Day 7: Seven Plus One

Jane in Cameroon:
Today is our 4th day of work. We've had a lot of fun so far, although I think the monotony may soon start to set in. Monday we met the COPAAP staff at an orientation meeting. Adam was very happy that we got pop (soda?) so early in the morning. He already misses American food. Whenever I travel I always miss 1. Air Conditioning 2. Cereal and 3. Salad. I've liked all the food here so far except boiled plantains. Evelyn, our housekeeper, makes awesome breakfast omeletes that have egg, onions, green beans, carrots, and SPAGHETTI. Weird? I also had "Adam-fruit" which I think is passionfruit from the way it looks and tastes. Communicating with Evelyn, and a lot of people, is tough because they speak Pidgin English here and we speak, "The Queen's English" according to Marcel.

It's really hard to get anything done at night. I've been trying to work on medical school applications in the evening or read some of the books I brought to inspire *great* personal statements (I want to be a doctor because ....). But the lighting here is so dim and the electricity goes so often that it's pretty much impossible to get anything done except with a battery powered flashlight. However I am living a healthy lifestyle and going to be quite early, around 9 or 10 PM. Luckily I sleep through the night, but Adam always is getting woken up by barking dogs, loud music, or rain hitting the sheet metal roofs. A wall gecko takes up nightly residence right above the door to our flat where hundreds of tiny gnats fly around at night. SCARY. I'm hoping to get archery lessons from the night guard so I can shoot the thing. The nightguard must think we're 'crazy Americans' because there's so much drama going on in our apartment. I can't help but scream when I see a wall gecko or a giant mantis on the wall. I'm okay with the mice.

Charlie, a COPAAP guy, invited us out in the evening to meet some of his friends and show us around Commercial Avenue. We met his buddy Gerard at his soon-to-be open bar. Gerard would make an awesome professor! Very entertaining to listen to. We also met Mike, who runs a boarding school but looks like a basketball player, and Nick, who had just set up a computer system for a hospital in Limbe. Drinking is definitely the most popular Cameroonian past time. Their beer bottles are huge!

We also visited Akum, a village very near Bamenda, to see their income-generating activity (IGA) and clinic. The income generating activity, in this case two mills for grinding corn and spices, is supposted to make the clinic sustainable. Sylvestre, another COPAAP guy, went with us and asked most of the questions about the IGA when we met with the community health volunteer Nicolene and the ex-CUDA (cultural & development assoc.?) leader. Nicolene was very frustrated with her work as a community health volunteer because the clinic did not have the antiretroviral drugs for her suffering patients. The clinic couldn't purchase the drugs because the mills had not been used in over a year, for various reasons. We took motorbikes up to the clinic. Adam examined their records. I tried to ask the nurse in the pharmacy about alternative drugs that the pharmacy might have or that the patients used at home. NO,NO,NO, ONLY DRUGS. Obviously I wasn't going to get anything useful out of staying there so I left and went out back to chat with the nurses. They were very friendly and soon they were showing me around the building and pointing out plants growing nearby that people use for headaches, gastritis, and even malaria! After a while the Chief Medical Officer joined us and also had a few to point out as well! I guess a smile and a handshake can go a long way. Pierre, our guide, took us back to the main road where we took a shared taxi back into the city.

We went on rounds with Dr. Njinjoh yesterday morning. How exciting! Adam and I were nervous that he would give us a pop quiz. Unfortunately there was only 1 patient in the wards so not a lot of action. I hope we get to do rounds again and pretend we're in med school! This morning we visited the Treatment Center within Mezam Polyclinic. The treatment center provides counseling and antiretroviral drugs to patients. Again there was a language barrier because of the local Pidgen-English that people use here. Only 1 patient in the whole 2 hours we were there. I hope things start getting busy soon. But one of the nurses informed us that it's busiest at the beginning of the month, right after people have received their monthly pay and have money to buy the drugs. She also told us that "seven plus one" equals "eight", which sounds like "AIDS" when you say it with a local accent. So people have nicknamed AIDS "seven plus one." Very interesting!

Went out for drinks, again, with Charlie and Sylvestre last night. My "Africa-diet" really isn't going to happen at this point, not with all this beer. Oh well.

Day 1: Oui Oui, Merci!

Thank you French 102! Adam and I ran into a slight delay at the Paris airport (CDG) because the plane had some hydraulics leak. The gate hostesses were talking about the delay in French so I could kind of make out about how long we'd be waiting since the flat screens weren't updated very quickly. On the plane to Douala, I was surrounded by conversations in French. Although I couldn't understand most of it because they spoke very quickly. I think Adam suffered from all the crying babies in our cabin. I was running out of hope as they served meal after meal with no cheese but with the very last meal ..... CAMEMBERT! Yes, VICTORY! Adam has a picture of me overly excited with the camembert.

Dr. Sabine warned us about the "helpers" at the airport who demand tips. At the first customs gate, where we get yellow fever certificates checks, some guy was physically tugging at our certificates saying that he would help us. Finally I decided to be rude and just yank it back, give him a very unladylike glare, and start ignoring him. It worked ... until he started back up with Adam. hahaha. Then at luggage pickup, "official airport security" guys wearing official vests worked in groups to trap us while they went and got our luggage and demanded tips for their drinking habits (the guy tried to explain by saying the money was for beer). It all worked out with a little bit of Adam's muscling our way through the crowd.

Finally we met Ancestus Takwi, a very chill guy. Ancestus took us to Oasis restaurant for a quick dinner where we finally got to really talk with someone after such a long plane ride. He told us that people use pepe (pronouced "peh-pay", a.k.a. pepper) not only to spice up their cooking but also for the smoke, which suffocates the female mosquito that causes malaria. There was CRTV playing in the background (Cameroon Radio Television?) which is like our MTV in America but the music videos are mostly girls working out at a gym. Note to self: Do not work out at the local gym in short skirts. Ancestus' favorite topic was obviously Guinness beers. As I would soon come to learn, all Cameroonian men love their beers and supposedly so do the women but not as openly.

After dinner we visited Dr. Achu's younger architect brother. We saw plans he made for an upscale housing development in Limbe. The architecture design was very modern in style but with modified classical elements (slender columns). Also, very small lawns - sorry Dad! Mandiba hotel, where we spent the night, was just around the block from the office. Adam and I got separate rooms, both were very nice. AC made a huge difference because Douala is very hot and humid (while Bamenda, our main location, is high in elevation and very cool).

Heading out this morning at 7:30 for a long bus ride to Bamenda.

Wall gecko sightings: 2