PST-Reconnect

     PST-Reconnect is Pre-Service Training Reconnect. My training group had PST-Reconnect in Bamenda, the capital of the North-West region of Cameroon.


Doesn't Cameroon look kind of like a chicken? Yeah, it does.

So, the training was in Bamenda. We got to stay at a very nice hotel with showers and hot, running water! It was pretty great!

Our PST was mainly focused on technical training for the different sectors: Agriculture, now AgriBusiness, Youth Development, now Youth Empowerment, and Health. Whereas our PST-Reconnect was more focused on project development and planning and how to design an activity to best reach the people that it is created for. The training made me feel much more prepared for the work that lay ahead of me back at my site.

               Our counterparts, or local work partners, also attended this training and many of the sessions allowed us to work together with our counterparts to plan our projects and work. It was very good in making sure that the volunteer and their counterpart were on the same page and each knowing what was to be done. Each volunteer, with their counterpart, was to give a presentation based on the community studies that they each conducted in their respective communities. I was very pleased when my program manager congratulated me on my presentation! He said that I had done a wonderful job and that it was exactly what the program managers were looking for with the presentations.

               During our PST-reconnect, it was announced that one of our PCMOs (Peace Corps Medical Officers) was going to be finishing her service and returning home to the United States. She would be replaced in mid-August as she would not be leaving Cameroon until mid-July. It was sad to hear that she was going to be leaving. She was always very nice to me and always willing to try her best to do what she could for me. I hope that she is doing well now and that her replacement does a good job as well. It was also announced that our new CD (Country Director) had arrived and would soon be starting his duties. Our previous CD had already left Cameroon, having finished her term at the end of January. Many volunteers were sad to see her go because she was the CD who was present when we arrived in Cameroon and who was present at our swearing in as Peace Corps Volunteers.

               The conference was not all business; we had time to hang-out with our fellow volunteers outside of sessions and time to explore a little bit of Bamenda. Bamenda is the third largest city in Cameroon. Douala being the largest followed by Yaoundé. Some volunteers call it “Bamerica” because you can find many things there, although some things are easier to find in slightly smaller cities that are closer to Yaoundé or Douala. It is a nice place though and there is much more there than in a small village. During PST-Reconnect my friend, Angelique, and I did some exploring, mostly finding the market, and decided that we would have to go back and visit some time, especially since there were places that had hot, running water!