Update on our little girls with the burns

Just a quick update while I can't sleep again.  It's 12:30am here and the dogs are going crazy outside along with the sounds of many other things.  I spoke earlier of two little girls coming with bad burns.  Everyday they have to have their old bandages ripped off, yes literally ripped off of them and we have to cut off their dead skin then scrub the burned area and re-bandage them.  I did not help Llonda with this yesterday, but she waited until after I got done teaching my class so I could help.  We cathed her just before and gave her a bon bon then started what felt like torcher to her.  She cried and cried and said a prayer over and over with her mom "give me the strength to survive and make it through this."  It took every ounce in me to not cry and at one point I may have even shed a tear, and then the mother started praying louder and my translator told me she was now praying for us to give us strength.  She must have seen in my face that to hear her pain was unbearable to me.  It took what felt like hours and before we knew we had many hospital staff coming to watch us.  The German Dr in training came to our place later that night to thank us for allowing him to watch us, as he had learned more in that two hours of us taking care of those two little girls than he had in a week of working in the pediatric unit.  As bad as I had felt about it, I was glad that someone can learn something from it.  It took nearly and hour and half to do the older girl, she has mostly 2nd and 3rd degree burns, and only about a half hour on the 2yr old.  She is mostly burned on the one leg, and even though it is bad, it is not as bad as the other.  

The mother came up to Llonda while we were getting ready to leave to thank her, while we were sure that the two little girls will not like us anymore.  Tonight I prayed for strength all the way around.  

Here is a picture, which doesn't even come close to how much pain she is in.

Wedding Day!

March 12^th, 2012

It is early am and I had a hard time sleeping again last night. There are constant noises going on. The cockroaches sing, the Muslims chant and sing their prayers, and all the other bugs making noises. I swear people never sleep around here. No wonder why I feel exhausted all the time.

Have you ever heard of the expression your running on African Time. This is something that I have a very hard time with, but almost all of my family would fit in well with. They tell you that church starts at 7:30am. Which actually means 8 or 8:30am. Everything runs late. I can't stand it. So Saturday was the wedding, which is an all day affair here. The Council was at 9am. The phone rang at 6am that someone was going to drop off our dresses. I hung up and literally there was a knock at the door. They asked for a “document of just married”, I had no idea what they were talking about nor did Llonda so we took the dresses and they left. A few minutes later we received another call that they wanted us to print “JUST MARRIED” on paper to put on the car. I started to print it then let Llonda finish as I went with Eric to go watch him play football. (our soccer) He invited me to play and I politely declined thinking I would have probably been trampled on as most everyone here is in good shape. After all, they walk almost everywhere. Eric and I got back at almost 8am, so it was rush rush to get ready and be out the door and to the Council at 9am. We left at 8:55 thinking we would be late, and showed up and where the first ones there. Everyone else is running on African time. A few more trickled in, then we got the call that we were at the wrong place. So we piled into the couple of cars there and went up the street to the Hotel DEVILLE. It was a nice government building and I guess that one has to have a council ceremony before having the church wedding as it is the only legal wedding. Each the bride and groom have two witnesses. Llonda was one of Adda's, so she sat up front with them. Once the ceremony finally got started around 10am (again we are running on African time) it was over in about half hour. We went outside for pictures, then headed home for a break before the church wedding.

The wedding was at the Catholic church here in N'Gaoundere, and anyone who has been to a Catholic wedding knows they are long, and almost every wedding its always hot in there. The wedding started at 3pm and the priest Friday night at the rehearsal said we must not be late as there was mass Saturday night. So we made sure to be there promptly at 3pm as our prior engagement with the priest was not a good one, and of course we were one of the first ones there again. People trickled in up to an hour later. We stood there in the heat with our gowns on and had wished we left later. I begin to hate this “African time” more and more. The wedding starts at 4pm, and drags on and on. The priest went on for an hour about some speech who knows what he was saying as it was all in French which we couldn't understand. Between the heat and the smell of body odor I started to feel nauseous. I made it another half hour and when it was time for the offering, we took our chance and bolted outside for some much needed fresh air. We stood outside for awhile, with others as well, then went back inside and sat in the very back so we had an easy escape if needed. It was after 6pm, and finally over. We congratulated the bride and groom, took more pictures, then back to home to change clothes for the reception.

