You Be Like Some Kind Pioneer

After three years of living in Cameroon I still smile when I hear Cameroonian's descriptions or phrases and in the past few weeks I've heard some good ones.  Last week we finished our last listening session with the control group.  Before the participants filled out the post-tests one of the nurses, Margaret, was explaining to the participants in Pidgin the importance of filling out the form as a way to prove that the program is effective.  In her discourse she told them, "You be like some kind pioneer".   Now in Public Health terms what we are doing is pilot-testing the program, but I think I like pioneer-testing better.  Perhaps because sometimes I feel like I'm a pioneer on the American frontier as I climb a ladder to reach the loft in my cottage, wash my clothes by hand, bake bread from scratch, throw my trash into a hole in the ground, use a kerosene lamp when the electricity goes out, and eat food that is grown on land around me.  

Our "Pioneers" struggling to complete the post-test.

A couple of weeks ago I was talking with my usual motorcycle driver about taking a trip to Ndu, a village about an hour away.  He said to me, "Kate do you want a casket?"  Now, when you are contemplating a trip by motorcycle on perilous roads, the word casket is not really something you want to hear.  I looked at him perplexed and asked, "A casket?"  "Yes," he said, "For your head."  And then I realized its a casket, not a helmet, and thought that word too is probably a better description of a hard piece of plastic that entombs your head.

Other great phrases of recent include, "Things are not working inside your head" when referring to an HIV-positive person who refuses to take his antiretroviral drugs; "We will send our eyes inside that book" when I gave my friend a magazine I finished reading; "When your brain falls on my son" meaning when you think of my son who is struggling; and "I am hungry to see you" from a friend who I have not seen for a few days.

In the last week I have changed my schedule and planning on returning to the States in February.  Since  making that decision I've been reminding myself of all of the phrases I say here that are really not appropriate in the States.  For example, when meeting someone far out on the running trail its polite to just wave, not stop and ask, "How you sleep?"  Every answer to a question should not begin with "No" especially when the correct answer is actually "Yes".  The phrase "You are welcome"  should come after someone says "Thank you" and doesn't need to be repeated every five minutes or randomly inserted into the middle of a conversation.  I need to stop clicking my tongue to demonstrate disgust and "Waay, ashia" is not an appropriate response not matter how versatile it is here.  If I say that "I am coming" I have to mean that I will be there soon, instead of implying that I've thought about perhaps leaving my house and hope to get there in an hour, two, or even the next day.  And if I say "Tomorrow" I have to really mean the next day, not just some time in the near future.  I cannot tell someone to "Shii down fo that side" when I want them to take a seat nor can I ask "You come out for which side?" when I want to know from where they come.  Perhaps hardest of all will be to stop stating the obvious. "You are there", "You have come", "You are in the market", "You are making sport",  or "You are washing" aren't conversation starters in America but an opening for sarcastic jokes.  Although I realize there are many things I say here that don't translate in America, I do hope I can pioneer some words and phrases as many of them better describe life or show concern for the other person.