12/1/08 - The Journey Begins

This amazing journey's seeds were sown twenty years ago during my visit to my brother Cap in Sierra Leone while he was a Peace Corps volunteer - I told myself then that I would return to West Africa. My husband Joe and I have often talked about joining the Peace Corps, doing medical mission work, or other international volunteering - perhaps through the church? Now we are somewhat retired, and we still feel called to help in developing nations, I as a Nurse Practitioner and Joe as a Very Helpful Person With Diverse Knowledge and Skills

One evening about 18 months ago as my friend Carol and I shared a glass of wine, she told me about her friend Ruth Titi-Manyaka. Both were daughters of Baptist pastors - Carol grew up in the American northwest and Ruth's Congolese family lived in Congo, Central Africa. A series of fortuitous events brought Carol and Ruth together as roommates at Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon where they became close friends. Through the ensuing forty-plus years they've kept contact with each other and Linfield. Today they are both married with children and grandchildren. Carol and her husband Sam are both Episcopal priests. Sam is actively retired, and Carol serves as pastor with an ecumenical Methodist-ELCA Lutheran-Presbyterian-Episcopal congregation in Kearny, Arizona. Ruth lives in Douala, Cameroon with her newly-retired husband Raphael. She is the Director of Women, Environment and Health (WEH), an NGO (non-governmental organization) that serves the health and social services needs of AIDS widows and orphans who live in rural villages near Douala. Two years ago WEH hosted a class of Linfield nursing students who came to Cameroon to learn about health care in developing countries, to practice nursing assessment skills, and to experience community healthcare in a rural village setting. At the students' request, Ruth delivered their class commencement address at Linfield College in May 2007, and Carol was there.

She and others who know them both were so inspired by the work that Ruth is doing that they formed a 501(c)3, Friends of WEH, to support WEH. They first identified a need for a 4-wheel drive truck to take workers and supplies to the remote villages in all weather despite the unimproved roads. Friends of WEH received many very generous donations from people all over the world, and at this writing a truck is on a ship that is due in port in Douala on January 12, 2009! Friends of WEH has pledged continuing help with the costs of gas and maintenance. Friends of WEH has pledged to provide technical and practical assistance where and as there are resources.

My life changed on the evening that Carol told me about Ruth and WEH. Carol sparkled as she told me how she and Ruth had made a pinky-swear-on-a-star that someday they would walk together on African soil. "I'm going to see her! my wish is going to come true!" I heard myself saying, "I want to come, too!" And that's how this all began. We are in Douala, Cameroon now, and my husband Joe is with us, but Sam stayed home in Kearny to care for The Church of the Good Shepherd. A class of 18 Linfield nursing students will arrive here later today, and until the end of January we'll all be very busy doing healthcare-related work in several villages.

I am in Cameroon as a Nurse Practitioner, to help precept the nursing students, and to provide medical care. When we first decided that I would come with Carol, I knew absolutely nothing about malaria, intestinal parasites, or other tropical conditions that I would probbly need to treat. I soon learned that Nurse Practitioners are not recognized in Cameroon. I knew nothing about the health care delivery system here. I knew in a general way that HIV/AIDS is widespread, but I knew nothing else about this dreaded disease. I knew that French is the primary language, and I don't speak French. I learned that it would be valuable to have medications to dispense in our informal clinics, but I hadn't the slightest idea how to get them. I am grateful for the internet and e-mail, and for some wonderfully helpful people who have shared their knowledge and expertise, particularly Ruth Titi-Manyaka and Drs. Tom and Edie Welty.

After some anxious days just before departure when our visas were delayed, we flew from Phoenix the morning of December 26 and arrived in Douala the evening of December 27, 2008.

Stay tuned to see how the trip unfolds.