stuff but this is after I had packed up most of my stuff to go to post.

This is my closet with my bathing bucket. Also much more empty than it used to be due to packing.

These are my bidons that I saved bath water in and such so that I always had water when I needed.

This is the back of the washing machine. There was a very brave little mouse that lived under there and I swear it was after me. It would run right up to me and seem to challenge me. It would also purposely make a lot of noise during the night.

This is the living room with many different sofa sets. And that is my host dad playing solitaire.

So, these are pictures of my host family's house in Bafia. I hope that these pictures give an idea of a typical family home here. Honestly, before coming to Africa I thought that everyone lived in mud huts with dirt floors. Some places in Africa and Cameroon are still like that. Bafia is not one of them though. Even though houses are not usually dirt floors lizards are still common visitors in houses. They find their way in. No one even notices when there are lizards in the house because they are so common.