The reception started at 8pm at the hotel du lac, which is far away from town. We purposely didn't leave the house until almost 9pm not wanting to be the first to arrive. We were going to be officially running on “African time”. We arrived there to find that alas, we were again one of the first ones there. “Are you kidding me!”, I thought to myself. So we stood outside again, and it finally started around 10pm. We didn't eat dinner until 12:30am. We couldn't make it any longer and were the first to leave at 1:30am and they hadn't even cut the cake yet! Apparently weddings around here are nearly a 24hr ordeal. We found out the next day that most started to leave at 4am. Even getting home at 2am, we slept most of the day away.

Sunday, after getting up at around 12 -12:30pm, we tried to visit the neighbor man who moved to Cameroon with his family in 1960 as missionaries, but wasn't home, and I still was not feeling well from I think being a little dehydrated and overheated, so I laid down for a nap. We finally were able to meet up with Mr Nelson and he showed us a very nice presentation of N'Gaoundere from back in the 60's and how it has formed into what it is today.

After visiting with him, we went into the market to buy some groceries, as we had planned to make cookies and homemade pizza for dinner. We came back and were not home long before we had a visit from Adda, JB and Danielle. It was a short visit, but we had brought some medical supplies for JB for his schooling and had some toys for Danielle. We gave them their wedding present and then they had to leave. We cooked pizza for Eric and then had some more surprise guests show up. The Dr in training from Germany and another gal from Germany who is on a year long expedition traveling every week to a different town and hospital doing some sports medicine training. They were more than thrilled to have pizza and cookies. As was Eric. We stayed up late again even though we knew we would have a long day at the hospital.

Good night all!

 Llonda and I just before the Dowry.

At the Dowry going through the gifts.

 The Mayor with JB and Adda and each of their witnesses.

Llonda and Eric before the Council Ceremony

Settling In

Hooray… no water shut off for the past 2 days!  Still no ice or water readily available in the refrigerator door, and the hot water heater in our apartment has not been working well so mostly lukewarm showers,  It’s amazing the small conveniences that one can really take for granted.  The water is not suitable for our American stomachs, and it has to be filtered and boiled to be safe, and still it is only good enough for cooking.  We must buy water for drinking, which is very expensive here.  The soil is also contaminated and all fruits and vegetables have to be soaked for at least 20 minutes in filtered water with a special bleach solution for food.  The food prep alone can be exhausting and one can long to just run to McDonald’s.  Actually there are many cooked foods available on the street and some of it is not too bad as long as you don’t think too hard about where they got it or how it was prepared. Having tried much of it before and being fully armed with my Cipro, I readily jump in and will eat some of it, but Steph has not yet braved the street food.

Tomorrow two of my good friends from Cameroon, JB & Adda will marry.  I am to be a witness for the ceremony and this has consumed a good deal of time these first few days here.  Material to be bought, then off to the tailor for measurements, a copy of my passport to the consulate, & meeting with the priest.  Last night was the “buying of the bride” ritual, and then finally tomorrow the real deal.  At 9 am tomorrow we go before the council, and then the wedding at 3 pm.  Then in the evening the reception will be held.  One thing for certain it will be one very long hot day with me in an African dress and heels.  Anyone who really knows me will have a hard time envisioning that.  For the reception some other dress, but at least my flip flops.   Traditions run deep here, and they hold deep to their roots.  Whether it be the foods they eat, the style of dress, the type of place they live in, how they deal with pain or a wedding.  They fully embrace their culture, love their people, love their country, and they do not complain.  They are thankful for everything that they have, and we could all use a lesson in that.  For some, truly not knowing when they will get their next meal, when they sit down to dinner and thank God for the food provided, it clearly has a very different meaning for them than it does for us.

