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So its been a while. Like I said last time, Brian and I wanted to stay in our village and try to get a routine going. And we did just that. We were wary of coming back after france, but as soon as we got to Tibati, we remembered how much we like it here. Our neighbors were all very excited to see us, and the dogs nearly killed us when we walked up the path to the house.

I went back to work at the hospital, and picked back up with the groups that I’ve been working with. I also started working with two new groups, although I’m not sure what I’ll be doing with them yet. Since I already have a well established relationship with the other two groups, I’ve introduced a Village Savings and Loan Program to them. Because we didn’t have a bank in Tibati until a few months ago, most people either don’t know much about how banks work or they just don’t trust them. Savings is something that is difficult for people here, but definitely necessary. The VSL association is essentially a program in which they become their own bank. The members can buy up to a certain number of shares each week. If they are having a tough time they can opt to buy none, or even sell a few back if they are low on cash. Then, after a few months, they can take out short term loans, with interest. A member has to present an income generating idea to the group and be approved for the loan.

Most groups here collect money already and either pick one person to take it all home each week, or just split it up at the end of the year and give it back. Since the two groups already do this successfully, I thought they might be interested in the VSLA. Indeed they were, so I explained it to them for a few weeks and now we’re waiting to get started. But everything here is slow. The president of the group is out of town, it’s a holiday, Ramadan is starting soon, etc. now I’m out of town for a few weeks, and when I get back Ramadan will still be in full swing, which makes everything difficult.

Work at the hospital is slow as well. It’s the rainy season so people are all out working in the fields. They simply don’t come in. Also, the Austrian doctor goes away every year for two months, and the hospital pretty much stops running. Patients are waiting for her to return before they come in, especially pregnant women. Most women give birth at home anyway, so they definitely aren’t going to come while she is away. I did meet two very motivated nurses in the past few weeks, so I have been doing rounds with them.

Side story: The first day I met Dorothy, an Anglophone nurse, she took me on her rounds and wanted to show me something she referred to as really interesting. A man had had an operation and the incision was infected. His dressing needed to be changed twice a day, and she had volunteered to do it for him. Dorothy didn’t know-or care- that I was in no way qualified for something like this. But I thought I’d give it a shot anyway. So we started looking for masks to wear because the smell was really bad. You would think this would make me back out, but I had already committed, and she was excited about showing me. Weird, I know. We find the masks after some searching, and she even puts extra gauze between my mouth/nose and the mask. in the recovery room we find the patient, a 30-something male whose had some sort of surgery-my expert medical opinion would be a double hernia operation, but who knows.

As Dorothy pulled back the old, puss soaked bandage, I told myself I was not going to faint. I was not going to be that person. Of course its got to be 150degrees in the room, at least in my face mask, and I started psyching myself out. I thought it would be tough to look at the blood and puss and intestines-yes I saw them-but it wasn’t so bad. I think I could have handled that. What pushed me over the edge was when, after 10 minutes of careful but clearly painful cleaning, Dorothy struck something (no more details…) that really made the man wince and cry out. It was the pain, combined with the heat and my fear of being that person that made feel like I was suffocating underneath the mask. She turned to me and asked me to hand her something, and I mumbled something about how I couldn’t and had to step out for a minute.

I ripped the mask from my face with some difficulty - she had tied it pretty good - and went out into the fresh air. Compared to the room, the hot sun felt cool and refreshing. I was pretty embarrassed, but mostly just concentrating on not fainting. I’ve never fainted, so I really didn’t know what to expect. After a few minutes I was feeling better- I had stopped sweating and my hands had stopped shaking. The only thing I could do was put the mask back on and head inside. This time I left out the extra gauze so I could breathe better.

Back inside, Dorothy and the other nurse didn’t say a word about me leaving, they just continued working as if I had been there the whole time. I was able to help a bit – handing them things and pouring disinfectant over the cloth – and I was even able to ask a few questions. The whole thing was definitely more than I had expected, and even though I did have to leave for a few minutes, I’m glad I made myself go back in. the next week, Dorothy wanted to show me the man again and I tried to think of an excuse before we got to his room, but he was doing really well, sitting up and eating when we saw him.

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Ok, so that’s about what’s going on with my work. Brian is doing well, he’s trying to get a pump project started in one of the neighborhoods. We want the money to come entirely from the community, so he’s been helping them come up with a plan for how to collect the money. But, like the community groups that I’m working with, everything is slow going.

I’m in Yaounde for about 10 days, so hopefully more to come.

Also, thanks to all of you who have sent me letters. I just read three of them and even though they are from July, its all news to us!!!