ANNE

Work:

Thanks to the generosity of Shona’s friends and colleagues, we will be able to give 60 books to each of the beginners’ classes of 2 of the schools. This should mean roughly one book between two – a huge step forward. I have persuaded the head teacher of one of the schools that he, as the only qualified teacher there, should take that class himself to give the children the best possible start. I still have some work to do on the second head teacher. There are also about 200 little schoolbags with paper, pens etc. on their way. In fact, they have been on their way for the last 10 weeks! We live in hope. Have finished my first draft of the VSO document which has to be finished by end August. Feel I am making progress at last.

Home:

Fridge/freezer No. 8 has gone bonkers; the fridge has been running at -6C and the freezer at +6C! François tried to solve the problem by cleaning out its chimney and then turning it upside down for half an hour. Now fridge is at +6 and freezer on zero. When we leave for Maroua this weekend it will be turned upside down again! We are getting there! At least we have cold water again.

This week we have had to ask for help to stop people coming to the door asking for money. Last Thursday, a fairly average day, 5 people(mainly strangers) arrived at different times, plus one hand-delivered letter. It started before 7am and went on until after dark. While we have every sympathy for people living in real poverty here, we feel we have no privacy. Godam has gone to the Lamido(Chief) on our behalf to alert him to our growing problem. The Lamido will tell his Lawans(deputes) and the Lawans will tell the Djowros(the next level) and the Djowros will spread the word through Zidim and the neighbouring villages. We are sorry it has reached this stage and don’t feel good about it but feel we can’t take it any more. Every time the gate clicks, we tense up, knowing it is either more work for Hamish at the hospital or somebody wanting something from us - either our time, our money or the use of the car. Shona has become a target now too.

Village life:

Last week we went to the wedding of the hospital almoner/evangelist in Gawel, about 30 kms away. We drove over the worst roads ever with deep mud, ruts and lakes.  Don’t think we would have made it if the hospital driver had not led the way. The exciting thing about this wedding was that it was the first ever legal marriage to be performed in Gawel – Marriage Certificate No. 1. The couple had been married in the civil ceremony at 7am, with the Church blessing some hours later. Hamish became chauffeur for the day but that’s another story.

Went to market this week with Dr.Dj and Lydia who teaches me African Cookery once a week. Once there, Dr. Dj asked a small boy dressed in a man’s ragged jacket which reached the ground(nothing else, just the jacket) to carry his shopping for him. The child struggled round with 6 kilos of meat, okra, peanut oil etc in blazing heat. When we got back to the car, Dr Dj announced to the little boy that he did not have the promised 100CFA(10P) and told him he would give it to him later.  The market is 3 kms away from the hospital and Dr. Dj was on call. Hm…..

Typical Cameroonian organisation:

The pastor of Membeng asked me to find someone to talk to the villagers there about safe childbirth in hospital as opposed to possibly unhygienic conditions in the village.

I spoke to Zra, chief midwife. He was willing to do it. I told the pastor. Nothing happened. We were all at the wedding together and I suggested they discussed dates. Next day the pastor arrived at the house; it would not be proper for a man to do the talk. I spoke to the only female midwife, a cheerful, happy person – delighted to do it but I would have to ask permission of hospital management. I did this – no problem. Speak to Zra. Spoke to Zra.  He will now speak to Noami, the Psycho/ Social nurse.  I give up; they are on their own now!  Hamish thinks it’s time they had a brewery here so that they can practise organising p……..ups!

Cameroonian Bureaucracy:

On Monday Shona and I left Zidim at 7.15 am to go to the Immigration/Emigration police station in Maroua to get the police stamp on a letter stating that Heather will be with us for two weeks. Easy? Not here it isn’t. After entering the office of a delightful man I have met before, I explained my task and showed him our letter. In this bilingual country he barked at me that it was in English. Well spotted! He asked me to translate. After about 3 words, he told me to write my translation. As I searched for paper since none was forthcoming, he threw a form at me and told me to fill it in. When I started to do it at an empty table, he rudely ejected us  to do it somewhere else.  Job done, I returned to his office, feeling less than confident (I am beginning to get the hang of people like him). Sure enough, he told me I had made an error and that mine was the last form he had. I would have to take it to someone to have it typed up (computers are rare), get several copies made and take them back to him to begin again. I DON’T THINK SO! We headed for VSO and Abdoulaye who knows everyone in Maroua. He took us to a different police station and within 15 minutes we had what we needed and were able to fax it to Heather. It pays to know the right people here. I do hope the charming officer at Im/Em didn’t wait all day for us to go back.