There is a constant parade of people at our door… selling fruits and vegetables, peanuts and home-made goods.  Some asking for money for school, others begging.  Today two brothers came selling something we were not interested in.  The youngest pleaded with us… it is so that his brother can get new sandals.  He removed his flip flop to reveal a large hole. Still we refused.  I sit here tonight feeling bad about it because for under $2 I should have just given them the money for the shoes.  We sometimes are in a tight spot.  Does he truly need shoes or does he just wear them to make the sale? One cannot know without further investigation.  So for now I just choose to feel bad about it.

We have started our work at the hospital.  There is so much work to be done there & so many jobs that are bigger than we could possibly accomplish in our time here.  You deal with many types of tropical diseases, and see many things such as deep wounds, horrific burns (both new and old) common medical problems that are quickly treated in America yet here are left to grow into unbelievable horrific medical cases.  The days are long and the nights are short. We just try and do the best that we can. 

March 8, and 9th 2012

March 9^th, 2012

I (Steph) haven't written in a couple of days, so starting with yesterday Thursday March 8^th, here is how the day began. We decided to skip Chapel this morning and start work at 8am. I went to work in the storeroom right away while Llonda hit the ICU. The storeroom is a dirty place that if filled with medical supplies that are not being utilized. It's frustrating and I don't think the hospital staff even know what their sitting on. So I am trying to take an inventory of all of the supplies there, and their expiration dates. Even though many supplies can be used after the expiration date, there are many that have been expired since 1996. The plan is once we have a complete inventory of whats in stock, we can provide all of the Majors with that list so they can see if there is anything there they can utilitze. The Majors here are equal to the head nurse at home, like a manager. Although they work harder. It is not an easy nor fun job and it seems it is a fight with the store room manager all the way. He does not like me at all and when I show up he comes up with some reason to leave and doesn't come back. There is another man who works there who is new, and does a WONDERFUL job. I wish I could make him the manager. I tell him what to do and with no hesitation or fight he does it and is eager to learn.

It was International Women's Day here on Thursday the 8^th. This is a day for of celebration just for women. They had a parade, which they call a March. Many of the hospital staff left to go to the parade, as well as many of the other festivities. We were invited by many to attend and they joked about us wearing our African Gowns in the parade, but we politely declined as there were just a few more things we wanted to finish before calling it a day.

The evening we spent relaxing in the apartment visiting with our neighbors here, a Dr. in training from Germany, the mission station managers father (who was taking care of things while his son was away) and Eric one of our translators. Late that evening about 7:30 we were going to the Dowry of Adda and JB with their families at JB's uncles house. A Dowry is where the Groom to be as well as his family offer goods to the bride and her family. This was between two different tribes here, which is a little harder. When one is marrying into the same tribe they know what to expect and there is less complication. But when two people from different tribes are wanting to marry it is a little harder. There was a room full of about 30-40 people crammed in a little room where JB's family sat on one side while Adda's family sat on the other. We sat on the floor. Eric our interpreter came with also. He translated everything for us which was very helpful. JB's family brought in two suitcases full of stuff. Anywhere from material, shoes, handbags, to dresses, personal care items and kolanuts (a type of nut). Adda's family sat in discussion as they looked in the bags, and said that in their tribe tradition is one suit case is for just the bride and the other includes items for the WHOLE family. These were not separated which upset them as well as their were no gifts for the Uncles. They did not like that, so JB's family went back out side to discuss what they could do. They came back and each family had a stern conversation, (which we could not keep up with) and after an hour they finally asked Adda is she would accept and she agreed. They clapped screamed and YaYa'd then said we need to talk money. We thought it was over and we could finally eat. No such luck. They requested 4.5million CFA. They ended up getting 150,000. Which goes to the brides family, and even the day after family members were still talking about how they were upset. We were just happy it was over and we could eat, but at this point we just wanted to go home and go to bed. I was wishing I was the little girl that fell asleep in my lap.

We ate a little so we would not be considered rude, and I was just happy Eric was with to eat all the stuff on my plate that I wouldn't eat, and then walked home to get ready for another day.

