Moriah and I headed up out on our trip on the 27th of February. Since both of our visas were going to expire on the 6th of March (which would have been the middle of our trip) we had to go to Yaounde to extend our visas. We really weren’t sure where we were going to be staying while in Yaounde once we got there, but on arriving in the city Trixy sent us a text. She had a friend (well more of an acquaintance), Rachel, who knew of a place to stay. Moriah called and we got it all arranged for us to get a room. When we got to the compound, we were given an entire apartment. (3 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen, and living room) It was so spacious for just the 2 of us since we were used to our one room place in Buea.
The next day we headed over to the Union Office to get our visas figured out. We were sent to sit in the waiting area and we sat there for the good part of the day. Apparently they didn’t need us to go to the Embassy and other offices so we just hung out, slept, journaled and talked while waiting. Originally, Moriah and I were supposed to be headed to N’Gaoundere and the extreme north that afternoon with a bunch of other volunteers, but at the time that we were supposed to be meeting the rest of the group at the train station, we were told that we wouldn’t get our visas finalized till the next day. I was so frustrated! (The awesome thing though was that God used that frustration to teach me a lesson of patience.) After finding out that information we gave Rachel a call to see if there was any chance of us staying at SIL again. Our apartment that we had used the evening before was still open and we were able to check back in. Rachel also arranged for us to have supper with a couple, Jim and Jacque Rotruck, so we didn’t have to scrounge for food that evening!
We had a wonderful evening with Jim and Jacque and the food was amazing! They are missionaries through Wycliff Associates and are doing a 2 year stint, working with mission groups that come in to do building projects. Jacque is the one that takes care of the food and housing for the guests while Jim is the administrator, basically making sure things run smoothly. (Correct me if I’m wrong Jim and Jacque) They were a very enjoyable couple and we had wonderful conversations. Oh! And now Moriah and I have another pair of grandparents! So, if we hadn’t spent another night in Yaounde we wouldn’t have been able to meet Jim and Jacque Rotruck, (So God really did know what he was doing, who would have thought!?!)
The next day we had asked for a tour of SIL and during the tour we were able to experience the 10 O’clock Coffee Break (each work day everyone in the offices comes together for a break just to chat and relax, which I thought was a really neat idea to institute more community!). After the tour we went out to eat with the Rotrucks and then headed back to the Union Office to get our visas. We ended up sitting at the Union Office again waiting. They brought our visas to us at 4:15 so Moriah and I rushed to find a taxi and see if we could still make it to the train before it left. Traffic did not help anything and it took us about and hour and some to get about a 3 mile (at the most) distance to the station. On arriving we handed our reservation slips to the lady at the counter and she rattled something off in French. (Did I mention that neither Moriah nor I speak French?? )Well, we later learned, after someone translated for us, that she was telling us we should have gotten there by 3 (and it was 5:45) to have gotten our seats. Apparently we looked lost enough that they took pity on us and gave us ticket.
On the way up to N’Gaoundere, we got the bed compartments, which were fairly comfortable. The only challenge with the trip was the many stops that were made (15+ in all). At each stop it sounded like the train was about to fall apart or that we had crashed into something. There were also groups of vendors shouting for you to buy there wares at each stop, so it made it a bit challenging to get a good, sound night’s sleep. Oh! And probably the most entertaining part of the whole train ride was the toilets. For one thing the toilet emptied right out onto the tracks and secondly since there were no toilet seats (I don’t think it would have used it if there were) you had to straddle the toilet while trying to balance with the trains swaying and bumping, it was quite challenging!
We arrived in N’Gaoundere at about 8 AM and managed to find and buy a ticket for the bus up to Maroua. It was amazing how dry it was and how the scenery changed. It became more of what the typical “Africa” looks like. There were little, mud hut villages, adorable little naked kids running around and the dry open areas. And it was probably the first time I have had dry lips for about 6 months… it was nice! When arriving in Maroua we gave Lynn, one of the Peace Corps volunteers, a call to see if we could spend the night with her before heading to Koza in the morning. That night I was SO hot because there was no air flow in the house and it was in the hundreds (well it felt like that, not really sure how hot it really was).
