Anne

This last week has been really hectic – just the way I like it, otherwise the time would drag before our departure. Monday morning was spent shadowing Hamish at the hospital and taking photos of him at work. In the afternoon another volunteer was coming to observe Godam at work with the girls’ literacy class and I had to be there to give my tuppence worth .That was followed by a visit from the President of Mofou-sud’s mothers’ association to prepare for the next day’s meeting. We then loaded two sewing machines for the school into the boot of the car in the hope that the road would be passable. If not, somebody would have great fun with a wheelbarrow.

On Tuesday, Godam and I set off at 7.30 by car and went for it, following the hospital chauffeur’s advice. Everyone was mightily relieved that the pousse-pousse would not be needed after all. It had been announced in church that Mama Anne would be having a meeting on Tuesday morning and a good attendance was expected. I had asked for this meeting to explain to the mums what our work has been these last two years and to say why I thought it had been less successful there than in the other three schools. Rachelle – President, pastor’s wife and all round dynamo – had gone to the chief, who summoned the Lawans who summoned the Djowros(the hierarchy of traditional leaders) who spread the word. By 8.30 there were 233 women crammed into a classroom and about 50 others outside. The fact that Chinese whispers had delivered the message that every woman who turned up would get a sewing machine and a bag of rice may have had something to do with the high turn-out. The heidie of Mofou-sud, a man, has shown little interest until now but chose to stay and listen. He heard me asking if the head teacher is always in school during school hours or is he in the market. I balked at asking, “Is he in the market bar?” At the end of the meeting, the TWO sewing machines were handed over thanks to money from the Canadian International Development Agency and nobody lynched me (See photo). Rachelle, never one to miss an opportunity, took a collection for association funds and raised about £10 – a reasonable sum of money here. I then headed back to the hospital to collect Hamish and allow him to visit our market for the first time really. Nothing much to see still though – onions, small aubergines, flour and sugar plus the usual dead animals. Later that afternoon we had our final visit to the Dispensaire, Zra’s bar, and found Mofou-sud’s head teacher drowning his sorrows.

Wednesday started with a visit from Membeng’s Head to discuss our small opening ceremony for the new classroom. Their main opening ceremony involving all the population will be in December. Why in December? Harvest will be in and people may have a little money to celebrate with. The parents also intend to build another classroom themselves by December so will have a double celebration. They have bought bricks for a proper foundation, will build the walls of mud and coat them with cement. This is called semi-dur (semi-permanent) and should last 20-30 years. When they get to that stage , I have promised them that I will find the money for the roof. After the chat with the heidie, I summoned strong men from the hospital and they loaded a large cupboard on to the roof rack to go to the new room; another gift from grandson Jack’s class in Wormit. The road to Membeng is closed to cars now but we wanted to get it as far up the mountain as possible to be stored in the head teacher’s house until the road improves enough to get a vehicle up. Just as well we did it that day because next day it rained heavily and the road was impassable again (See photo). The day after that, a mud hut on the head’s compound collapsed due to the rain – fortunately not the one the cupboard is in.

On Wednesday evening Godam and I had a meeting with our local MP to talk about the mess the schools are in and to ask again for his help. The Honourable hijacked it totally, summoned the pastor and Hamish and served us a leaving dinner but no new classrooms. The day finished with an urgent email requesting more information for the Rotary Matching Grant to install the borehole at Mandoula and much of Thursday morning was spent making many phone calls. Fortunately there was enough of a network to allow that. Godam and I then headed up the mountain to Membeng – a hard, sore journey at the moment, especially for the bike driver - for our little low key opening ceremony with the Development Committee. The room was officially opened by 5 year old Yvette who will be one of the first pupils to use it (See photo). She was too scared of the white woman to come to the school until we sent a message that there would be a little gift for her. We ate rice, pasta and goat at 11am and then headed back to Zidim to beat the rain. We almost made it before the heavens opened and it poured until we were due to leave for Boudoum School for our final visit there. The road there is flat and sandy so you would think easy. Wrong. When it rains it is like glass but very dirty, muddy, and yet sticky glass. A journey that usually takes 10 to 15 minutes, took an hour. Godam and I were filthy when we got there. Water was brought and my feet and shoes were washed for me. Meanwhile the bike was taken to the river to be cleaned ready to get filthy again on the return journey. Lydia and her husband arrived just as we were finishing our meal that evening and spent a long time telling us how much they will miss us. That translates as, “We hope you are going to give us lots of money when you leave”.