In the morning I couldn't hardly get outta bed. I thought that Jet leg was finally catching up on me, but I pushed myself out and got ready. First thing I went straight to the store room again, while Llonda headed back into the ICU. The guy I left the day before was still hard at work, while the useless manager of the storeroom was sitting playing on the computer. I immediately jumped on him that time was critical and I wanted that typed inventory done. He conveniently found some excuse to leave and we stayed for another 2hrs digging in the dusty boxes and counting everything before I finally got so upset and left on a man hunt. I finally found him playing in a secluded room on his laptop. I had words with the Chief of Supervisors and walked out of his office to have Eric (our interpreter who was with Llonda at the time) yelling at me that I was needed in the ICU stat.

Two little girls came in with bad burns. Their mom was heating up tea and walked away and they dumped it and got it all over their bottoms, legs and feet, part of their arms. Not knowing where the supplies were or anything I did all I could do to clean them up, and dress them. My heart ached as I could just imagine the pain they were having, and not a single way to ease the pain for them. No medications, nothing. Just the sound of my voice trying to comfort them. They are 4yrs and 2 yrs. The older girl at one moment asked me for a bon bon. Bon Bons are candy here. I usually carry a pocket full for the kids, but had not one on me, so after lunch I paid a visit to them with some bon bons. They could barley lift their arms to grab them as they lay their in pain.

I had a CPR class set up for 1pm and was nervous that no one would show. I was relieved when I had a room full and more trickle in. I had made CPR cards for them and laminated them. Then the laminater started on fire. Lovely! One of the things I thought may improve the morale of staff to have their own certificate with more to their title was on fire. So the rest will have a certificate that is NOT laminated, unless by some chance we can find one here.

Today was unbelievably hot. After spending a few hours in another small room teaching CPR and not drinking enough water, I got overheated and at that moment in time I would have paid a million dollars just to go swimming. So that's what I did. There is a pool on the mission station, but it is run by the Norwegian side of the complex. So we have to pay 3000 franks to swim. I didn't care, I knew I needed to cool my body down fast. I swam for only a little bit, and then took another cool shower (which I can't complain about because we have water!), but it was probably one of the first times that after the cool water hit my head it was warmer by the time it hit my back.

The kids have been coming everyday and Llonda jokes as they call us Mama bon bons. We have as many people coming to sell us stuff as we do kids! One little girl today while I was in the kitchen came right in the house. I gave her a bon bon and sent her on her way, but Llonda said I need to not be so nice cause they will all start coming in.

Tonight we had the rehearsal for the wedding at the Catholic church. Hopefully it will go by fast, because as hot as it was in there at 8pm, I can only imagine what it will be like with a church full in the middle of the day!

Hope all is well with everyone at home, “hi” to everyone, and we'll be back soon enough!

 These are some boys pushing one of the Norwegian Mission Managers kids around, with Flat Stanley.

 These two little girls (with among MANY others) walk everyday with their buckets and water bottles filling them up with water from the spigot by our house.  So they stop all the time for bon bon's.  I wish candy weighed less, we would have been able to take much more!

This is where the family members of patients come to cook their food.  3 rocks with wood under neath.  The place is swarming with flies, and everyone is excited to share their food with you.  

 A lizard outside our place.  There are lots of them around here.  My boys would have a blast.  Llonda say's when they get scared their tales fall off and the tale keeps moving around.  I try very careful not to scare them!

Here is a man outside the Hospital who makes beautiful woven grass into walls.  

So back to Africa it is!

 The travel was long and hard, either those plane seats are getting much smaller or else my butt a lot larger, probably both.  Weather delayed our departure from Minneapolis and made all of our connection flights there after tough to make.  I could not believe on our arrival in Douala that all of our luggage had arrived with us.

