January 7, 2011

January 7, 2011
--Linfield has hired a bus which will take us to all the schools, hospitals, and other sites.  

Our Faithful Bus

We, with all our luggage and supplies, were loaded and drove away about 11 am, later than the proposed 9 am departure, but stuff happens and we’re in Africa. We picked up 2 more passengers on our way out of Douala. We made it through the city and across the very congested Wouri River Bridge more easily than usual, admired and appreciated the greatly improved main road through Bonaberi, and drove out through the countryside for an hour till we turned off on a rough dirt road. We stopped to visit a family at their home, then on to Dibombari where we met the Prefecture (aka Mayor) who gave us permission to return another day to see patients there.
--Back to the highway and along to Souza where our driver didn’t want to take the bus down the rough road to the hospital, but he did. This hospital is tiny, understaffed and undersupplied, it does not have any running water and the electricity is notoriously unreliable. But, the staff are dedicated, hardworking, and caring.  Somehow healthy babies are delivered, injuries and systemic infections are all managed. They also run busy weekly outpatient antenatal follow-up and general health clinics.  This one of the clincials sites.

Souza Hospital

Souza Hospital Delivery Room

Happy Family with New Arrival

Weekly Antenatal Clinic Waiting Room

--Back on the bus, we drove down another long dusty road heading for Mangamba which will be our home base until late January. Twice along the way we saw funeral preparations – lots of chairs set out in neat rows, palms standing in the road as flags, people dressed in black.
--At last we arrived in Mangamba! The house is surrounded by a high block wall with a heavy metal gate that allows vehicles in and out. We got off the bus to lighten it and thus raise its low center, but that was not enough because after an hour of backing, trying again, placing boards strategically to raise the wheels, etc., the bus made it in the gate but damaged the air conditioner coming over the high center. A flurry of phone calls (thank goodness for cells!) and a repair is in the works.

Chez Titi-Manyaka in Mangamba, our home for 3 weeks

 --Everyone’s luggage was handed down from the top, we hauled things inside, and everyone chose a room and roommate, and we began settling in, including figuring how to hang the mosquito nets over our beds without making any holes in the walls or ceilings. Lunch arrived - to protect us against nasty tummy bugs of which there may be a great plenty in locally prepared foods, all our meals will be prepared at Ruth’s home in Douala and delivered to us in Mangamba. While we gulped down our sandwiches, Ruth told us that we would have a surprise about 4 pm.
--Joe and I happened to be standing with Ruth when a local woman who seemed very bewildered appeared in our midst. The woman’s brother had died and his body had just arrived in the village, we offered our condolences, and she disappeared.
--Then we heard drumming outside and went to look over the upstairs porch rail. It was a little past 4 pm. Below us in the courtyard a group of boys were gathered near a man who sat on a low stool drumming a traditional log drum! A masked figure, caped completely in long palm fronds, appeared and danced until the singing and drumming stopped, the music began again and he danced again, and again, and again. People from the village drifted in, another drum joined the first. More dancers. A line of men and boys wearing fabric well-secured around their hips, danced in a circle. An older woman joined the line. Then another, and another and more. Palm wine poured from large plastic jugs flowing freely among the musicians and dancers. The dancers invited the students to join the merriment – it was amazing to see!

Some of the students watching the dancers

Dancing to Singing and the Village Drum and

 

Barbara with our first patient

--Darkness came, and I sat on the stairs dreamily watching. Ruth’s voice said, “He’s your first customer.” I was holding a toddler who surprised me with his cuddliness. “He’s been throwing up for 2 days.” His grandmother answered questions about him. Then the only right thing to do was to get the medications from our supplies that would help him feel better. A flurry of searching generated liquid Tylenol, cough medicine and Pedialyte which I taught his mother and grandmother how to use. His young mother appeared and presented his baby sister to me, “what about her, she’s sick, too.” One of the students helped me assess the baby, and together we taught mom and grandma how to share her big brother’s medications between the two kids. Promising to return if the kids didn’t begin to improve, they disappeared into the darkness.

--After we went inside for our supper, the drumming and dancing slowed, then stopped, and this wonderful party was over.