I have been delinquent in recent months to provide you with essential updates and exciting news from Batié, Cameroon. My reason for this communications absence is that I haven't had much interesting happen either to or around me, so what is there to report? And if you read closely between the last line, that's a fancy way of saying, "I've been lazy" with regard to email. I can't even remember what I last wrote to you all about, so if I repeat myself, that's just to reinforce and summarize events that lead to now.

My week-long in-service training was held a little more that a month ago now in Kribi. The beach was walking distance from the hotel, so we had to rough it a bit during training without the oceanfront view.

I had a few firsts while in Kribi. It was the first time since arriving in Cameroon that I slept in an air conditioned room. It was also the first hot shower I've had since being here as well. It was the first time I body-surfed in Africa and was the first use of my swim trunks which I was beginning to think was a waste of packing space in my luggage leaving the US. Oh, yes, training went well, it's just that the beach was more memorable and had a much higher fun factor.

After this week long vacation/training courtesy of Peace Corps, I returned to beautiful Batié to find out my counterpart, who is my bank's director, was suspended from the bank for "irregularities." I am still not sure if he will return to the bank, so I am beginning to think I have an adverse effect on counterparts. Two down, how many more to go? While not ideal, I feel events like this serve to make my PC experience truly unique.

I am in the midst of a power problem at my house, the problem being that there isn't any power. This issue is closer to being rectified, but it definitely has put a damper on my nocturnal activities, such as cooking dinner and reading. I am well rested because there really isn't much else to do when the sun goes down and you are living by candlelight. As for the month I skipped between the power problem and Kribi, well, you haven't missed much and nor did I. In that month there were several gatherings of volunteers where we had something like wine tastings, except that we used beer and lots of it. Sharing was optional. This sort of behaviour, of course, led to dancing 'til the wee hours of the morn.

The Super Bowl, Valentine's Day, and Mardi Gras (which, when translated to English means Fat Tuesday for those of you who aren't familiar with French…) passed as if they did not exist, but from what I have heard, the Super Bowl was less than it's name suggests this year, I'm a guy so I cannot say I missed Valentine's day, and as for Mardi Gras, I really don't need a special day to throw a party. Weekends suffice.

Actual work is starting to come along and I have two projects in the works with a distant third project in the idea phase still. Project one. I will collaborate with the volunteer in the town just north of me to conduct a business skills class for adults that will run for 6 weeks and have 12 sessions covering basic business concepts (marketing, accounting, customer service, etc.). I am also working with the approximately 11 other business volunteers working at MC2 microfinance banks like mine to conduct a loan study. The goal of the study is to identify statistically factors that lead to unpaid loans that are disbursed from our banks. Apparently, no adequate study has been conducted on loans to date, which is surprising because it is typically the greatest problem facing micro-finance institutions in Cameroon. The project in the idea phase still involves manually operated water pumps (treadle pumps) and linking up farmers and farmer groups with access to capital (the microfinance banks) as well as introducing these pumps and their benefits to the farming community. Should be interesting.

I hope everyone is doing well and please, please, let me know what is going on in your lives!

A bientot!

Kirk