I guess its about time I introduced myself... If you've followed
YAN's development I'm sure you've seen me here on the site as a member
of "the team." I've been here in Buea since December of 2009
volunteering at
Buea School for the Deaf
(BSD) independently. I worked with Erin Wildurmuth (YAN Director) in
teaching video production to the students at BSD last Jan-March and then
continued to help Heather on her arrival last October at the Bilingual
Grammar School. So I've been apart of YAN for quite some time really.
Now I get to take front and center and try and continue where Heather
left off this year. I'm a little nervous taking over Heather as she is
just an amazing teacher in my opinion. But I learned a lot from her and
the fact that I've been at her side and I'm familiar with all the
students should make things easier these next couple months.
As for my background if your interested... I grew up in the Pacific
Northwest of the U.S. (around Seattle). I'm Native American of the
Squaxin Island Tribe. I grew up in a very small community with many
family and friends with few life aspirations. As a result, I've striven
to seek out world experiences so that I may better myself and in turn
live as an example and hopefully bring something back to my tribal
community. Thus, I left home and came to Cameroon almost immediately after completion
of my BA in Sociology at the University of Washington.
So that's me in a nutshell. I'm really excited about finishing up this year and seeing the students advocacy projects finished. Look forward to some video uploads and websites by the students.
E-mail me if you have any questions about YAN or anything.
joshuawhitener64@gmail.com
