Family matters - Cameroon style
ANNE Work: Pupils and staff are
still slow to return after the celebrations of the 11th February but
Godam and I had a fascinating conversation on Friday with the staff of Membeng
Primary about punishments they are using in school, now that they have given up
whipping the children. Making the pupils stay in class during the interval is
common and generally works anywhere in the world – kids do not like to be
deprived of their free time. The oldest member of staff was much in favour of
having the miscreant kneel out in the sun for an unspecified length of time. For
a serious offence the pupil would have to keep his arms stretched out at
shoulder height and might have to hold a heavy stone in each hand. The
temperature hit 40C here on Thursday and was 31C at 7.30 yesterday. A young
teacher is in favour of having the pupil crawl round the classroom on his knees.
Other suggestions were that the offender should be shut in a cupboard. There are
none in Membeng fortunately! I think we still have some work to do there. On the
plus side, the pupils themselves told us that the behaviour of their teachers is
better this year, that the pupils are no longer expected to work in villagers’
fields during school time although they still work in the teachers’ own fields.
They find the school cleaner and teachers are displaying their work on the
walls. Talking of Godam, he has
finally revealed the name of his new son – apparently the hold-up was due to the
cord not coming away. Normally it comes off within a week but his took 11 days
to come off. The lucky little lad is to have three names – one in the Guiziga
language in deference to his mother’s tribe, one in Mofou, giving his place in
the family and one in French. His sister is called Nina so I expected something
recognisable. Wrong. The child will be known as Miada Kosma Pauvre Famille which
translates as “what does the future hold for this family? – second child - poor family”. When I asked Godam how he
will actually address his baby, the answer was “Pauvre Famille”. His hero, the
headteacher of Mofou-sud, is trying to tell him that his son might have a hard
time with a name like that. Hands up anybody who thought Peaches Geldof was a
funny name. Love is in the air:
Next
Saturday we will go to our first ever double wedding – a first for VSO too, I
believe. Two Canadian Volunteers will marry their Cameroonian boyfriends in a
joint ceremony in Maroua. Neither
girl will have any family there and one fiancé will have no family either. His
family all live in the south, which might as well be the moon for most
Cameroonians due to the difficult and expensive transport situation. Both couples hope to leave for
More poignantly, there is
the story of Fred (not his real name to preserve his privacy). Since Fred’s
arrival last March, I am no longer the oldest volunteer in
Hamish
This week, we received one child with nose bleeds and severe anaemia.
There is no blood bank here, so if a transfusion is required the patient's
family is asked to provide a donor. In this case the father refused - he
has 12 children and thought the harm done to him if he gave a pint
of his blood would be greater than the loss of one of his children.
Guess there are some huge cultural differences!
Babies here are not allowed to cry. There are no dummies so if a
child cries he/she is immediately put to the mother's breast no matter what she
is doing. This seems to continue until at least the age of two. A
crying child is also unacceptable for the nursing staff, so they just give them
an injection of valium. There's definitely room for some "in service
training" here!
Photos show a very sophisticated home made toy car and a premature baby in
the hospital with a babygro our grandson Jamie had already outgrown when we were
in Sunderland last month! This baby weighs only 1100 grams. Thanks
to Jamie for donating some clothes to the needy babies
here! |