Dickinson College - Students and Faculty in Cameroon

STudents and Faculty Visit Cameroon
January 2006

Every spring a group of students studies abroad in Yaoundé, Cameroon as part of the Dickinson-in-Cameroon program. They take classes at the University of Yaoundé in both French and English, and live with host families or in the Dickinson-leased student apartment and study center. This year, faculty were also present to participate in a seminar and conference on "Religion and Political Power" co-sponsored by the Clarke Center and the Office of Global Education. Page 2

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Photos by Kim Nichols, Dickinson College

An infant chimpanzee is in quarantine after being rescued and sent to the Limbe Wildlife Centre, whose mission is “to secure the ultimate survival of threatened and endangered species.” This orphaned chimp’s parents were most likely killed by poachers.

The Limbe Wildlife Centre is a base for the work of Liza Gadsby, a world’s expert on the endangered drills and co-founder of Pandrillus, an organization dedicated to protect the endangered drill monkey and other primates from extinction. She kindly shared her time and expertise with the Dickinson group.

Traditional dancing and palm wine were presented as the culmination of the visit to Bafut.

(Above) Professors on the road: Itzchak Weismann, Univ. of Haifa; Ashton Nichols, English; Mark Ruhl, Political Science; Bob Ness, English (founder of the Dickinson in Cameroon Program).

(Right) Prof. Ness discusses a carved wooden panel in the museum at the Mount Fébé monastery. Pictured with Prof. Ness are Molly Osborn ’07, Rachel Sondag ’07 and Peter Allen ’07.

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A group of 26 students, professors and administrators, along with guide Teku Tanyi Teku, embarked on a 5-day bus trip through some of Cameroon’s engaging countryside. Here they have just toured the Sultan’s Palace in the kingdom of Foumban.

A Queen of Bafut led the group through a tour of the compound where she and many other wives of the Fon of Bafut live with their children.

Children flock to sell mangoes and papaya to students Peter Backof ’07, Lindsay Robinson ’07 and Anne Zander (Macalester ’07). Peter holds a ball made of rubber strands. The group traveled through vast rubber plantations.

Anne Zander (Macalester ’07), Maureen Boyer ’07 and Laura Price-Waldman (Macalester ’07) meet with members of an office dedicated to the establishment of NGO’s (non-government organizations) for women. Dickinson-in-Cameroon students will be able to intern through the connections made during this visit.