Prior to departing from the USA, I had not been able to connect with a porter I have used many times to help us thru and out of the airport; this is not a good thing when you land in Douala after dark.  Customs is a tricky place to get thru when you are white & there are swarms of people waiting just outside to get at your luggage or beg you for a few coins.  Even if you are inclined to help someone out in that place, the thought quickly passes as you realize that it will only bring them in larger numbers and increase the amount of danger you are already in the middle of.

 As we stood there waiting to see if our luggage had made it, a familiar voice called out my name.  A huge sense of relief overcame me when I seen that it was the man I had been unable to contact.  He no longer works at the airport, but was there to pick up someone else.  Truly a God send! We collected our luggage to find that the Hotel bus had either not came or left without us.  With our 5 suitcases and 4 large carry-on bags, taking only one taxi would be impossible and you should never separate in that situation.  With this wonderful mans help we are able to get 2 safe taxi drivers and he traveled with some of our bags in the second taxi to the hotel.  It costs money to have him help you, but in this case, we could not have paid him enough.

We could not catch a plane north until Monday and Douala is a place where you have the chance to do a little bit of gradual dealing with the way of life here, the reality of where you are and the culture shock.  When we first arrived there at the IBIS hotel late in the evening, we were both severely dehydrated, tired and hungry, me I was suffering from acute nicotine withdrawal as well.  After getting our suitcases crammed into our small hotel room, I told Steph that I was going outside for a smoke.  While standing out there and realizing the time, I remembered a store just down the street and since it was near closing time, I decided to run there and get enough water for the night. We Americans cannot drink the tap water, even in this pretty decent hotel. After getting the water, I had another quick smoke and then headed back up to the room.  I had taken our only room key and by then Steph was terrified.  Wondering what could have happened to me, plus she had brushed her teeth & then wondered if that might kill her.  All things big and small can be scary in Africa!  By this time we are about 30 hours into the travel, not to mention having  gotten up many hours before leaving to try and finish up everything before we left, and then  very little rest on the trip here.  We quickly showered and went to the hotel restaurant to get a bite to eat before they closed.  Navigating the French menu in a delirious state was interesting. 

While in Douala we had a look at the local goods hand-crafted here in Cameroon, to get some idea of what we might bring our family and friends back home.  A former missionary from here had connected us with a taxi driver to chauffer us around.  There could be nothing like driving the streets and an African buffet to prove to us that we have really arrived.  Even I could not believe it when Steph ate some of the things from that buffet.  Amazing what starvation can do to a person!

We flew to Garoua late Monday afternoon, arriving there well after dark.   An old friend picked us up at the airport, which is no small feat given how much luggage we have and then he hauled us to the hotel.  I cannot think of one good thing to say about that place except for we survived the night and we were more than ready when he picked us up before daylight to take us to the bus station the next morning.

The bus trip at best was suffocating and hot, with a Muslim man standing in the aisle preaching in a foreign language for the first 2 hours of the trip.  We quietly celebrated when he got off at one of the stops.  No one on this bus wanted the windows open and many of them sat there with sweaters and hats on.  All I can say is that if I would have had one of those coats on me, it would have been soaking wet and weighed 100 pounds.  I cannot complain about the smell, because I really don’t think we smelled too good ourselves.  “A skunk smells their own odor first.”  Even though we were really thirsty, we did not dare to drink more than we had to have because we knew there would be no bathroom stops.

While traveling you see many villages along the roadside, most with similar yet distinctive building styles based on which tribe lives there.  It seems heavily populated and I assume that it is because most of them must walk everywhere they go, so the natural building spot is along the roadway.  Also I remind myself that we are in a land with little or no birth control, and that, along with traveling early in the morning when many are headed off to school this explains the large number of children we seen.  In America we would not dream of letting our kids walk this roadside.  I would not even want to drive let alone walk this route with all the buses, cars, motorcycles, bicycles, pedestrians and large trucks, let alone send my kids out there.  Yet somehow they survive. It is the way of life and they adapt.

We got off the bus in Ngaoundere and I thought, oh great no one is here to receive us.  Certainly no red carpet rolled out and no bands touting our arrival.  Hippolyte a hospital worker that I have known for many years now spots us and I am so happy that he is there.  He summons the hospital truck and driver, and finally we are headed for the mission station. 

