Village life

That hut was my bedroom! It was in front of the main house, where the family lived. Oh, and this is a neighbour girl.
Aquesta caseta era la meva habitació. La família vivia a la casa principal que hi havia al davant. Ah, i la noia a la foto és una veïneta curiosa.
Esta casita era mi habitación. La familia vivía en la casa principal que había delante. En la foto hay una vecinita curiosa.

Una de les típiques casetes.

Menjant canya de sucre
Comiendo caña de azúcar
Eating sugar cane

Fregint plàtan
Friendo plátano
Frying banana

I visited the Fon, a type of rural king.
Vaig visitar el Fon, un tipus de reialesa rural.
Visité el Fon, un tipo de realeza rural.

The family I stayed with: Christina, the grandmother, her two daughters (Vilma and Nissa), and her two grandchildren (Ludovic and ---, also nephews of the two daughters)
La família amb la qual em vaig quedar: La Christina, les dues filles (la Vilma i la Nissa) i els dos néts (en Ludovic i en ---). Els néts són nebots de les dues filles.
La familia con la que me quedé: Christina con sus dos hijas (Vilma y Nissa) y sus dos nietos (Ludovic y ---)

The first classroom I taught in at the Baptist Mission School.
La primera aula on vaig ensenyar a l'Escola de la Missió Baptista.
La primera aula donde enseñé en la Escuela de la Misión Bautista.

Neighbour children (a girl here) helping with their difficult language and enjoying the camera.
Nens veïns (aquí una nena) ajudant amb la seva difícil llengua i a la vegada experimentantla càmara del mòvil.
Niños vecinos (aquí una niña) ayudando con su difícil lengua a la vez que experimentando la cámara del móvil.


Dear friends and family,

So much to say! I don’t know where to begin. These 4 days at the village have been awesome, it has exceeded my expectations far and beyond. I left Bamenda on Tuesday at noon, and arrived in Bafummen two hours later, by car. At first we arrived to the house where the Swedish lady was staying, and then we all went to the house where I was staying, which was more in the countryside. I arrived and was greeted by Christina, a middle aged lady. She lived with two of her daughters and two grandsons. They all went to school early every morning at 6:30 am. They had to walk a lot and started really early! I also got up early: around 6:30 every morning, even 7 am felt like it was late, as the sun was already shining.
I would get water in a little pot; go behind the house and wash. Then I would go and have breakfast with Christina (the daughters and grandsons were on their way to school already). She is the kindest of the kind. She is a believer in the Lord Jesus, has a gracious spirit, loves laughing and joking, and is an excellent language helper.

The first morning I went to the Baptist School, where I had been invited to the previous afternoon after arriving there. I visited the different classrooms, gave the children an introduction about languages in Cameroon, and told them the Gospel in one of the classrooms. I also recorded a few “volunteers” on my mobile phone, and they loved hearing their voices. Throughout the day I filled my notebook with word in IPA.

On the second day I went to the government school and told the children about languages in Cameroon and the value of their own language. Afterwards the teacher offered me to use his class to learn some of the language, so after a few common words, I wrote numbers on the blackboard, and as I pointed to them, a whole chorus of voices rang out the number. It was especially good for the tone, as all the voices gave the average tone, which is the ideal to write down. I also wrote different words down in IPA throughout the day.

On the last two days, I went over a list of words that Lena had typed in IPA for revision. I went over them with Christina, the language helper (not my fiancée), apart from adding words and sentences to my notebook. I also was interested in some basic grammar, so I wrote down some verbs in different tenses and the persons. I still have to put some order in the heap of information there is in the notebook for Lena to be able to read it!

I came back to Bamenda this afternoon (Friday) at 2 pm, and I’m going for a 6 hour bus ride to Yaoundé, the capital, in a matter of minutes. I thank you all for your prayers! They are really necessary and valued. Please pray for safety during the journey, and for the upcoming project in the So area, where Lord willing I will be gathering a word list of 1800 words. The So area is about 1 hour and a half east from Yaoundé. Now I am in the Northwest region, and am going to the Central region, where Yaoundé is found. The So area is in the Central region, one of the biggest ones in Cameroon.

A big hug for each and every one of you!

Blessings in our Lord Jesus Christ,
Ricard

PS: I’ll include pictures as soon as I get some time! :) I took many.