It is Sunday afternoon and the rain has been off and on since 6 AM. By now we are used to the rain and usually won't leave for anywhere without our rain gear or an umbrella or both. Our rubber shoe/boots are one of our best purchases for this trip. We haven't really worn our leather shoes since the first day. We did our wash of our essential wardrobe yesterday and surprisingly today it is dry. We hang our laundry indoors to avoid the Mango fly laying eggs on wet laundry outdoors. If the clothes hung outdoors aren't ironed then your body heat will hatch the eggs and the larvae of the Mango fly will burrow into your skin and have to be removed surgically. That is a strong incentive to dry your clothes indoors.
Watching the people in their daily activities makes us appreciate how much we have back home. As visitors here our lodging is comfortable but not by US standards. However, it is better than most Cameroon people have. The average village family has neither electricity or indoor plumbing. Most people have to carry water for long distances from the water tap to their homes. Cooking is usually done over an open wood fire either in the house (where there is no stove or chimney) or just out under the eaves for protection from the rain. Where we are in Njinikom there is a very bumpy muddy dirt road that is passable from the blacktop that is 1/2 mile away. Beyond our village the roads to the outlying villages are mostly accessible only to motorcycle or bicycle or foot traffic as they aren't wide enough for a car or Jeep. Even so, most people travel by foot. Our local Priest, Father Pascal walks 2 hours to some of his outlying mission churches. He is the younger of the 2 Priests here and therefore takes it upon himself to do the outreach work that is the most strenuous. Between the 2 Priests they cover at least 7 outlying Missions and the local Franciscan Convent, St. Martin de Porres Hospital and the local Parish church. They have a full schedule of weekend Masses in the Parish church and say daily Mass for the Sisters in the Convent.
Here the rain is so frequent and so heavy that houses and other buildings have concrete trenches that are a foot wide and about as deep to handle the runoff from the roofs of the structure. Without that there would be severe erosion near every house and it would be difficult to get in or out during the rainy season. Most houses, ours included, have corrugated tin roofs and the sound of heavy rainfall is almost deafening to the point that it is necessary to use headphones to listen to a CD or DVD during such rainfall. There is no Ebola virus in Cameroon as of now and we pray that it stays that way. There was an European Orthopedic Team that was scheduled to visit here and do Orthopedic Surgery for at least a week in November but they cancelled due to Ebola fear. They come here each year and usually send and entire shipping container of supplies and equipment that is important for their surgery but also to help the hospital with supplies for surgery for the rest of the year. The impact of their canceling will have a major effect on the hospitals supplies and finances as they will have to purchase much more to make up for the shortfall in donated goods. There is a Hip Surgery Team from Italy who are coming October 15th for a week of surgery and they are still planning to come and that is a blessing.
That is all for now. I hope there is time for more later in the week.
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| Concrete rain trench around house |
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| 3 or 4 on a motorcycle is common |
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| 7 y. o. Boy with lip/chin burn scar contracture & open mouth |
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| Same boy after scar release & skin grafting. Normal lip position. |
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