Apart from a bit of paperwork with Godam, that was the end of my job – for the moment. It was strange saying my farewells to him after working so closely together for two whole years. I think he is keen to be independent and sometimes has made it clear that he thinks he could do the whole thing without me. Friday and most of Saturday were spent packing before Hamish’s leaving party from hospital staff. It was held in our garden and was a great success. Everyone had put a lot of thought and effort into it which he greatly appreciated. Towards the end, two members of staff brought in their dogs to eat up any morsels of food that might have been dropped. Nothing is ever wasted here.

Sunday started off with our last church visit and, guess what? There was a wedding- our 12^th here! Four hours later we escaped to finish our packing being interrupted by only 17 people. Today, Monday, we left Zidim to start our journey home. Visitors started arriving at 6.30am and by the time we left at 8, there was a fair crowd gathered to see us off and a suitcase full of food for our journey. We are in Maroua now for the next two nights with various jobs to finish off before heading south on Wednesday.

• Last week Lydia said her shoes were too good to do the washing in and wore mine instead.
• This week she wore mine to go to market
• On Thursday she asked for money from her salary to buy shoes

Am I missing something here?

Hamish

That’s it – I’m now fully retired.  All the “tools” of the job have been left at Zidim and soon my name will be off the medical register.  But, what next for a challenge?  The last two years have been amazing and we have absolutely no regrets about having done it, but it has been very stressful for both of us at times.  I can recommend 2 years working here for weight reduction.  10 kilos in two years which will go back on very quickly once we’re back.  It seems that weight loss is the norm for doctors here.  I remember shortly after we arrived in Zidim we had a tourist trip to Rhumsiki with Sylvia, the other Dutch doctor who was here at the time who was very slim.  Our guide in the village told us he’d met another Dutch doctor the year before, but she was really fat – yes, it had been Sylvia!  And Anne Poppelaars although slim when we arrived, continued to lose weight during our time here.

The full blood count analyser is up and running.  There are some minor calibration issues, but they can be resolved easily.  The attached photo shows the official handover to Aminou, head of laboratory.

I had a leaving party on Saturday at the hospital.  Well, actually, it was in the grounds of our house.  Godfrey II was led to the house with a couple of chums at 0800.  I think we need to change the name to Al Megrahi as he was sent home to die.  The butchering was done in our garden, but Anne refuses to watch the video I took of the occasion!  It was a great “fête” and the hospital staff had put a lot of effort into it.  Many of them arrived dressed in black, which apparently is a mark of respect here.  The attached photo of the hospital bosses is typical.  I think too they were quite impressed to see the kilt being worn and were stunned (almost literally!) by the sound of the bagpipes.  Then Anne & I were given presents from the staff and were led back inside our house where our “dressers” helped us don the traditional robes the staff had given us.  On Sunday, we wore the new garments when we went to church and had to stand up in front of the congregation while the pastor said a formal farewell.  From his comments and others on Saturday, it’s clear that the universal reaction when we arrived was “how much use will this old duffer be?  When there’s an emergency, will he be able to run to the hospital?”  I think they came to accept that I am not a total geriatric wreck and that the zimmer frames Shona brought out were for the patients, not me!  As you will see from the photo, the foulare (traditional head cloth) is designed for the wiry African hair and does not sit well on fine nordic type.  Anne did not appreciate me saying it's reminiscent of Hilda Ogden! 

We left Zidim on 24^th and were driven out in what was our car.  The hospital accountant, Bouba Mathieu, has bought it, without test driving or asking any questions!  The lack of test driving I can understand as I don’t think he can drive, as was demonstrated when he demolished a garage door trying to take the hospital car out!  What he has in mind for the car goodness knows, but I have a suspicion he will use it to provide a commercial bus service with Jean the hospital driver as chauffeur.  Jean drove us to Maroua and what a drive it was.  Although we had had virtually no rain in Zidim, it had obviously rained heavily over the last 10Km or so of the road the night before.  The last section in particular was done in waltz time as even with four wheel drive, the slippery mud was quite a challenge and the car was dancing all over the track.  Anyway, that’s us safely in Maroua, but the big challenge is how do we reduce around 100Kg of baggage to just 50?  We were inundated with gifts from people, but there’s just no room for all the peanuts, sesame seed balls, gateaux, peanut butter, duck eggs, etc.  Most of this we’ve just had to pass on to other volunteers as there’s just no way we can pack it.

So now, a couple of days in Maroua, then we fly to Yaoundé where I have a final exit interview with my VSO boss, before leaving for home on Saturday.