September 11, 2010 (Sabbath)

My first Sabbath in Buea, was wonderful. As the speaker said at church, ‘The lazy man cannot enjoy Sabbath”, I may not have done much in skills, but I felt as if my brain had been worked overtime with all the acclimating this past week.

Another thing I learned from the speaker was that it doesn’t help speaking louder to try to be understood. Each time the translator was stuck on a word/idea the preacher would yell even louder. (Most of the time he was yelling, so it became louder to clarify the word!) I tried not to laugh, but it was great seeing this issue in another culture.

I really enjoy the church services here. For one thing I can understand them and they also have a lot of music/singing. (The Cameroonians sing so loud it’s like listening to the radio on blast, which means I can sing and no one hears me, it’s great!) Even though I do enjoy the service, I can’t say I particularly enjoy the pews since they kind of make my behind go numb. (I probably look like one of those little kids that can’t sit still, because of all the moving around I do) Okay, I really shouldn’t complain that much because the pews do have backs to them so I don’t have to scrunch over or work on my posture too much!

For everyone that said I couldn’t come back married… there may be an issue. We were told in church by the pastor that on one Sabbath he is going to have all the bachelor guys and all the spinster (single) ladies line up on either side of the church and be matched up. He even said that he would officiate the weddings right there in church for us to make it easier… How convenient, right?! Well, now I’m not sure if I can promise to not get married, there’s a lot to think about J

Later in the evening Moriah and I ended up heading over to Bill and Trixy’s for supper and games. Trixy had made some plantain chips that were perticularily yummy and I’m sure I ate half of them. Heather (one of the many Peace Corps workers in Buea) came over to join us and we got to listen to the horror stories of her time in another part of Cameroon. Apparently, her ‘mother’ there was a horrible cook, so between the cooking and the worms and amoebas she lost about 35 lbs. (For anyone looking for a diet plan, come to Cameroon!) Perhaps I should let Moriah do the cooking so I don’t starve us!

September 15, 2010 (Wednesday)

This evening I got to play the most entertaining game of Snakes N’ Ladders while visiting Moriah in the hospital. She had been on duty so I decided to go keep her company (There isn’t much happening in the hospital at night, at least not right now). This Snakes n’ Ladders was an HIV version, (makes it sound like some version of the Bible, doesn’t it??). So, in order to move spaces you would have to answer a true or false question relating to HIV/AIDS. It kept us pretty entertained for most of the evening and we took out some of the best questions. Here they are…

Doctors and nurses cannot get HIV.

To abstain from sex will cause physical harm.

If you are infected with HIV, excess intake of alcohol kills the HIV virus in the body.

People who don’t drink beer cannot get HIV.

You can get HIV from hugging.

AIDS is a disease for white not blacks.

AIDS does not exist.

Pastors cannot get HIV or AIDS.

Fat women cannot get HIV so it is safe to have unprotected sex with them.

HIV can be spread standing close to someone.

Rich people do not get HIV.

Churchgoers do not get HIV.

If you have sex with a virgin you can be cured from HIV.

It is safe to have sex with a mentally disturbed person, as they do not get sick.

If you touch a sweating person you will get the HIV disease.

You can get HIV from wearing the clothes of someone with HIV/AIDS.

Only sinners get HIV and AIDS.

Handsome men cannot have AIDS so they will not give anyone HIV.

Some people who are infected with HIV continue to have sex with other people

You cannot get HIV if you sex standing up.

IF you know you have HIV you should have as many sexual partners as possible.

Condoms are not for Namibians.

AIDS means American Idea to Discourage Sex.

If you there’s any clarification needed on these True or False questions. Let me know, I can check the cards out and give you the right answers.

September 17, 2010 (Friday)

Sunday was Moriah’s and my laundry day. With all the humidity the clothes didn’t dry till Wednesday and were also moldy! We put some of the clothes out on the line, which helped a little, but with the sudden rain showers we thought we’d better bring the clothes in to our room. The problem is that our room now reeks of mildew… ugg! I can say that we’ll have some pretty serious muscles from all the washing clothes by hand.

Since the message of our hospital opening has been mainly through word of mouth we only had one patient. The mother of the patient came in saying that her ‘baby’ boy was sick- He was by no means a baby, unless you consider a 20 year old a baby. Since we had no other patients it was fine that we had him in a women and children’s hospital J The mother was also trying to get Moriah and I married off to her son. (I’ll let Moriah have that one, I’ll find mine at church!) On one of the evenings I was sitting on the breezeway of the hospital singing and the mother came out to join me. It took a bit to figure out a song that we both knew, but finally we figured out What a Friend We Have in Jesus and How Great Thou Art. That was probably one of my favorite memories of this week so far!

