Springterm at Hald!

Since we came back from our internship places we have been spending the last 8 weeks together at Hald.
It has been a great time with allot of humour, hugs, excitement, information work, and interesting classes in the Big Hall.

The first week back we had alone with the Norwegian Focus and Connect students, it was a great debriefing week. I remember I was so glad to come to Hald as I was not so prepared to be home at my parents' house for the first weekend. The second week the internationals came back and we got some time before the Act Nowers came back as well.
The time left at Hald this spring was spent preparing for the different theme nights: Asian and Serbian night, South American night and African night. And also the Hald-day had to be planned carefully.One weekend in the beginning of the course we had a weekend together with just the Connectors, and it really brought us closer to each other and I'm really grateful to them for making it an amazing weekend!
We also had allot of time off to spend together. So we played cards and watched films and series on the big screens in the Big Hall. Me and Gregory, the one year volunteer from Brazil, decided that it was time to renew the boardgames at Hald so we went down town in Mandal one afternoon and searched, and came back with a Ticket to Ride game and a Settlers game. And it was a hit! Everybody were playing them all the time after that! And I love the games!

On 17th of May there was allot of activity at Hald. There were many girls with bunad - Norwegian national clothes, and all the boys were suited up. We watched the childrens parade, ate allot of ice cream and ate hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. We had activities around the school which involved dancing, throwing balls on cans, running with potatoes, and jumping in bags races! It was really fun! We also joined "Folketoget"- commoners parade, where we danced, drove the Strømme Stiftelsen car (a sheep) and played drums. We won the first place with a prise of 1500 kr!! That was amazing!

When the information week started the students spread all around Norway. As we did not leave until the Saturday I spent some hours watching "How I met your mother" with Gregory in the Big Hall while we ate some ice cream from 17th of May. I went to visit Sara-Jeanette in Asker together with JP, Sophie and Henry on the Saturday. There we did some information work about Cameroon with presentations in the schools which her sisters attend. We also had a Cameroon night with some of my friends in Arendal and enjoyed a weekend of summer there.

The two and a half weeks of school after that went by so fast, first we had preparation for the Hald-day then we had the African night, where we all went to the beach where we sat on the sand and all the Africans (Norwegians and international) had made food and prepared a role play for all the others. It was a great night! I had allot of fun!

On the 9th of June many of the students went into Kristiansand and had a stunt there with outfits and placards to get the people aware of the different people in the world and that we should all see each other and care about each other. There were many people who stopped and cared and thanked us for the job we were doing.

On the 13th of June it was time for the Graduation party and the last night we had together. We had a nice dinner together and Åsmund and Namphueng were leading the night with entertainment, speeches and coffee and cakes breaks. It was a wonderful ending to a fabulous year! I will never forget it!



This has truthfully been the best year of my life! I will carry it with me for  the rest of my life.
Johanne Teresie

The last weeks in Cameroon as a Hald Student

The last few weeks in Cameroon went by so fast, that I did not prioritise sitting on the computer and writing on the blog, but now I have got some time again!

In the chappel after morning prayer

After the last blog post we did sleep at the orphanage and there we got some couscous and some sauce I had never tasted before but it was ok. After this we played cards with the kids and joined in on the activities they had. It was a nice evening. We slept together with the girls in their dormitory and got one bed to sleep in. The morning after we joined the kids on the morning prayer in their small chapel. There they sing and pray every morning before breakfast and school. We were invited up to the Korean missionaries for breakfast and sat there together with Samson, one of the other workers at the orphanage. 

Rebecca and Blanche playing Ligretto! "It's fun!"

Yves and Mossa enjoying the easter holiday

The weekend after, 23.-25. March, we went on a trip to Garoua with the Gospel Singer. That was an amazing weekend! It started out with a meeting at College Protestant for preparations before we were going away with the bus, and also a last fast prayer for the trip. We desided in the last minute to drive a car up there instead of taking a local bus. 

Simplice, me, Kristian, Bassané and Sara-Jeanette

So together with two others from the choir we squeezed into the Aasens car and drove the 4 hour long drive up there. That is something I have gotten used to when we have been in Africa; we fill up everything, church benches, cars, motor taxies, and car taxies and so on. But when we arrived and got settled in inside the buildings connected to the Sion church in Garoua we finally got some food before the choir had a concert in the church.
As we did not know all the songs we were told (at the last minute) that we would join the audience instead of singing with them. The performance was very nice and there were allot of people watching. But as the Saturday was the big day for them they hoped that the audience would be bigger the day after, when the big concert was going to be. 

Unpacking the bus outside the Sion Church in Garoua

The Saturday started out with a good breakfast, some classes and before dinner we went to the concert place. After they were finished practicing we took a motor taxi together with one guy from the choir each to Medoubass’ aunt and ate couscous there.
Sadly there were only a few people who came to the concert that evening due to too little PR. But therefore we got to join in on the last few songs! And it was very fun! 

Gospel Singers concert on Saturday 24th of March 2012

After the concert we went back to the church, and as I was really hungry after not eating for several hours I joined Kristian, Abbou and Bassané in walking down to a fish bar close by. But unfortunately we came there right after closing time, so we had to get into town to get some fish. So therefore for the third time that day I broke the rules (!) and took a motor taxi. We ate fish from a stand on the side of the mane road, and sat down at a bar where we bought big sodas for each of us.
The fish was really great! It was definitely one of the best fish meals I have ever had, it may be because I was so hungry, but I do not want to admit that... We joined some of the other choir members at another bar where we sat and talked for a while before we went back by motor taxi to the church. So during that one weekend I managed to break the rules four times...oops?
The day after we sang with the choir on two sermons in the Sion church, and then we got couscous with gombo sauce, which is one of the greatest couscous meals I have ever tasted!
We travelled back to Ngaoundéré, and had a short stop in Ngong, where the rest stopped to sing for the inhabitants in the village, but as we cannot drive during the night we had to continue. 

Abbou and Martial

On Monday 26^th of March we were invited to celebrate the graduation of Martial, a band member in the choir. We ate and sang and listened to some speeches that his friends and family had planned for him. As all other events in Cameroon it lasted for a long time, and after 3 hours the real party began. They had put all their chairs and sofas outside, and moved a big loudspeaker into their living room where the guests started dancing. And as we were there, many of the boys came to ask us to dance, it was fun, but we went home quite early I think, because we heard they had kept going until 5 in the morning!

The two last weeks we spent with the kids at the orphanage, our friends at the mission station, walking around the area we lived in and enjoying our last time in Cameroon as Hald students.
And we actually managed to experience the first real rain before we went back! It was so good to feel it and see it. And with the rain, the mangoes were finally ripe. So I got to climb in a mango tree and pick my own fresh mango! Amos, our contact person, arranged a diner with Foumgbami and the next years Hald students from Cameroon and some old Hald student, at the norwegian missionaries house together with some of our friends, both norwegian and cameroonian. We also learnt how to make makkala right before we went back to Norway.

Good bye diner, f.l. Helene, Kristian, me, Simplice

Together with the next years Hald students

Learning how to cook makkala

Last biblegroup meeting the evening before we travelled back

I really miss it now, the people, the country, the food, our parrot Aco, the fruits, the jobs. Basically everything, and that means that I have to go back sometime!

Johanne Teresie