We first must make a trip thru town to pick up Hippolyte’s wife who is shopping in the market. Now this is not a Super one or a Wal-Mart, but streets and back alleys lined with stands that sell most anything.  You can see fruits, vegetables, clothing, shoes, cigarettes, medications, even a whole cow lying on a table in the mid day sun.  Those selling goods there are trying to make a living on what they are able to sell.  Other than food to be eaten, most of it is unwanted, unused or rejected goods from other parts of the world.  Everything is useful here. They would truly build houses or insulate them with things we throw away every day.  The streets are crowded and this village has really grown up into a rural city since my last visit. 

Finally we arrive at the mission station.  The station is a 15-20 acre complex with many small houses inside of a 10 foot high fence.  On my first visit, I thought that fence might be to keep the lions out, but I later learned that it was to keep the locals out.  The gates are open during the day, and anyone can come inside.  But when darkness falls they are all locked protecting those who live inside a little.  This is not at all to say that the people are bad, but rather just that those who live inside these walls tend to have more than those who live outside.  It keeps the honest people honest; I guess is how to best describe it.

We have been assigned a former missionaries place, so this apartment comes with a few more accommodations than some places here at the station.  Besides a floor and a door, small kitchen and a bathroom it has a few more extras.  Most notably a washing machine, which it seems a sin to use, but we are glad for it.  It is the dry season here and water is scarce.  The local water company has been shutting off the water most every day at various times.  You have no idea when it will go off, for how long or when it will come back on. Don’t put off showering until morning because you may well regret that choice.

One cannot help but see God’s hand in our travels. So many places where things could have went wrong or where situations could have gone bad.  Somehow one feels closer to God in Africa.  You have no control over anything and there are many times when one cannot do anything but pray.  Whether it is for patience or to overcome an obstacle or survive a life and death situation… all you can do is keep faith that you will get through it.  I am reminded of the Pastors Ash Wednesday sermon, where the message was to, “shape up, and exercise those spiritual muscles.”  At the very least, I can report that we are most certainly doing that!

Some views to enjoy

March 6th

March 6^th, 2012

It has been an adventuresome couple of days! We left Douala on Monday the 5^th. We were allowed a late check out as we didn't need to be at the Airport until 3pm. We checked out promptly at 2pm, and asked about the 2:30pm shuttle bus to the airport that we had signed up for, and wouldn't you know, so he could take us immediately! Yeahhhhh, right? Not really; we were meeting the porter Abdouleye at 3pm. Of course we got there early and no he wasn't there, so Llonda made the bus driver stay with us to protect our luggage from the sharks. We had to pay him extra to stay, as well as a young kid who we had use his phone to call our porter and tell him we were there. Our previous morning trip to the Cam Air office was a bust, as they do NOT take credit cards so we used nearly all the rest of our CFA to pay for the extra luggage fees, and found that nearly everyone had a roll on carry on with them, which is what we were told we could not have. So our gifts we left behind in Douala, could have come with, but didn't.

The Cam Air flight flew from Douala, to Yaounde (the capital) to drop off and pick up passengers, only being a 40 min flight it wasn't all that bad, and they even gave out full cans of beer, as well as pop/or water. Brussels Air being an international flight didn't even offer that! After leaving Yaounde, en-route to Garoua, they offered another drink. Again the flight was fast, at about 1hr 10 min. Despite the smell of body odor it was not all that bad.

