Hello fine folks of the WEF world (WEFers):

It is I.  WEF4.  I have returned to the clan only to find it silent.  Where, dear WEFers, is the humour?  The philosophy?  The arguments, battles, wars and horse-drawn carriages?  News of the wee wilderbaby is scant.  As is news of trials, tribulations and triumphant victories.  I demand news of the WEF people!  But worry not, you will not go gentle into that good night without a torch to guide you.  I AM THE TORCH!!!

 As you may know WEF4 now resides in the small town of Buea, Cameroon.  I am in the process of making a poster that will explain how I feel about buea.  It will look something like this:

CAMEROON

TAXI

CARWASH

DINNER

I think it will sell. 

Documentaries for Change is going well - I have a class of six girls that meet twice a week.  They are super awesome.  We have had two sessions thus far and they were all on time, attentive and excited.  When I told them our Saturday classes wouldn’t start until November they were visibly (and vocally) disappointed.  It was adorable.  The paperwork has proven more difficult.  I have obtained permission to exist from the Ministry of Culture but am yet to formally register the NGO here.  The man I spoke with suggested I not do this until the NGO had grown some but I would hate for volunteers to get in trouble here while I am not around so I think I certainly must make it official before moving onto the next stage.

The small children here all yell “white man, white man” in their squeaky little child voices.  I have been instructed to yell back “black man, black man” but cannot bring myself to do it.

The documentary on micro-finance has been slower to start than the video classes.  Jess still had quite a bit to do before she was ready to do case studies -which is where the stories will best come through.  We have finally finalized the list of women we’d like to do case studies with and will hopefully be starting to film next week.  Even just imagining the editing job I’m going to have to deal with makes my head spin.

There are fewer ex-pats here than there were in other places I’ve lived in Africa.  There is a strong peace corps contingency.  Aside from that there are a few people nearby working as engineers, a couple of guys who started an IT company about an hour out (they may be able to do my footageshare project on the cheap, fingers crossed) and a lovely South African woman who is married to a Cameroonian and owns a very Western-style restaurant near the beach - which is about an hour away.  There are also a few people working at the Wildlife Center.  I have not yet had a chance to visit but they raise and rehabilitate apes. 

I tried to surf.  Epic fail.

I know everyone is a bit concerned that I will never work again and end up defaulting on my loans and living on the streets so to put you at ease I have been applying to jobs.  I still want to take the internship in Ireland if I get it, but if I do not there are other options so worry not.  Still looking for work in Iraq/Afganistan so if you see anything where I will NOT be stuck on a compound let me know…

I am taking French classes at the language center and trying to learn Cameroonian Pidgeon.  It will take time but I am confident that both will be more successful than my surfing endeavor.

 That is all.