Happy New Year from Cameroon

1.02.09
Happy New Year everyone! Hope you passed a good holiday season with your friends and family. I spent Christmas Eve and Day with a couple who has lived in Banyo for the last 8 years working with the Baptist hospital here. They live on the out skirts of town near to the hospital and church in a valley next to the mountain-really pretty out there. I went with them to church Christmas Eve. Most of the church goers were from the neighboring baptist community, and therefore anglophone, so most of what happened I understood. First there was time for the children to come up and recite memory verses, then the choir would sing a song with drums and shakers, then there would be a sermon of sorts, and then this repeated. We left during the dramatization of Jesus’s birth and the subsequent events following (lets just say there was definitely some cultural adaptation!) After church was over I could here the drums and dancing that took place outside the church well past one in the morning. I went back on Christmas day and there was a lot more signing and celebrating as well. Everyone dressed up and went door to door saying, “Happy Christmas,” in which you reply, “Happy, Happy.” I maned the door for while handing out popcorn and cookies. Later that day, another baptist family and their kids came over for dinner. Ohh..it was so good! I brought over the stuffing mom sent for Thanksgiving (but didn’t reach in time) and we had mashed potatoes and gravy, and chicken, and green beans and carrots, and a jello mold, and pineapple cake, etc. etc. I was in heaven!! Lots of people stopped by throughout the evening and then we finished the day playing cards together. Needless to say it took a lot for me to leave there the next day! But my post mate arrived a few days later from his in-service retreat just in time to celebrate New Year's Eve together. We tried the local discotheque for awhile with some Banyo friends. And after discovering that he had had maple syrup mailed to him in a care package, we made pancakes from scratch that were pretty darn good. New Years Day we rode our bikes out to the Baptist community and spent the afternoon out there again. So all in all, a pretty different but good holiday season this year. I don’t think I will be spending next Christmas in a sun dress however!

Work wise I have been pretty busy trying to meet with people in the community, job shadowing nurses at the hospital, and getting my house together. I had a minor success yesterday when the chairs and small table I asked to be made finally arrived at my house! And after paying to have the water lines fixed, discovering another break in the line after the water was turned on and gushing water for a day and a half, and then having a very leaky shower head that had to be replaced, I think the water situation is under control (keeping fingers crossed). I am now trying to navigate how to get my house repainted in Cameroon 101. All the former tenants were successful so we will see how long this takes. I am just so thankful every night for the fact that there are green beans, green peppers, eggs, pasta, beans, tomatoes, avocados, and rice at my disposal every day (coupled with the wonderful food I have received in care packages I may survive after all). I am starting to navigate the Peace Corps cook book we have and exploring the idea baking in a dutch oven. When forced to I might learn how to cook after all!

There have been a lot of things to talk about since I last had a chance to get on the Internet. Two weeks ago Banyo held their third vaccination campaign of the year which I mentioned in my last blog. I was able to go “en brousse” on motorcycle (out to nearby villages) one day which was pretty cool to see (very beautiful but very very vast). I am thinking that I will be able to do a lot of work with village women in the neighboring villages. Last week I just observed the district hospital that I am based with. I did rounds with the staff and spent one day in the maternity, pediatrics, and urgent care wards each. It was really good to see the difficulties that the nurses/doctors and patients face and also witness the major causes that bring people in (malaria, malnutrition, and moto accidents mainly). It also gave me a chance to start sitting and talking with patients and I think I could probably could do nothing more than just sit in the pediatrics ward the next two years and talk with mothers about their children's health and I would be very busy. I had some great discussions with a few moms that I think I may try to tap into for the community. I had my first real dose of reality though when I sat with a women who had late stage complications from AIDs (just then diagnosed). She did not make it by the time I returned after the holiday along with one baby who was a twin (brother came in with broken arm) who died of malaria during the night. Both cases that could have been prevented.

In lighter news, my neighbor's teenage girls did my hair the other day in braids (och!!) that I will try to post a photo of today. And I have a mouse in the house that I am aiming to get rid of soon! I also played my first soccer match with the neighboring boys with my post mate and scored, which was pointed out does not count because the goalie only came up to my waist :) It was fun though and I am hoping to get a girls match going in the near future perhaps (that will be a lot harder to do!)

I hope you are all well and enjoying the New Year. I hope to write back within two weeks or so. I have to go to Yaounde around mid-January (I will get to see the inauguration via CNN on the 20th) so will hopefully write then. All my best!
Love, Anna