ANNE

Work:

As expected, schools have been slow to start again after the two week Easter break. In spite of trying to encourage parents to send their children back to school on the 13^th, Godam and I found little work being done in any of our 4 schools. In one school, only 4 teachers out of 9 bothered to turn up and the other 3 schools each had 2 teachers missing. They don’t seem to get the fact that they should be acting as rôle models for the pupils. Head teachers are far too tolerant and the Inspector can’t be bothered to check up out in the “brousse” unless somebody pays his travelling expenses.

Already at the beginning of the rainy season, getting to 3 of the schools is becoming less easy. Yesterday we had to wait for the roads to dry off before we could set out for Membeng. At Mofou-sud one of the classrooms made from millet stalks has been destroyed by the wind and rain.  200 children will now have to share the remaining room (See photo).

Godam is a happy boy organising our inter-school football tournament which will get underway this week. I expect a few needle matches.

One day last week he was late for work and “tired” after being at a circumcision party. Sounds a lot of fun! Boys aged from 8 to 15 are circumcised and then sent out into the bush together with one older man as their guardian for 3 months. They are taught to swim (if they can find enough water), to hunt, to behave like soldiers, to become self sufficient adult men. This does not seem to include learning to cook as the women deliver food every day but they must not be seen by the boys. This usually happens during the rainy season when school is closed for the holidays; if not, the boys just miss school for 3 months!

Home:

Starting to make plans for Shona’s second visit. She is due to arrive in Maroua on the 1^st May. We hope to be far enough ahead with work that we can take a few days off to travel with her. A short stay for her this time as it is just for a 2 week holiday. I have a feeling she won’t be able to stay out of the hospital though.

Village life:

Along with the rain comes the bonus of beautiful birds. The African Paradise Flycatcher and the yellow weaver bird are back along with a tiny blue bird with a grey back. He is called a Cordon Bleu according to our bird book – not much eating in him though.

Shortage of water is still a huge problem as the latest photo shows. Some women are even sleeping at the boreholes so that they can be first in the queue when the forages are unlocked. What a life and a baby every year if you have an inconsiderate husband.

Hamish

Work continues at the same frantic pace – roll on the rainy season proper when the patient load should diminish a bit!  We have one poor youngster in the hospital who had a horrendous head injury leaving him with a defect in his forehead through which his brain is protruding.  We had no idea how to close this, but after contacting colleagues in Europe, we now have a plan.  There is no doubt that the internet is a hugely valuable tool.

This week, we visited a village about 25 Km from Zidim to see a scheme to prepare mosquito nets in action.  This was organised by our pastor here in Zidim who arranges for groups of women in villages to be trained to impregnate the nets with insecticide.  These nets are then sold in the village and the proceeds used to buy another batch of nets for treatment, so creating a sustainable scheme.  Funding for this project came from the Rotary Club of St Andrew and Pastor Tchao and I are extremely grateful to them for their support.  Photo shows Pastor Tchao with some of the team preparing the nets.  90 nets were treated in just two hours and we reckon this will give protection to two to three hundred children.  On the visit, we were accompanied by the two Dutch medical students who are at Zidim.  After the work was done, the visiting party was invited to a local house for food.  This was the students’ first experience of this ritual, so “Granny & Grandpa” had to give guidance on how to handle it and for once felt like experienced hands!  Back in the UK, if a local suggests the route to take, normally one goes with the advice.  Well, that’s not the case here as we discovered when we were taken the long way round to the village – taking about half an hour longer than the return journey by our preferred route!  Here, they have little idea of geography, maps are hard to come by and any that do exist are hopelessly inaccurate.

Last Sunday we went up the “mountain” behind Zidim with one of the hospital staff as guide.  The mountain is no more than a hill, but there is a huge natural bowl in the summit where the original village was established.  This situation was easy to defend from marauding tribes.  The villagers descended to their present location after the arrival of the Baptist missionaries, we think as recently as the 70’s.  There are still the remains of the traditional chief’s house in the mountain and we understand preparations are being made for a traditional “fête” there in the coming weeks.  Would be good to get a chance to see that, but we’re not sure if nassaras (white people) would be allowed.