Jackson Free Press

Visiting Kansas for Christmas, and when I first went to take a shower, I saw my mom had the same shower gel I had taken to Africa with me. Mine was a sample that came with hers. Tahitian pomegranate renewal, which I used again yesterday. The smell of it brought so much back -- the cold shower in Yokadouma, Cameroon, early in the morning. I hadn't showered in three or four days before that, and walking back in the (still a little cold) morning, smelling like Tahitian pomegrante my head felt so clear.

It brings back my first shower in Africa, the one where I balanced precariously over a bathtub with no drain and a stained frame. The humidity of being so near the equator and during rainy season had left me so sweaty. I didn't know then that I'd stay that way for two weeks, that eventually I'd quit showering because of lack of time (or lack of desire to take the super cold shower).

Later in the day, I could still smell the fruity beachy smell on my skin. I smelled it walking through villages, talking to people whose wells (their only source of clean water) had been broken for months, whose whole villages had been robbed (by Sudanese rebels? by Central African Republic rebels? by the C.A.R. army? each packed their own scary punches) clean and dry. I felt such an odd juxtaposition, to be putting off waves of American mass-produced sweet-smelling soap in the middle of all that.

But finding that scent now, three months later, only pushes me to wanting to go back. Lately, I've been obsessing about wanting to leave the country again, to explore and learn more. I'll be in Portland for a little bit, working at the Oregonian, but after that? Is it possible to get someone to fund my leaving the country to learn more? Is the Peace Corps a good program?

Coupled with that, I also want to get back to the South soon, and I want to be working for newspapers, continuously producing stories. Right now, I want so much -- to learn so much, that is. I burst into my room in Wichita and started picking up all the non-fiction books so eagerly (before Africa, I hadn't been much for non-fiction, but now I'm grateful that I have so many un-read non-fiction books waiting to teach me so much).

Previous Comments

ID

109613

Comment

Books, especially non-fiction, is a way to learn and live vicariously the experiences of others and places unvisited or never visited. A good example would be Iraq. Reading about it is all I desire to know. Cold showers. Women hate them. Hot showers. Women love them. Warm showers. Men love them. Every man I know who has allowed a women to run water for them damn near scalded to death. And it wasn't on purpose I guess! And those misguided soldiers who ventured to shower with their woman jumped out as soon as they jumped in. Even lust was no match for that hotazz water. Our pain threshhold is nothing like that of the average women. We're wimps. We talk big though.

Author

Ray Carter

Date

2006-12-27T16:19:07-06:00

ID

109614

Comment

Casey - I would be wary of joining the Peace Corps. Most of the people who join the Peace Corps are extremely well intentioned, but working out of the US embassy can be very tricky and problematic. Imagine getting placed in a country where the US helped fund past atrocities, and everyone knows it. Or working in a country where the Peace Corps is being used to implement World Bank development plans, even if they are not in the best interest of the country. Specifically in Africa, the Peace Corps has been charged with doing a lot of forced sterilizations of women in the past (in the 80s I think). They've also implemented a lot of new farming techniques that have been ineffective because they didn't take into account the subtleties of the climate that traditional methods are designed around. A personal anecdote, one of the communities I studied in in Nicaragua had a Peace Corp project there. [There were very poor relations between the locals and the PC folks to start with bc of the blatant US funding of the Contra war.] The community had a severe water sanitation problem, people were getting sick all of the time becasue there was no clean water. But the project that the PC did was to build a school. They didn't ask anyone in the community; they just built a school. There was no one to staff it. There were no kids to attend, because they were working in the fields. It was just lost labor. Wasteful, and kind of insulting. I'm sure they have done plenty of good things too.. but I wouldn't take the chance. If you want to do a volunteer program (and my guess is you won't have to because you'll be getting paid to travel as a journalist), I would find one that is community based.

Author

Meg

Date

2006-12-30T20:57:59-06:00

ID

109615

Comment

I'm (a southerner!) in Portland and Mercy Corps (based locally) is just a fabulous organization to work with. I've been working with them nearly a year by contributing to their Darfur relief effort through my business. I would love to travel abroad and be able to do more but I have little kiddos at home, but maybe someday! I know they have many programs in Africa, maybe that would be something to check into? PS, looking forward to your work @ the Oregonian!

Author

jmac

Date

2006-12-31T14:06:24-06:00

ID

109616

Comment

Meg, that's what I was worried about. Thanks for telling me all of that. I can definitely see things like building a school without further investigation easily happening. interesting notes too about the World Bank projects and past atrocities. Have you heard of any better programs? And JMac, I start next week at the Oregonian covering education in Beaverton, so watch ! I've heard of Mercy Corps, actually, because I did a story for the Christian Science monitor about the Hunger Site (which donates money to M.C.). Thanks for pointing them out to me. I'll check it out. I do want to do this while I'm still young enough NOT to have little kiddos at home. hehe

Author

casey

Date

2007-01-02T17:26:38-06:00

ID

109617

Comment

oh and ray, i do love some hot water.

Author

casey

Date

2007-01-02T17:26:57-06:00