All this last week I have been on the day shift with Christiane. That means I work from 8-6. With the lack of in-patients we’ve ended up working at the clinic most of the time. I was able to work at the front desk with Helen admitting patients. So instead of sitting in the nursing lounge twiddling my thumbs, I got to have more patient contact. Yay! One of the many nursing duties that I was able to do this week included cleaning out ears. The first time I saw it done, I was quite grossed out because of the gunk that came out of the ear. The second time when I got to do it, it wasn’t so bad. After cleaning the ear out for one gentleman he stated, “I can hear the rain now!” (It had been pouring all that morning apparently his ears had been really clogged!) Baby Grace came in again to get her burn cleaned. (About a month ago she had pulled a pot of boiling water off the stove and burned the side of her face and shoulder.) This time it wasn’t quite as traumatic cleaning her wound, mostly because I wasn’t the one torturing her I think. There was another guy that came in with a pinky that had been smashed in a van door. It was quite a gruesome sight yet very fascinating also. Another fun thing I got to do in the clinic was explain to a couple of young ladies their menstrual cycles. Calculating when they were more likely to get pregnant and when they weren’t. You have no idea how hard that is when you don’t speak French! Christiane was there helping me out, so if I didn’t make sense she would translate.

There are a couple things that I haven’t completely gotten used to in the hospital. First off would be the HIV testing. It’s really sad seeing just how many of the patients turn out positive. There was a couple that came in this week for premarital testing. The test only takes about 5 minutes and so we saw pretty quickly the results; one was positive and the other was negative. I can’t imagine being at that point in a relationship and having to make a decision that serious! The second thing I haven’t completely gotten used to is the lack of aseptic technique. The nurses don’t wear gloves to do any (or VERY few) injections and if they do use the gloves and they ‘don’t get them dirty’ with blood, they hang them up to be used again. Whenever that happens I think of Donna Kopf (my EMT instructor) and how she would kill me if I did that in her class!J Hopefully I don’t become too used to not switching gloves that I end up failing my clinicals once I get back to the states!

One thing I’ve learned about the Cameroonian culture is that they don’t eat. No, seriously they eat like 2 (at the most) meals a day and they’re like 12 hours apart. Most of the food they eat is meat and whatever else they eat has copious amounts of palm oil in it. Not very healthy, but scrumptious nonetheless. Which brings me to my next thought. Meals. This week are meals have included: spagetti with palm oil and salt; brick bread with eggs and some kind of fruit; mushy mixture of nasty cereal; guava, oranges and rice. Then I also attempted making a gravy and we put that on spagetti and sweet potatoes… all I can say is, ‘interesting’ and we will definitely lose that 35 pounds I mentioned earlier. (Moriah will need to start cooking soon!)

September 18, 2010 (Sabbath)

Last night I had a sleep over in the hospital with Lea and Moriah. I ended up reading to Moriah till 11 and then fell asleep to the very off key singing of the evangelical church across the street. They normally go quite late into the night, but they don’t bother me.

Moriah, Trixy and I hung out here at the hospital while the rest went to the district get-together in Dbuntja. (Once a quarter the churches in the area get together.) We had Trixy over for lunch in our little room and both Moriah and I cooked so I think it was fairly decent. It’s been nice just relaxing even though Moriah is technically on duty. There hasn’t been any patients needing to be admitted so we’ve hung out blogging and chilling.

In summary…

Realized that Americans are not the only ones who raise their voice to be ‘understood better’.

Has the mold smell permeating my room

I love my scrubs!

I feel like there are tons of bugs crawling all over me…which could be true

Our bread tastes like wood varnish because of our new cupboards.

The bathroom door won’t stay closed and you can see right out to the front of the house while you’re on the toilet!

My blanket smells like a wet dog

Our salt is wet

I will be married by the time I come back… ??

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)

Father's Love Letter

LE

"Patience My Child"

Today would have been the day that Moriah and I would be on the airplane headed for our new home in Cameroon... Instead I'm in Oregon, waiting.

To say that I am completely fine with that would be a lie.

I want to get on with my adventure. Go where there will be a challenge. Where I'll need to depend fully on God (why don't I start on that now?). Leave the U.S. for the place that is really home. I'm reminded though that God is in control, there is a reason I'm still here... waiting. It's as if God is saying,

"Patience my child, not all your plans will play out the way you plan them.... you've got to trust."

This shouldn't be new either, in fact all my plans have been turned upside down.

The plan I started out with was to go for a full year of mission service and it was going to be in Ethiopia. On top of that I would have gone down to see my sister in Malawi for Christmas break. Once the plans for Ethiopia fell through, there was a period of waiting... the view of leaving in June diminished as there was no call coming through. April went by and then it was the middle of May I hadn't heard from any of the hospitals I had looked into. At this point I was wondering if I would be SMing or not. Then I heard from a little clinic, soon to be hospital in Cameroon.

The craziest thing was that it wasn't anything that I had been looking for.

My picture had been remote and someplace closer to Malawi... what I got was a university town, far away from Malawi and being the only SM (later on found out that Moriah was coming with me). Despite all that God gave me a peace of mind and an excitement about it. Next came the funding. The due date for all the money was July 1st and that day came and went. It wasn't till the 21st that I reached the $3,200 mark. At that point I could get my ticket so it was set for the August 17. I sent my visa in to the Cameroon Embassy and thought things were finally falling into place! Unfortunately, that was not true, on the 10th I got a call saying that the embassy was backed up so they wouldn't have my visa processed in time.

