Photos at last!
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.
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.
