Life in Cameroon

Living in a “concession,” a walled-in area with two rooms, a bathroom, some electricity, but no running water, has its moments, but Danielle Bilecki, 24, a 2008 Bellport High School graduate and a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, has been making as much of an impact on the small village she serves as the people there have on her.

Bilecki has been living in this country of geographical and cultural diversity, which borders Nigeria in West Africa, since September 2013.


Earlier this month, Bilecki retuned home for a month to visit over the Thanksgiving holiday and to attend a wedding. During that time she talked to the Advance about her life as a Peace Corp volunteer, a 27-month commitment.


Bilecki is following in the footsteps of her father, Mike Bilecki, who served the Peace Corps in Chile in the 1970s, and joining the corps was always a dream of hers.


She currently works in the environmental sector of the Peace Corps in agri-business. Her village is called Bansoa, located in the west region of Cameroon, where most of the people are subsistence farmers.


Bilecki teaches them how to transform their raw products into something they can sell for a higher value. Since there is a lot of soy used to feed their animals, she has been teaching the women how to make soymilk and tofu.

Working within the women’s group is one of the highlights of her work; she also has helped host a girl’s six-day sleepover camp, a first. At Camp Forte, as it was called, Bilecki told the young women the camp stood for “girls for healthy work and life.”


Among the discussions were teaching the girls about their reproductive organs. “Of course, there was an emphasis that they were young and they shouldn’t be having sex, but if they are, how to prevent STDs and pregnancy,” Bilecki said.


Cameroon citizens speak French in the city and in classrooms and at home they speak their native language. “There are more than 300 local languages in Cameroon,” she added. Though she speaks French well, Bilecki has recently been trying to learn her village’s native language, Ngubmba.


Ebola has been in the forefront and Bilecki was frank about it. “Everyone is afraid of getting Ebola from us,” she said. “There is more Ebola in the U.S. than in Cameroon. Africa is huge and you can’t condense an entire continent into one disease.”


Nigerians did a great job of containing the disease, she said. “Cameroon has been really good with its borders. I think we’re going to be okay and I think they are prepared.” Though she is not in the healthcare sector of the corps, Bilecki said the bigger issues within Cameroon are providing preventative care for malaria and HIV.

Even though just about every family has a cell phone, the technology still isn’t there for running water, Bilecki explained. “Waterborne illnesses such as cholera are still rampant,” she said. A lot of her work has involved teaching the native people how to use a filter system and preventing diseases by working towards getting a public well.


Recently, she also began helping a non-governmental organization out of the regional capital called Youth for Change. Every Thursday they meet and help teach a volunteerism class and a yearlong class about environmental health. At the end of the class, the youth vote on a project to undertake in the community.


“It is so rare for adults to give kids the opportunity to learn and then create some sort of change and there is not a lot of hope in even the idea that they can do something as kids,” Bilecki said. Her job for 2015, her last year in Cameroon, will be devoted to creating an organization structure for the NGO.


“We are so proud of Danielle, not only for what she is accomplishing to help people in a developing country, but also for her service to and as a representative of our country,” said her dad.


Overall, it’s been a life-changing experience and Bilecki encourages young people and adults to go out and explore the world. “I really honestly feel like I am getting as much out of this as I am giving,” she said.