Menji and Dschang

Menji is the village where I am posted. It has a population of about 5,000 people and is spread out through a valley in the mountains, in an area known as the Lebialem Highlands, in the South West region of Cameroon. Lebialem is the Division, Fontem is the Subdivision, and Menji is the town. Menji is rather hilly. Although there are not too many hills that are very steep it still takes some leg strength to trek (or as we say, walk) around Menji. So, walking around Menji is sometimes difficult but it is getting easier and it makes for beautiful scenery. The village is surrounded by mountains to which clouds and fog usually cling in the mornings or on overcast days.

                Peace Corps gives us bicycles to take to post with us (although I believe that I was part of the last training group that will be given bicycles). I realized, once I arrived in Menji, that I will not be using my bicycle very often or possibly at all, especially since I live on one of the biggest, steepest hills in town. It would have been nice to know this before bringing my bicycle all the way to Menji because it added quite a large cost to my travel costs.  Such is life though, you never know until you get there, you just have to prepare as well as you can with the information you have.

                Dschang is my banking city. It is at a higher elevation than Menji, so it is usually colder. Even though it is cooler it can still get hot during the days in dry season, just like Menji. I travel to Dschang typically every other weekend in order to pick up my monthly living allowance or things that I need that I cannot get in Menji. Or I use to do this but now I usually only go to pick up my allowance or because I am traveling through to somewhere else. To travel one way between Menji and Dschang costs between 2,500 fcfa – 6,000fcfa depending on the season, time of day, mode of transportation, and road conditions. By the way, there are 500fcfa to 1 U.S. Dollar, in case I have not mentioned it before. Right now it is 2,500fcfa in a car and 3,000fcfa on a motorcycle as one of two riders and 5,000fcfa as a single rider, this is because it is dry season and the roads are in better condition than in the rainy season.

                Dschang is very dusty right now since it is dry season. Even though the dust can get so bad that you are red, from the red dust, when you get off the bike, I prefer it over the mud. When the roads are muddy I am nervous traveling between Menji and Dschang because the bike slips sometimes.

                Dschang is definitely a city compared to Menji, although I do not know the exact population. (Note: Douala is the largest city in Cameroon with a population of just over 2million people.) I can get most things that I need, as in necessities, in Dschang but definitely not everything I could want. There are some things that simply cannot be found in Cameroon, for those things I must ask that they be sent from the States. Dschang has several large markets, super markets, and of course my bank. And, by the way, those super markets are not what we think of as a super market in the States; those are only in Yaoundé and Douala. It is also in the West region of Cameroon, this means that it is a francophone region. So, in order to pick up my monthly living allowance I must navigate the bank and the city in French! If nothing else I will have French banking vocabulary by the end of my service. This will certainly keep me from losing my French completely. I like Dschang except for the cold and dust but I like my village a little bit more. I also like how there are French speakers in Menji as well. I like speaking with these people because then I also get to practice my French in my own village.