Once landing in Garoua, we were meeting up with Thomas, a connection made prior by a friend of Llonda's. We walked through the airport and waited for the sign being held with her name on it. He was a terrific man, who spoke English well. A man of God who travels all over Africa spreading the gospel to Muslim's trying to teach them about Christianity. On the way to our Motel we learned a lot about what he does, and I was impressed with his faith in God, and the confidence he has with his beliefs. Our Motel was not far, which we loved as it was already nearing 9pm. Thomas got us all set up with our room and agreed to pick us up again in the morning and take us to the bus station to get on the bus to N'Gaoundere. He left and we went to our room. After opening the door I hesitated & wanted to start running after the truck and begging for him to come back and take us anywhere else. The Motel, which at one point must have been a fabulous place had been run down, with walls covered in mold and peeling paint. There was no toilet seat with the toilet in one bathroom and a baud-ea with the sink and tub, in the other. In a matter of 5 minutes we managed to break the toilet and the lamp. Our only light. Llonda went up to ask them to come fix them and no one spoke any English. It was like a game of charades trying to explain to them about the toilet and lamp. Finally he said he would come and look. I think it was mostly just to shut us up. He got them all fixed. The toilet handles are a plastic pole sticking up out of the middle of the toilet lid that you pull UP. Not down, in case you ever need to know:) Since we were too late for dinner, we decided to try to have a drink at the bar. Llonda asked where it was, and we started to follow the man. I walked in and turned around and Llonda was gone. Lovely, I tried to ask the women if she was open and showed her my watch. She told me 10pm, I looked again at my watch and saw it was already 10:20. “Oh so your closed,” I said. She looked at me again and said 10 or maybe 10:30pm. The best she could say it to me. So again I said, Ok so your closed. Llonda walked in at that moment and in pure frustration I said “THEIR CLOSED!” We walked out and she said she wanted to jump in the pool; we had been sweating all day, and neither of us had showered. Sounded like a good idea, but we had only one towel in our room. Again to the front desk for a game of Charades, which was not understood so after this I reached my breaking point and figured I was best just going in that awful room and try to go to bed. Scared to even undress I laid on top of the sheet in a bed that I was jack knifed in from the mattress sinking to the boards in the middle and I just wanted to cry. Pure stubbornness kept me from totally breaking down. I set my alarm on my phone which was all we had, and tried to figure out if he was going to be there at 5:45am, we had to be up by 5:10, knowing neither of us would touch a thing in that bathroom, and hadn't even unzipped any of our luggage just hoping and praying for morning to get there. I had to set it for 10pm as the time never changed from local time at home, and so I was hoping it was right. Thomas came with another nice young man who spoke no English who was also traveling by bus to N'Gaoundere and he would watch out for us. Thomas got our tickets and waited for us to get loaded and we couldn't be more thankful for him, and Jim N., who connected us up with him. He did all of this for us with asking nothing in return! Which is not common around here, when it seems everyone expects a tip. And they expect an even bigger tip if your white. (especially a fat white, that means your rich). The bus ride was very long. We departed at 7:10am and I sat in the middle seat between Llonda and an African gal. It was not a fun ride. Both of them leaning on me, sweating, and no one would have the window open. African's like it hot! I felt like a was suffocating a slow a painful death. The road was paved the whole way which was nice and along the way there were many villages that we saw with women fetching water out of the well by buckets and rope and their small stands by the side of the road and the little kids running around naked or at a minimum a shirt that was too big for them. Most of the school aged kids were in school, and their schools are nearby their village. Electricity is not seen for many many miles on the road and the radio signal is weak for most of the ride. The closer we get to N'Gaoundere more life starts to appear. You can see electrical towers on the side, and certainly more markets. We went up a Mountain before getting into N'Gaoundere, and it is nothing for these buses to pass other vehicles going up the hill. Lots of broken down Semi trucks hauling goods, surely due to overheating. At the bottom of the mountain Security gets on the bus to check our passports and we are all cleared to continue on. We arrived at the bus station where one of the hospital workers met us there and waited for another vehicle to come and pick up our luggage. He drove us around to see the markets and there must have been markets on every street. Covered with people we could barely drive through. Honking left and right he finally gets through and we safely make it to the Mission Station. We arrived here (the Mission Station) around 12:30pm and couldn't wait to take a shower. It had been since Saturday night that either of us had showered and we were soaked in sweat with the same clothes we had had on for days, and my white shirt was now brown. They showed us to our apartment and informed us there was no water. Ummmm WHAT! They are shutting the water off daily from 7-5pm. Really? So here we were with no water and nearly no money left and filthy dirty. The mission house we are in is big, with two bedrooms, a living room, dining room table, kitchen, bathroom and even a laundry area with a washing machine. All of which we are grateful to have and look forward to being able to have water. It took all of an hour for Jean Baptiste (the chief supervisor at the Hospital) to come right over and take us over to the hospital and show us around. Llonda is clearly well loved over here and many recognized her right away and were very happy to see her. It only goes to show that the work she has done over here before has been welcomed and appreciated. She is happy to be back on her old stomping grounds and didn't take long to figure out where we both will be working and needed. The hospital is a large facility, spread out over a 10 acre complex. (I'm guessing) There are people every where waiting to be seen, and the Muslims are praying on their prayer mats in the hallways, outside, and inside. It smells of urine and the heat only makes it worse. The staff are clearly busy with patients and much like many hospitals in the states, they are under staffed and under paid (if they even get paid). They work long hours 7-5:30pm and 5-7am, with 3-4 per unit/department. We were well greeted, and most of it I'm guessing to due to Llonda's prior visits. Eric, on of our translators comes and joins us in our walk. He is a young kid with great enthusiasm and speaks English well. We meet in JB's (Chief) office and discuss the goals he and his staff have for us. I wasn't sure what exactly my role would be here, but they were very excited to have heard of my ambulance/trauma skills and have a whole list besides the CPR training of things they would like me train on. Llonda will be focusing most of her time in the ICU's which she is much of an expert at.

