SKWID Training

From Thurs the 3rd to Sun the 6th of December, Dave and I attended SKWID, Skills for Working in Development Course. This training was held at Halbourne Hall in Birmingham (pictured). Now it really feels real. We are going to Cameroon - and we found out a lot about what the reality might be like and what we can expect. We are, more than ever, excited about going.

The training was great - and thanks to a team of really superb facilitators. Those of you who know me know that I am a real critic when it comes to trainers and facilitators - but this trio was superb, some of the best trainers I have had the pleasure to see.

The participants were also a very special group - smart, committed, varied and creative. VSO is really good at selecting the right volunteers. It is a priviledge to be among them.

The training started with a session on health and safety. We learned all ab0ut malaria and rabies, along with a number of other tropical diseases. It is enough to turn you away. However, the statistic that out of all the volunteers who have gone on placement in the past 50 years, 98% come back just fine.

Then we went onto a number of sessions, including relationship building, participatory approaches and negotiation, among others.

We are now on countdown - 3 months to go...

About Bamenda, Cameroon

Bamenda is the capital of the Northwest province of Cameroon. It constitutes the heart of Anglophone Cameroon with a population of 450,000. It is the largest English speaking community in the country.
Bamenda is 670km from Yaounde, the capital - getting there takes about 7 hours by bus on a well tarred road.
There are two seasons in Bamenda - the dry season runds Nov to Mar while the rainy season runs from April to Oct. During the dry season, places are dry and dusty because most of the inner city roads are not tarred. Some trees shade leaves, shrubs and weeds dry off while available leaves and rooftops become brown with dust. When the rains come, places become lush with greenery and a vairety of vegetables and fruits are available. It is also very wet and cold, especially at night and in the early morning.
Many shops in Bamenda sell local and imported provisions, canned food and frozen chicken/pork/beef.
A variety of food items, rice, yams plantains, irish potatoes, corn, beans cabbages, carrots, lettuce, mangoes, avocadoes, water melons, etc are available throughout the year.

The start of a new adventure

Today is December 1, 2009. In two days, Dave and I will be attending SKWID (Skills for Working in Development). This is the second weekend of training that we undergo before heading off to our placement in Bamenda Cameroon at the end of February 2010.

As a means of documenting our experiences, and more importantly keeping in touch with friends and family, I am starting this blog.

But still much has to happen before we leave the UK. Not the least of which is a holiday trip to Canada which will culminate in our daughter Julie's wedding to Paul Graham on Jan 2. The whole family are looking forward to that happy event.

So this weekend, we will learn a lot about working in a developing country, including health and safety issues. Stayed tuned to hear all about it.