Random Facts/thoughts:

Growing basil very successfully and lettuce not at all successfully.

Termites have been building a home under our bed - it was about 4 inches high when I discovered it during one of my routine snake searches at bed time.

Hamish

Firstly, congratulations to Anne & Francois on the safe arrival of their daughter, Laura Louisa on 9^th August (photo attached).

We’ve also attached the latest pictures of baby Rowntree (AKA Fruitgum!).

The hospital almoner/evangelist got married on 2^nd August. Everyone from the hospital was invited, and several made the effort to travel to his bride’s village, Gawel, for the ceremony. The rainy season has finally started so many of the dirt roads are impassable. There was some concern about the road from Zidim to Gawel, but we set off following the hospital car driven by Jean, a very experienced and capable chauffeur. At one point he stopped and got out of the car to check the road ahead; it looked like a lake! He came back and said he thought it would be OK if we stuck to the middle of the track. How we were to do that was beyond me as the track disappeared into what looked like deep water. Off Jean set and made it safely through. We followed and were very relieved to come out on the other side in one piece and still dry! Once we got to the village, a squad of volunteers set to with a cloth and a 1.5litre bottle of water to remove the worst of the mud from our car. They made an amazingly good job of it then decorated it with garlands made out of toilet paper – yes, ours was to be the bridal car! You can see the end result in the attached photo. The church ceremony was a fairly protracted affair especially with long processions to hand in an offering for the church and then to give gifts to the happy couple. One feature of African weddings is that the bride seldom looks happy, as you will see in the photo taken at the “reception” after the service. After this, we had been asked to drive the couple and their best man & chief bridesmaid to the town of Salak, about 30 kilometres away. The hospital car had also been commandeered to transport their luggage and other members of the family. When it seemed there were no other family members going, Jean decided he wasn’t needed and headed back for Zidim. As we had no space in our car for all their baggage, the groom thought we should wait while they tried to get someone to catch up with Jean & tell him to come back. I decided this was not a good idea as I know how fast Jean drives and there is no way anyone could catch him! Eventually we set off along a very testing muddy dirt track – at times it seemed worse than the road between Zidim & Gawel. We were very relieved to get back onto tarmac. All in all, a testing but interesting day.

We have just paid a visit to a rehabilitation centre for physically and mentally handicapped. This is in the village of Mouda, 33Km from Maroua. The makers of the Cameroonian beer “33” place huge billboards advertising their product 33Km from major towns and there’s on of these at Mouda, so we know the exact distance! The centre was set up by Italian donors with the money coming from two churches in Italy. This turned out to be a fascinating visit; the centre is very well organised with excellent equipment and staffed by real enthusiasts. They also take in babies who have lost their mothers, feed and nourish them until they’re 2-3 years old, then try to return them to their families. These kids are very well cared for and seem very happy – the attached photo shows our chief of medicine/paediatrics and me holding a couple of them so you can judge for yourselves how good their care is.

Shona insisted I attach a photo of the kid who wee’d twice on my trousers after I prescribed water pills for him. She thinks he’s cute!

One final note. The hospital accountant has said he would like to buy our car from us when we leave. Having seen his attempts to demolish the hospital’s garage door when he took the hospital car out, we’re not sure. Our uncertainty increased when he had another go at the other garage door when he put the car back in! It has been suggested that he doesn’t actually have a licence and I think we could believe that!

Shona

I’m now into my last few weeks here, it has definitely been the fastest 3 months of my life!  Things went a wee bit quieter physio-wise for a couple of weeks, but it’s picked up again this week which is great.  We’ve had a variety of patients, including one guy who was bitten on the forearm by a snake.  He’s ended up with some neurological problems in the affected arm so my splint making skills have been put to test to prevent contractures.

A new physio has arrived at the hospital, I was originally told he was a student and now I think he’s just finished his course, we’re not really getting clear information from him, his English is good, but there are a lot of misunderstandings!  We are trying to work together at the moment, which is great because he is able to help me translate, so mum has been freed up a bit.

The rehab centre at Mouda was amazing yesterday, we’re hoping to go back when there are more patients.  It’s better set up than anything I’ve seen back home, which shows it can be done here!  Unfortunately they’ve no vacancies for physios!

Still no sign of my equipment, I’m beginning to think that I dreamt it all up in the first place.  With only a few weeks left, I’m running out of time for it to arrive.  You never know, miracles might happen!