Hello my loyal readers!
I am still around, and the excuse for the lack of update? well, the lack of activities. The month of October so far has been a lot of GRE studying, money-begging to fund Books For Cameroon by the end of October and preparation for graduate school applications.
Concerning the project: we are making very good progress. With just $2k left to go, we hope the project will be funded by the end of the month. Actually, we have to. We don’t really have a choice since I received an email from Peace Corps Washington with pressure to get things off the ground. Since this is very much an all-or-nothing project, we really need your help! Don’t let the $9k we’ve raised go to waste! Spread your Christmas cheer early this year. Rumor has it the decorations are already up in some part of the States? Donate today!
This past week I visited the schools in Batié, and aside from one school that doesn’t quite have a room ready, the rest all have at least a room, and some even had the shelves built. I was really impressed by the engagement of the school staff. While the challenges are still ahead in successfully implementing the project, I can already envision the rewarding feelings in the end.
Last week was Mid-Autumn Moon Festival for the Chinese, so I went to spend it with my Chinese family. I am quite sure I celebrate more Chinese holidays here in Cameroon than I did in the United States… Just two days before the holiday was China’s 60th anniversary of the current government. My Chinese family has no other channel but CCTV – the State-run television- and it broadcasted special programming for both of the holidays.
After watching all weekend worth of CCTV with coverage of the celebration and also holiday programming, I began to think of China as this wonderful, heaven-like place, and why wouldn’t all of us want to spend our lives there? Until I got home and was reading articles on the uncensored world-wide-web. And then I realized I was probably being brain-washed.
Yesterday was October 10th – the independence day of Taiwan. A day in my childhood when we didn’t have to go to school and can watch fireworks. I was not at the Chineses’ this weekend, but I can almost guarantee there was no coverage of the 10-10 holiday in Taiwan on CCTV.
As a Taiwanese/Chinese-American living in Cameroon, I don’t have any particular strong feelings regarding the Taiwan/China politic. However, during times like this, I do get slightly lost and not sure which side I’m suppose to be “rooting for”. This is precisely why we need global citizenship!
