First week... almost

September 6, 2010 - Monday

Originally, the whole idea that I was leaving for Cameroon hadn’t hit me, but that changed once I got to Brussels waiting in line for the flight out. Once I started hearing French being spoken and realizing just how lost I would be for (hopefully) the first couple months it kinda started scaring me.

We were stopped twice on the way from the airport by the police. I guess they can sometimes give you a hard time, but luckily for us there wasn’t too much trouble! On arriving at the hospital we met Trixy, the doctor, and their two pets Jordan and Milo. Milo had a litter of kittens so we got to play with them for a bit… which made my evening so much better!

Moriah and I have a 9X13 room with a bathroom attached. We’ve got a closet/wardrobe with three shelves, one drawer, and a small hang up space. We also have a bunk bed and a little table. It is definitely small, but it works which makes me happy with it! Actually the size of the room kinda makes it more homey! At the moment we have a bunch of cloths piled on our table which are needing to be put away.

So, I am still really super nervous about the job. I will try my best, but I’m afraid of the expectations of the doctor and her husband. I have to realize that this is only the first couple hours of being here.

September 7, 2010 - Tuesday

Our toilet has been named… Lightning McQueen… The reason for the name: It’s a ‘throne’ and the bathroom light flashes on and off. We find the simple things to laugh at.

We were given today to just settle in and get to know the place. Bill Colwell, the doctor’s husband, gave us a tour of the hospital and some of the places around Buea (the post office, some health department place, and Reach) Don’t ask me how to get to the places that we went… I could get lost and find my way back… maybe but it would take awhile!

So, today we had our first market trip. Aaaah!!! It was a bit stressful deciding how much we needed, understanding what they were saying, where to go to find what we needed, and what we needed. I attempted to learn some French in the middle of all of this, but was not too successful. J Luckily we had two of the other nurses, Christian and Lea, go to show us around and get good prices. But of course all the vendors raised their prices because we were a ‘white man’... apparently we’re all referred to as white man. (Where’s the feminist movement when you need one?? J)

We ended up getting oranges, salt, pasta, tomato paste, sweet potatoes, pot (as in the thing you cook in!), silverware and plates, scrubbies, multi-use soap (woot woot!), toilet paper, garlic, oil, eggs, hangers, bleach, a bar of hand/dish soap which we have chopped up into smaller pieces, and a knife all for about $22 dollars which isn’t too bad I guess.

Later in the evening we were invited over to the Colwells for supper. It was wonderful having some real food since Moriah and I had been living off the snack/goodie bags that our moms had packed for us before left home. and we got to go through a cookbook to get ideas of what to make for the rest of our time here. Now, I should be off to bed so that I can wake up in the morning!

September 10, 2010 – Friday

Since Tuesday, Moriah and I have been trying to learn the ropes at the clinic. We’ve been informed that the hospital will be opening this next Monday and that we will be expected to care for patients overnight. That is so scary, yet thankfully Lea or Christian will be working with me till I get the hang of it, so it shouldn’t be as bad. There is so much to learn still, but I suppose I am having to put into practice the advice given in SM class, “Be flexible!”.

So, aside from being so overwhelmed by all I have to know, I’ve gone through all the different drugs in the clinic- of which I know about three of them. Had a lesson in French and now can say, “Bonjour!”. I’ve learned to give IM (Intramuscular) and IV (Intravenous) shots, cleaned a 1yr old girl’s burn wounds, watched HIV tests being done and stood in on two consultations. But most of the time I have sat in the nurse’s ‘lounge’ reading nursing diagnosis books.

I will have to say the people are so amazing here. I love them! They all seem to have a smile on their faces and they are fairly courteous! The kids are probably the best part though. When I see them all running around town in their school uniforms or just playing in their ‘yards’, they will yell out hello’s and I wish I could take them all home with me. I will definitely have to get to know some of them!

Today we went to Limbe, which is right on the coast about 20 miles from Buea, and looked for a gas can for our new stove. We stopped at a couple different gas stations to see if they would sell us a yellow can of fuel, but were unsuccessful. Since we were in Limbe, Bill took Moriah and I to the Limbe Wildlife Centre to see the monkeys and to also eat at Chella’s restaurant for their vegetarian pizza. It was pretty scrumptious! (I think I’ve eaten out more here then I have ever before J)

(Later)

Just finished wiping mold off the hospital walls, so that it will be more ready for the opening on Monday. We also got our yellow can for the stove…Yeah!!! It’s so pretty and we can use the stove while the power’s out!!!

In summary the things that have happened in this last week…

My alarm clock has broken

My watch has broken

My feet have wet about 90% of the time

I now have an afro from all the humidity

I’ve been eating snacks that my mom sent me for the 24hr trip for the past week.

The closet door has broken off

The adaptors that we brought don’t fit the plugs

I have no clue what I’m doing

Our sink drains into the shower

We have lights that act like lightning and they choose when they want to work

I’m getting sick

Our door can double lock and you have to pick it up to open it.

The shower is iffy whether it wants to be hot, cold or warm

Our bread looks like it was made in a brick factory

It's rained all but one day

We have SUPER memory foam mattresses- they remember everything that has ever been on them!

Through all of these experiences it has given Moriah and I SOOO many laughs it’s been amazing and I am so glad to be here!

(If you want to hear a different side of what we did and our adventures you can checkout Moriah's blog at moriahsmeanderings.blogspot.com)