Bummer!

Now, I have three more weeks of waiting till I (perhaps) leave for Cameroon :)

So....

I'm not going to Ethiopia.

I didn't end up leaving in June.

I still have money to raise.

I'm not leaving today.

I'm only going for 9 months.

I struggle with patience and trust.

I don't know what God's plans are.

...Yet God is STILL in control!

And perhaps all this waiting is just one of the many lessons that God is teaching me.

What disappointments do you have in your life?

Wish lists...

Items needed at the Buea 7th day Adventist Health Center. If any of you want to donate some of the items I would really appreciate it!

Here's the list:
1. urine pregnancy tests
2. hemoccult cards with reagent
3. glucose meter with test strips
* we have a One-Touch Ultra-2 machine here but we would need 2 machines during the health fair.
Another One-Touch Ultra machine would allow us to be able to buy more test strips in Cameroon if you
leave the machine behind after the fair.

4. Hand-held machine for testing hemoglobins or other simple system for anemia screening
* we have a HemoPoint H2 machine but would need microcuvettes (

5. Cholesterol screening kits

6. KY lubricant
7. condoms
8. Hand sanitizer
9. non-sterile gloves
10. blood pressure machine with stethoscope
11. black pens
12. Patient educational handouts on self-breast exam, prostate cancer, HIV, diabetes, obesity, HTN,
colon cancer, anemia
13. alcohol swabs, syringes, test tubes, needles, medical tape, gauzes/cotton, calculator are always
useful

Note: Items 6-13 can be obtained in Cameroon but it would be helpful for our budget if you could get
them donated.

Medications we would like to give out in the health fair:

1. antibiotic ointment
2. adult multi-vitamins
3. Children's vitamins
4. tylenol or ibuprofen or other analgesic
5. no perfume or scented skin lotion/creams such as plain vaseline, Eucerin, etc.
6. hypo-allergenic soap (such as dove, neutrogena, etc) small bars
7. antacids (any kind! examples TUM, Maalox, Mylanta, ...)
8. Travel-size toothpaste/toothbrushes

Don't feel you have to bring
everything. Any helps!



If you have anyone with access to sample medications,here's my list from Face Book of useful medications:

1. any PPI or H2B or antacid
2. HRT
3. lyrica/neurontin
4. HTN medicines - any class
5. DM meds - any
6. SSRI/TCA/SNRI
7. laxatives
8. asthma meds - inhalers and oral
9. analgesics - tylenol, ibuprofen, advil, etc
10. antibiotic eye drops/ointment
11. any allergy medicines, including anti itch agents (oral or topical)
12. cough/cold meds
13. prenatal and children's vitamins
14. glucosamine/condroitin
15. calcium + vit D
16. any type of GI aid such as metaclopramide, hyosine, etc
17. anti-emetics including Unisom, phenergan, etc
18. statins
19. muscle relaxants
20. anti fungals - oral and topical
21. ivermectrin
22. acyclovir or other anti virals
23. meds for aphthous ulcers
24. any dermatological medicine
25. oxybutin
26. synthroid
27. bromocriptine
28. antibiotics (not expired)
29. lidocaine

My New Ride...

I’ve got the keys to my own ride… the John Deere tractor!! My dad handed me the keys and said that I could go as far as I wanted…not too sure where that would be or how far I could get, but anyways.

I feel like such a country girl for loving the smell of tractor exhaust and fresh cut grass. (I must admit that the tractor noise is pretty swell as well!) Perhaps I was meant to be a country girl. Good hard work, nature, and sun! But than that would mean that I wouldn’t have had all the other experiences of growing up overseas… I’m glad for the opportunities that I had, nothing can beat the taste of tropical fruit, humid weather, take-off and landing of a plane, the rich cultures of overseas and not knowing where home really is!

I must admit that I’m still enjoying the mowing though☺

Grace

This word grace has come up quite a bit in the last couple days. For Sabbath School we read through the book of Galatians. The message of grace was tide in throughout Paul's letter. He, kept trying to tell the Galatians that righteousness was not by our own good actions; only through faith. Later that evening while we were at the Lunds for supper, the group started discussing the topic of grace. We are raised to be kind, patient, obedient, etc. because "That is what God wants". Yes, that may be what He would like to see in us, but it won't change His opinion and love for us. We are all sinners and there's NOTHING that we can do. And the good actions that we have, come from God.

It's not that I hadn't heard the idea of grace before, I think God just felt that it needed to be reiterated to me. I think I find myself getting distracted from the truth. I have the message of grace, but most of the time it isn't the message I see or hear around me. It's as if the devil throws these doubts in my direction; only letting me hear how bad I am and how desperately far I have to go. It's true that I am not good and I have a long ways to go, but I'm learning that life is taken one day at a time and at times, one hour or minute at a time. So, God had to remind me that nothing I do will make Him love me any more... or less. It's ALL through His blood and grace that I am saved!

This song came up on my Pandora station and I had never heard it before. In a way it was the 'last straw' that caused me to have to write this idea down.

Thank you God for this gorgeous song and for the reminder!