We walk back to our place with Eric and visit, and ask him to take us to the market to buy some groceries. He is more than happy to spend the time with us. We hop on the Moto Taxi's, they are motor bikes, Eric, I and a driver ride on one, and Llonda with the driver on the other. They cruise in and out of cars and around pot holes at great speeds. Truly one would be very injured if they ever crashed. We go to the market with the little money we have left in CFA and choose our items wisely and get only the bare essentials. The International day of Womens festival is going on in town, and Eric suggests we go. We hop on another moto taxi and head over there. We meet Eric's mom, who Llonda has met before, and she is a nice woman who is happy to us. We walk around the festival seeing all of the different types of food and they way the prepare it in the various areas of the country of Cameroon. From porcupine, fish, chicken, steak to Boa (snake). Many vegetables being sold so we jump at the chance to pick up some potatoes and lettuce. They were cheap and plentiful in amounts given. We left the festival and went to a local pub, enjoyed a cool drink and then headed back home. Eric came with to visit, and good thing he did as we forgot our water. Beings you cannot drink the water here, it was much needed, so Eric took off with the last 3000cfa we had to buy us some water. As we stood outside with a man trying to sell us some silver, Adda, JB and another translator showed up. It was a great surprise as we had no way to communicate with them that we were here. Word got around fast and they knew. We talked about the wedding and the plans for the next couple of days, showed them the dress Llonda had picked up for Danielle (JB's daughter almost 4yrs). They loved the dress and shoes that she had picked out. We had a good visit and then they left and we had dinner plans with Jim and still no water at 7:15pm so we went as stinky and dirty as we were. Jim picked us up (he is only staying across the road) and we headed off to Le Plaza; a nice place downtown. The food was good and the company was excellent. We had wanted to pay for Jim's meal, but were broke so he had to pay with all intentions of us paying him back. We chatted for nearly 3 hours. It was hard to imagine we had been up since 5am and it was going on 10:30pm. Jim has truly been a god send for us and we could never repay him for all the contacts and set ups that he has made for us, and the security of knowing everything will be OK. He is a great man with many gifts and I am grateful God has brought us into our life. We finished dinner and came back home and started going over our list from JB (the chief) of all they would like to have done and where we should start. We pulled out all of the supplies we had brought with and sorted what goes where. Finally the water was back on, and it was more than due time to take care of the S's (s*!t shower and shave). All three of which I hadn't done in days! We knew it would be a short morning at the hospital but had to be to Chapel by 7:30am. Good night all, we love and miss you!