The Greatest City in the World

So this is my first entry in a vey long time, and my very first entry from our new home in Ngaoundere . Since we last spoke, Brian and I were given the opportunity to move to the city to take on the role of Peace Corps Regional Representative(s). With nothing against Tibati, we applied for the position with the attitude that if we were selected it would be a great chance to expand the scope of our work; Ngaoundere is the regional capital with lots of different NGOs, health centers, community groups, and youth groups. If we weren’t selected, we would be happy in Tibati where we already had well established work, friends and life.

Needless to say, we were selected to come to the city, and as of 3 days ago, this is our new home. Work won’t really get going until February because we have to go to Yaounde next week and then we’re getting a visit from two Warnings and a Hillery. I’ve been spending the past few days trying to organize the house, but considering I had malaria until Monday and some other intestinal bug right now, things are moving very slowly.

Back to Tibati: For the last few months there I was really focusing on work at the hospital. around September I realized that I could do whatever I wanted as long as I ask someone to show me around. I would do rounds with different nurses and look after different patients, making sure they were taking their medication and getting the tests they needed. One of the doctors, after hearing that I was interested in medicine, allowed me to shadow him all the time. I got to see some really interesting cases; surgeries, snake bites, ectopic pregnancies, botched home abortions, hernias, moto accidents, cancer, leprosy, and quite a few unexplained illnesses. (pictures to come)

About six months back I told the story about how I reacted to the infected wound I “volunteered” to help with. I’m happy to report that today I have seen and touched things FAR worse than that and it doesn’t bother me at all. For example, one man had a strange infection under the skin on his leg. The doctor cut him open and found that a good portion of his tissue was dead. They cut out muscle and fat from his upper thigh to mid calf-the skin too, of course. Every two days he has to have the dressing changed and I was lucky enough to help a few times. There are big holes in his muscles where the dead tissue was, the bone is exposed under the thigh, and you can see all the blood vessels and other internal things. To clean the wound you have to wash the exposed tissue and dig into the crevasses. Anesthesia? Too expensive every day. This guy just grits his teeth and bears it. Unfortunately I have no photo of this one. Maybe mommy and daddy will get to meet him when they visit in a few weeks…

I could go on describing patients, but I’ll spare anymore blood and guts stories. I have to get back to fixing up the new house (that has wireless internet!). I’ll end on a good note: today has been the greatest day in Cameroon. I found soymilk at the corner store. Real soymilk. For those of you who know me well, you’ll know that cereal and soymilk are the things that I have been missing most since I came here. So picture me eating my cornflakes and bananas with tears in my eyes. This truly is the greatest city in the world….