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Shrooms, on Shrooms, on Shrooms |
As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been helping out
with a mushroom project started by my postmate, Grant. Tuesday was the first
cultivation of the mushrooms, with two more to occur over the next couple of weeks. In February we will plant the spores for the next batch of
mushrooms. It’s a really neat project to be a part of because it incorporates
health, community economic development, and agriculture, so basically each of
us PCVs here in Lomié can play our own part.
After a failed pre-natal clinic Tuesday morning
at the district hospital, I needed a success. Thankfully the mushroom
cultivation was just that. Danny and I walked over to Minlo’s house where the small
mushroom house is located. We saw about 11 large gateaux of mushroom
heads proudly peaking out of their mais-filled plastic bags. These aren’t
your mama’s cremini mushrooms, that is for sure!
Atangana, one of the two undeclared ‘heads’ of
the mushroom project, began to chop off the mushrooms, place them in our
collection bucket and then proceeded to poke holes in the mais-filled
bags, dunk them in water to reactivate the spores, and then placed them back on
the shelves, where we hope they will produce some more mushrooms, so long as
the mice don’t get them first.
Once Atangana finished chopping off all the gateaux,
we took the two buckets full of mushrooms chez moi to prepare some food.
I took a recipe I had which used all local ingredients that can be found daily
at the market, such as rice, basil, celery, parsley, green onion, and piment, and
I made a stew. Unfortunately I greatly underestimated the quantity of water I
needed, so the rice soaked up nearly all the water I put in the large marmite,
making my stew more of a rice sauté. But ca-va! I sautéed the mushrooms
in a bit of oil and vinegar and added them at the last minute. Half the group
was sitting in my living room and I served them all bowls of the stew. I was
terrified they would hate it because Cameroonians have quite different tastes,
but everyone finished their portions and said it was delicious and the best
mushroom dish they’ve had (perhaps they’ve never had a mushroom dish before,
because I thought it was lack-luster!). We sat and talked about gorillas and
elephants and other wildlife in the Dja while we waited for the other half of
the group to come to sample my stew.
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Atangana Cutting the Mushrooms |
Once we were done, we headed over to Gustavo’s
where he had prepared mushrooms sautéed in balsamic, which was a delicious
meal, but impossible for Cameroonians to replicated given that balsamic exists
only in large cities and is more a delicacy item. But believe me, tasting that
balsamic was just like tasting a bit of America! We asked the group for
suggestions and they said that all the food was great but that mine was a bit
more adaptable to Cameroonian recipes and is easier and cheaper to replicate. I
then suggested that given these are American recipes, we need to try
traditional Cameroonian dishes prepared with mushrooms added so that during the
mushroom exposition we have next month we can better explain how mushrooms can
be incorporated into local cuisine. We agreed that tonight (Thursday) we would
try cooking some Cameroonian meals with the newest mushroom sprouts. Honestly,
what I’m really excited about it eating for free, given that I’m down to my
last 10$ again.
Yesterday I had a successful day interviewing my
counterpart for the large report I have to submit in February. After our long
discussion, I walked over the high school to ask if a student health club
exists. The principle said there is, and that if I return on Friday morning I
can meet the boy in charge. I hope that I can begin attending this health group
and perhaps begin holding some sessions on safe sex and family planning in the future.

This morning after my run, daily market visit,
and breakfast with Danny, I went to observe the pre-natal consultations (CPN) at
the Catholic mission hospital near my house. I entered and there was around 20
women waiting around, which is a drastic difference than the 0 women waiting at
the last CPN at the district hospital. The nurse gathered all the women on the
outside veranda and held an information session on the importance of getting
vaccinated against tetanus while pregnant. At the end of her lecture the nurse held
a Q&A session where a few of the woman asked questions such as “Why does my
fetus make me angry and not happy?” and “What causes deformities?”, the latter
question I wanted to respond ‘All the dang alcohol ya’ll drink while pregnant
and then feed the infant like it’s water after it’s born!’, but I managed to
bite my tongue. Overall, the CPN was really enlightening to observe. The nurses
had a good format and everything was very well organized, which is a rarity
here (it even started on time, say what?!). The only thing lacking is ways to
keep the pregnant woman interested and engaged. I’d love in the future if I
could help develop interactive methods to incorporate more audience participation
and discussion so that the woman benefit more from the sessions.
While a week ago I was stressing out over the
fact I had little ideas for projects I can start here in Lomié, I now I have a
list of possible projects (both feasible and less feasible) which I can begin
here. While I’m mainly looking forward to IST to see my stagemates again, I’m
also really excited to get some projects lined up to start in the coming
months. Here’s to a good end to the week and hopefully some delicious (free) Cameroonian
food tonight!
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