In the morning on Thursday, Moriah and I grabbed a breakfast of beans, koki, and benye (basically fried bread). One of the most amazing meals that they have here in Cameroon in my opinion. Elissa met up with us at about 10:30 AM and we wandered around the art and hand craft market, bought some mangoes and then went to and grabbed a drink (nothing alcoholic J) before heading out to Koza. It was so awesome actually meeting Elissa in person. The crazy thing is that Elissa and I live about an hour from each other in the states, but we had to come all the way to Cameroon to actually meet! J I knew the minute that I met her that it was going to be an awesome 1½ weeks hanging out with her! Anyways, from Maroua it was about an hour and a half drive to Mokolo which is where we had to take a 45 minute moto ride to Koza. I’m sure we were a sight! There was both Moriah and my backpacks strapped to the moto with Elissa and her driver. Then our driver and Moriah and I on the other moto with our big side purses. (Really we probably could have fit more stuff onto the motos, but I felt plenty squished!) There were a couple times I felt like we were going to crash and halfway through the trip my legs got super tired from bracing myself to keep from squishing Moriah and our driver. But despite that, it was a gorgeous trip into Koza! There were more of the mud huts with tons of little kids yelling hello’s out after us as we sped by.
The hospital in Koza was actually larger then I was expecting. There are three wards that can hold at the most 100 patients: women, children, and men’s. (Even with the different “wards” you found a mix of all of them in each ward J) They also have a pharmacy, emergency room, 2 operating rooms, and lab.
There was one little 5 or 6 year old boy that had come in a couple weeks before with burn wounds to his head and chest. When I first met him, I could hear him long before I actually saw him. His caretaker (not sure if it was his mother or not) was giving him a bath out on the side of the sidewalk. Whenever she would pour the water on him he would scream out and shake in pain. It made my heart break, because I really wanted to help, but there was nothing that could be done. I’m not sure what will happen with him, but I hope that it heals and fairly quickly so he doesn’t have to go through all that pain!
Another thing that we got to experience while at the hospital was surgeries. 2 C-sections, ½ of a hernia repair, and a gunshot wound. Actually the second evening we were in Koza we were called into the OR for the first C-section. It was my first experience of seeing a major surgery so it was quite fascinating. Not only was it my first time to see a surgery, but also to see a birth so that was neat seeing a new life come into the world. I would have to say though that I felt for the mother, because all the ripping didn’t not look very pleasant, not that natural births are very pleasant either J For the hernia repair, we were called a couple minutes before it was supposedly supposed to start, but once we got there they were almost finished so we didn’t get to see much of that one. The guy that came in with a bullet wound to the stomach ended up not actually having a bullet in him. He was cut up anyways and they searched for the bullet, but then found out that it had only grazed the guy. So, that was interesting to see the whole abdomen cut open, but it was kind of pointless.
Our last Sunday there, a women delivered a set of twins and we got to watch! And as I’ve already mentioned with the C-section, it wasn’t that pleasant but very fascinating! Both boys were very tiny, but they came out healthy and crying so that was wonderful! It was also neat seeing how they do deliveries here. Apparently the mothers labor in one area and then when they are ready to deliver the get on the delivery bed and push that baby out. Once the baby is out, the mother walks back to her room that she shares with 3 or more other mothers and then her baby is brought to her once they’ve gotten all their shots and they’ve (kind of) been cleaned up.
Tuesday of the 8th was Women’s Day so Elissa, Moriah and I all went down to one of the main town building (not sure what building) and watched the women all march in there pink and green Women’s Day clothing. We were even privileged enough to get to sit up on the stage with the rest of the village officials. I started feeling sick while at the ‘parade’ and later found out that I had malaria. Whoopee! Thankfully it wasn’t very bad so all I had for the rest of the trip was just being really tired.
