December 31, 2011

--Access to the internet is iffy - on again, off again, unpredictable at best. Between here at the Titi's home and the nearby internet cafe, we'll be in touch until Friday morning, January 8. Thereafter it will be much, much more sporadic because we'll move to Mangamba for the next 3 weeks, where there is no service at all. We'll be in touch on days that we're in Douala or elsewhere with connections.

--None of us thought we'd make it to midnight on New Year's Eve, but we happily proved ourselves oh! so wrong! We all dressed in white as is the custom here, to welcome the New Year. By 9 pm things were starting to happen, and by 10pm the church was filled to overflowing.
--We knew that David Groff, with Linfield from Portland, would arrive tonight, and voila!, there he was with us. Here's Sam Hosler -

--The atmosphere was impossible to describe justly - people were all so beautiful, well-rehearsed choirs sang, prayers and spontaneous dancing were wondrous, and suddenly, "Bon Annee!" it was midnight!! Happy New Year! Lots of hugging, cheering, and out we went to the churchyard where a program of more music and food waited. Although it would go on till dawn, at 3:30 am we couldn't hold our eyes open any longer,...






--New Year's Day everyone slept and slept, then up for breakfast with rich Cameroonian coffee, and more visiting. Our holiday dinner was an amazing and delicious African feast of couscous with several kinds of braised and roasted vegetables, chicken, pork and lamb, followed by wedges of freshly picked pineapple - yum! This may be the meal that I do for you at Our Saviour - so, so very good and really pretty.
--The morning of Sunday, January 2, we were in church for a full 3 hours that seemed like 15 minutes! It was Communion Sunday, and the President of the Evangelical Church of Cameroon was the featured pastor. Sam was introduced as a visiting pastor, Papa Hosler, and he charmed everyone with his down-to-earth remarks about sharing our love for one another and then leading us in singing "Jesus Loves Me!" The form of worship in the Evangelical Church of Cameroon flows much like the Presbyterian forebearers started here some 150 years ago, and since this is a Francophone area, its all done in French. There was the wonderful singing and dancing, beautiful black-skinned and brightly dressed people, everyone greeting this new year in extra good form. Afterward, we found the rabbits on our dinner plates that we'd met on Friday afternoon when their big pink eyes were peeking out of a very large basket. They were delicious - a treat we seldom have on our US tables.
--Today, Monday January 3, David addressed administrative matters with Linfield, still in Portland, via e-mail. Joe, Sam, Carol and I walked around the neighborhood and found a grocery story where we bought things we'll enjoy at home and more immediately for lunches when we're away from town.
--In fall 2008 The Friends of WEH raised money and purchased a 4-wheel drive truck which was shipped to Cameroon to help WEH staff providing for the orphans. Today I rode in it! Its a very nice truck that rides comfortably and holds a lot of cargo - just what we'd hoped for. We took mattresses to the Titi's house in Mangamba in preparation for the Linfield students' use. The 3 weeks that we'll be living in Mangamba promises to be an extraordinarily rich experience for each and all of us. First though, more preparations. Tomorrow we'll buy mosquito nets and figure out how to hang them without damaging the walls or ceilings in the Titi's beautiful h

December 30, 2010

December 29, 2010

--We stayed at the Foyer du Marin for our first 2 nights in Cameroon. Ruth and Raphael had been in Canada for the previous 6 weeks, and they arrived home in Douala only one day before we arrived - they needed a little time to settle in at home. We were happy to give them space, and felt recklessly liberated when we took an unchaperoned walk around the neighborhood.
--The Foyer du Marin is situated in the Akwa District of Douala - this is where many banks and development agencies are located. It was comfortable and very pleasant, particularly the outdoor dining room which we thoroughly enjoyed for its charm and for the excellent food. To our delight, one of the waiters was very comfortable with English and kindly gave helpful orientation and suggestions.
--We relaxed, beginning to adapt our sleep-wake schedules. Arizona is 8 hours earlier than Cameroon - we need a couple of days to catch up.

December 28, 2010

--We’re here! I panicked when I discovered that my phone didn’t make it to the Phoenix airport with me, we have no idea where it parted company with us – hopefully it fell out of my purse in my car and we’ll find it was patiently napping while we were gone. But, this is why you didn’t hear from me before we left.
--Our trip from Phoenix to Douala was pretty uneventful. After 3 long flights in 24 hours, we arrived in Douala about 8:30 pm on the 28th. Getting out of the airport was predictably hectic, but $90 and some very helpful Department of Tourism representatives got us past Customs without opening our bags.
--Ruth and a waiting car whisked us away to her home where the staff greeted us ever so warmly and we found a beautiful supper waiting for us. Then we were taken to our charming and comfortable hotel where we’ve spent the past two nights. Now we’ll be with Ruth and Raphael for about a week, then we’ll move to their village home where we and the Linfield nursing students will stay for 3 weeks doing clinics in several villages.

December 27, 2010

We flew and flew and flew. We left Phoenix Sky Harbor at 1:30 pm and arrived in Newark, New Jersey about 6:30 pm, well after dark. After waiting awhile, we boarded Swiss Airlines and headed across the Atlantic to Zurich, Switzerland - Sam was more than excited to finally be on the land of his distant forebearers. We felt compelled to toast this momentous occasion, and found an airport brewpub that fit our requirements.

December 26, 2010.

--After months of increasingly intense preparations, we are officially on our way back to the Littoral Province in Cameroon. Tonight Joe and I are in a hotel in Phoenix, eager to be up in the morning to meet Carol and Sam Hosler, to check those big heavy bags in at Sky Harbor, and settle in for a long flight.  We and our 12 bags will land in Douala at 7:10 pm December 28.

--We've been vaccinated against a host of tropical diseases, we have medications to ward off anything that gets past the vaccines, our bags have been weighed and reweighed many times to assure that we're really within the airlines' limits, we're armed with a generous supply of American toilet paper, permethrin, first aid supplies, vitamins, and 100# of prescription medicaments that we'll use in clinics.  Joe and Sam will be our official photographers, Carol will help them with lots of go-fetchit tasks and hours of health teaching.  We'll be working with a class of senior students from the Linfield College-Department of Nursing who will do health assessments with about 650-700 widows and orphans who are served by Women, Environment and Health (WEH). As a Nurse Practitioner, my role will be to treat the ailments identified by the students - all those generous gifts of money, vitamins, first aid supplies, etc. are about to be put to very good use.
--When the students return to Portland on January 26, Joe and I will join Njoke, Director of Heritage Tours-Cameroon for a month-long tour.  Since we've decided to be volunteers here, we want to know a whole lot more about this country.  I'm particularly hopeful that I will have the good fortune to meet Rev. Dr. Godlove Ngdongdeh with the Cameroon Baptist Convention-Health Board when we're in Bamenda - I did some e-mail consulting r/t psychotropic medications for him a couple of years ago.