Day 15

Saturday

I am exhausted and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because the dogs bother the hogs behind my house at night or the rain lightly falling on the tin roof all morning that has me a bit sleepy. Either way, I'm glad it is Saturday and I have nothing to do aside from walk to the Cyber to post this and hopefully Skype some loved ones.I will work on essays tonight when I have woken up some.

This is the room where my laptop was gutted and reassembled. There was a thick layer of dust over everything from the cars that drive past blowing dirt into the windows that have no screen or glass in them. My laptop was set on a pillowcase laid on top of another computer and a paintbrush and toothbrush were used to do the cleaning. I was surprised at the gentle touches he used when removing screws and the hardware. Probably the biggest display of gentleness since I've arrived. Anselem (the technician) was very cool. We talked about his father's cocoa farm, our shared interest in historic hip-hop icons like Tupac, Eminem, Dr. Dre and Biggie, and his dreams to go to America to study at a tech school there. He was accepted into a university in Canada last year but the Cameroonian Embassy would not issue him a visa so that he could go study (they fear their best and brightest will leave and never come back, so they keep them here).

This is the beautiful Mount Cameroon! I took this picture on my way to work one day so you are able to see some banana trees from the fields that I pass on my way to St. Luke's too. You can see the mountain from pretty much anywhere in Buea and the surrounding areas. You can see it from Limbe and Douala too, I believe. On a clear day, I am able to see the beaches at the bottom of the mountain (Buea is kind of halfway up) in Limbe and turn the other direction and see the peak of Mt. Cameroon. Absolutely beautiful!

 And speaking of Limbe....this is one of the shots I got of the beach before it started raining too hard for me to have my camera out. Black sand, volcanic rock, palm trees, banana trees, warm water....ahh.

Some of the nursing staff + volunteers (me, Jake, Catherine, Cecile, Rita and Nicole is in the chair) from the Male Ward in the MW Nurses Station before work one day. Yeah yeah, I really DO have eyebrows...they just disappeared from the sun.

Okay, we were sitting where the roof was a tarp, so the photo has an odd color to it. This is a bowl of Achu, a traditional African dish from the northern region. There was supposed to be meat in it...but there wasn't. The bowl is made of mashed corn or another type of starchy vegetable with little flavor or seasoning (to balance out the soup) and the soup is a bright yellow color with a lot of spices like Maggi, peppe and other seasonings and of course meat. You eat everything here with your hands, so to eat Achu you use your fingers to “go around the world” scooping around the outside of the mush-bowl until you have a piece rolled into your hand then you use that to scoop up soup and eat it.

Catherine and I in the sterilization room before surgery!