Anne's news
Work: 2 plans are ready to be
handed in; the other 2 should follow within the next 2 weeks. The
schools are desperate to get started now that they have chosen their
priorities. Membeng wants 2 classrooms built and if they don’t get
their construction materials delivered before the rain comes in May,
the road will become impassable for vehicles until about March next
year! The pressure is on.
Discovered recently that one of my head
teachers, a quiet, gentle, intelligent man with Omar Sharrif eyes, is
a convicted murderer; he killed his first wife. GD says it was
probably her fault as African women expect too much of their
husbands! His second wife caught a look in his eye recently and
departed, leaving him-as is his right here- with a brood of small
children. A couple of weeks ago he married Wife Number 3- must be
those eyes!
My Inspector found out recently that he
is now retired. His salary just stopped!
Home: We continue to enjoy our
new house with its fans and verandah -very welcome in temperatures
reported to be as high as 50C here. Candles bend double in the heat.
Made mango jam this week. Definitely one to do again. Sitting in
middle of sandstorm at moment and can’t see the hospital 100 meters
away. It sounds like very heavy rain. Correction! It has just turned
to heavy rain- the first since October- very early and apparently not
a good sign.
Culture: 8th March
was, of course, International Women’s Day – a big event here
where women are inferior beings. Here in Zidim it was a fairly
low-key affair with the parade due to start at 8am and finally moving
off accompanied by drums at 10.30. People love to dress in the same
material here and a special cloth is designed each year for Women’s
Day. It is usually absolutely horrible but it is amazing the
different styles the women manage to create and in the end it looked
good. About 60 women, some with babies on their backs, and
accompanied by about 100 children, mainly boys, paraded, singing,
along the main street to the local school where the national flag was
borrowed before going to visit the Lamido. Instead of congratulating
the women, he harangued them for not being more organised and told
them to do better next year. Just what they needed. He does not
allow his 4 wives to take part. After a break over the midday heat, a
little party with dancing and DVDs followed in the Church Hall. At
the end of the day Hamish was thanked for his support- he had
followed taking photos- the only man visible in Zidim that day- the
others had mysteriously disappeared from their usual spots under
trees, getting on with the important business of playing cards.
GD: Has not had a good time
recently. He is in trouble with his boss over reimbursement for moto
hire. On top of that, his little daughter decided that his most
treasured possession, his mobile phone, was dirty and gave it a good
scrub. The results were predictable. His problems with soap continue:
he bought his wife 6 bars and told her to be prudent in her use of
them. If she sees a dirty child at the well she is not to offer soap
or if a neighbour runs out, she is not to give her any. Soap is a
big issue here as it is one of the few things people can neither grow
nor make.
Message from Hamish
It's great to have been able to download photos, so we can show you a
view of our new house & car. During our visit to Limbe I managed to
get a photo of one of the chimpanzees - can offer a prize of a bowl of
bouillie (local version of porridge) for the best suggestion of a close
resemblance. I can think of a number of patients from my GP days, but
confidentiality rules prevent me from saying anything. I have also
posted a photo of two of the village women being "greeted" by the Lamidu on International Women's Day (see Anne's notes on culture). We
both think it's a really awful shot with the women positively
grovelling in front of him. The two women are both very clever educated ambitious people;
one is the pastor's wife the other the wife of the head teacher at Mofu
Sud and a trained teacher herself. Not sure what use the Lamidu is - he certainly thinks he's very important.
Unfortunately, the memory card containing photos from 1/11/07 to 31/1/08 seems to have been corrupted. While the laptop was out of action, I just kept it safely (I thought) stored in its plastic container. What a disappointment to find neither the camera nor the computer can read it. If anyone has any suggestions on how I might try to retrieve it, I'd be very grateful.
Work remains exciting and challenging. It's been great to have the help of Christian Dressler, a German surgeon working in Chad. He's been here for a three weeks with his wife & two young children. Unfortunately for us, the situation in Chad has quietened down and they're going back next week. Anne Popelaars returns to Holland for maternity leave at the end of May or beginning of June and I'm facing the prospect of being the only doctor in Zidim. That is
definitely not sustainable so pressure is going to be applied on the hospital administration to find a solution. You may remember Anne's husband, Francois, broke his thigh bone on Hogmanay. He's been in hospital in Meskine in traction ever since and they've just discovered that the broken ends of bone have not united. He's now going to have a pin put in. Surgical repair of fractures is not recommended in the developing world as infection is almost inevitable, but after three months as a prisoner on his back in a small hospital room, there's really no alternative. Francois is head of maintenance at the hospital but the administrators, in their wisdom, have just decided not to renew his deputy's contract, so next time there's a serious technical problem, we're up **** creek!
We're looking forward to Shona joining us in June. She's due to arrive in Yaoundé on 2nd and is planning to stay for 3 months working as a volunteer physiotherapist in the
hospital. Now that we have a vehicle, it will be great to be able to show family and any friends who care to visit round a bit of Cameroon.