Our first weekend in Koza we actually headed out to Djinglia which is about 3+ miles from Koza to see the dam with the sunset. One of Elissa’s friends let us borrow his friend’s moto. So, there we were three white girls on a moto… quite a site and we drew a lot of attention, (if being white didn’t already draw enough attention). The greatest part of that trip was when we started going up hill and we crashed. We were in too high of a gear so we basically did a wheelie and then crashed J None of us were hurt too badly, but we did manage to dislodge a tube that had a bunch of fuel running through it. Two other motos stopped and they helped us get things fixed and we were on our way again with no more problems. At the dam we got great pictures of the sunset and we played a game of hit the frogs. I received the title of #1 Frog Abuser because I hit the most. We actually had another adventure to Djinglia later in the week too. But this time we walked, it seems a lot farther when you’re walking instead of taking a moto! J There they had a little art/craft market that had some reasonably priced crafts made by the people in the area… pretty awesome!
In the afternoon of our last day in Koza we went to visit a couple of different people that we hadn’t visited during the week. Well, first off we stopped at Momzi’s house. They are both English teachers in Koza and are a very sweet couple. And as regular African culture they offered us something to eat (actually it was a full meal). All the food was really good! we had sweet potato fries, beans, and stew with extremely chewy, rubber like unknown meat. Unfortunately I was already stuffed from eating earlier, but I managed to get the food down. As we were leaving their house Elissa, Moriah and I all comment on how full we were. Next we went to Vambe (the moto driver that had brought us to Koza) to see if he would be able to take us in the morning to Mokolo. When we arrived there Vambe was out, so we waited for him to return and his wife made a whole another meal for us to eat. We tried to convince her that we would be just fine with out food and that it was a quick visit, but we were not successful. This time we had corn couscous and stew to go with it. I probably would have enjoyed the meal a WHOLE lot more, if I had not been so focused on not throwing up. Each bite I had to concentrate to keep down. Oh! and on top of that they gave us liter bottles of soda to finish! When we finished there it had gotten dark so we decided that we should head back. We really couldn’t walk, it was more like a waddle. If anyone had actually been able to see us, they probably would have thought that we were 3 pregnant girls with our waddling and huge stomachs! Once we got back we didn’t want to do anything else so we got our slideshow of the week and half time in Koza and watched that.
The morning when we left I got up at 4 and couldn’t go back to sleep. At 5:30 we headed off on the first part of our adventure of traveling. A 45-minute moto ride with suicidal animals, donkeys trying to kick us, and almost crashing on the way to Mokolo, Then a 1½ hour bus ride to catch the next bus for 8½ hours to get the train. In the middle of the 8 ½ ride they stopped one time to let everyone out to use the bathroom and stretch their legs. When I asked where the toilets were, I was shown to an open area filled with trash. There were people either squatting, standing or whatever to do their business. That’s when I was SUPER glad that I was wearing a skirt that day!
Unfortunately on arriving in N’Gaoundere we watched as our train, that we were supposed to be on, was pulling out of the station. Grrr! Thankfully though, one of the guys from Koza had a friend in town that met us and we were able to get a place to stay. The next day we got our tickets switch to the evening train and (Thank God!) the ticket person didn’t make us pay the usual 2000 cfa to switch the dates!! We spent the rest of the day waiting for the train and by 6:30 that evening we were off on the next portion of our trip. This time Moriah and I got the seats so it was even more challenging to sleep, but it was better because we didn’t spend as much on it J Halfway through the night I ended up sleeping on the floor and for the first 10 minutes I had to get used to the smell of the feet of guy in the seat behind me… eventually I was just too exhausted to care anymore! We arrived in Yaounde at 8 exactly and then we head for the bus station for our shortest portion of the trip; back to Buea! I was SOOO excited to be almost and as we pulled into the bus station at Mile 17 I couldn’t keep from smiling! J
So, the summary of our trip to Koza:
Delays in Yaounde, meeting the Rotrucks and Rachel, long train and bus rides, sketchy moto rides, getting a tour of the hospital, eating yummy food that Gatsby, Elissa’s house keeper fixed, playing with kids, helping out in the hospital, watching surgeries, attending the Women’s Day march, getting malaria, watching movies, sleeping outside, making homemade ice cream, receiving the title of “#1 Frog Abuser”, shopping for gifts, going to church, eating TONS of food, crashing on a moto watching a birth of twins, missing the train twice, being completely lost in a French speaking region, and over all having TONS of fun!
This trip has made me realized how much I will miss my home in Buea when I head back to the States. It really has become home for me!
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