One month old in Fontem

Woah one month in Fontem! Life here is busy busy busy!

I have been learning a lot about the culture and traditions of the people here in Fontem. Last weekend, we went to the palace of the late chief of our village in Fontem. Each town (such as Fontem) has a Fon, which is the head of the town. Within the town are small villages (more like neighborhoods) that are lead by chiefs. So the palace we visited is now more like a museum. It contains several traditional items from the history of the people here. It was really neat to learn about the history and traditions…it gave me a great appreciation and understanding of the people here in Fontem (the Bangwa tribe). It was also interesting to see how much life has changed here in the past 50 years. Before the focolare came to Fontem, people were eating out of bowls made out of mud but with the rising influence of western life, people now have cell phones here, just 50 years later! Also, each chief is entitled to as many wives as he would like. However, with the rise of Christianity here, the number of wives of the chiefs has decreased. The 4th chief before the present chief had 100 wives, the 3rd had 50 wives, the late chief had 6 wives, and the current chief has only one wife!

A couple of weekends ago, two girls from my house and I were invited to dinner by someone who works with us at the hospital. We showed up a bit late and when we arrived at dinner, the whole room was silent and all eyes were on us. It turns out that the District Officers (which would be the equivalent to the Governor or Mayor, I’m not sure which one) were joining us for dinner, but we had no idea we were in the presence of such important people! We sat down as everyone stared at us and our friend was trying to explain who these people were (hoping we would introduce ourselves) while we were trying to figure out why everyone was staring at us. Then at once he said, “introduce yourselves to the authorities”. Authorities? Then he pointed to a man in a Lil Wayne t-shirt…how was I supposed to know the man in the Lil Wayne t shirt was the District Officer?!

I am finally learning how to cook with minimal supervision in the kitchen…it is difficult to find new things to cook because we don’t have any dairy or meat (so I have become vegan…not by choice). Luckily we have a plum tree in our back yard so when we want fresh plums, we just climb up the tree and shake it until they fall to the ground. Our banana trees are also almost ready to harvest so we will have plenty of bananas soon!

Last Wednesday was the Feast day for Mary so we had a 2 and a half hour mass. We had a procession around the village carrying a statue of Mary and then a lot of singing and dancing in church. At one point we all filed out of the church and came back through the center singing and dancing…needless to say, people don’t fall asleep in African mass.

After mass on Wednesday, I went to visit one of my friends in town. Her mother’s house had partially collapsed and she was very upset. They cleared all of her things out of the collapsed room but another part of her house is about to collapse as well. To make things worse, it cannot be repaired until the dry season because the house is made out of clay and mud…it was a really sad situation, especially because we couldn’t do anything to help but despite this, the family was in good spirits when I came to visit.

Her family was very big and very nice! They showed me all of their fruit trees, vegetables, chickens, and goats (they let me pet the goats but thought it was weird)….then they insisted I stay for dinner. When it was time to eat, her brother gave me a bowl of water, so I was really confused and everyone was telling me, “wash your hands!”. So I dipped my hand in the water and they were like, “no Katie wash your hands!” Again I dipped my hands in the water and they were all laughing, yelling at me to wash my hands but I couldn’t figure out how to wash my hands with no soap!

I am still getting used to nursing here. It is difficult to communicate with patients because some speak French, some speak English, some speak Pidgeon, and some only speak the native language. Every time I want to talk to patients I have to act out what I am trying to say…some understand my English and look at me funny for using my hands to talk but others still can’t understand me when I use my hands to talk! I am learning a little bit of Pideon, the native language (Bangwa), and I am brushing up on my French. Because of the way the nursing routine has been established here, I am doing everything that I learned not to do. Little by little, I am finding ways to incorporate what I learned in America to the hospital here. Nurses are given a lot of freedom here to order meds, hold medications, add medications, etc. We don’t have many orders from doctors so we are responsible for closely assessing patients and figuring out what to do based on the clinical situation.

I have found many interesting ways to cut corners when you need to be conscious of costs; for examples, using a latex glove as a drain for a wound. Also, I have much sympathy for the patients here that are in pain because we hardly give pain medication…Ibprofen is our standard pain killer. When suturing wounds, making incisions in the skin, delivering babies, aspirating fluid, or even during a thoracentesis… pain medication is not given. It bothers me because I feel like I am torturing patients at times (sometimes grown men cry!) but this is due to both the cost and availability of pain medication here!

I never realized how prevalent the American culture is in other parts of the world until coming to Africa. Everyone here knows American music, politics, cities, and life in general. Obama is EVERYWHERE! I am constantly seeing people wearing jean jackets, t-shirts, and pants with Obama written on them. I even found Obama underwear in a market shop last week! People are constantly asking me who is going to win the election…I keep wondering why they care but it is big news here!

I am constantly embarrassing myself by using the wrong word for pants. If you say pants in Cameroon, people think you are talking about your underwear…so if I want to talk about my pants, I need to use the word “trousers”. I can never remember this so I am always saying things like, “I didn’t bring enough pants”, “I just washed my pants and now they are dirty”, “my pants are wet (from the rain)”… people give me funny looks until I realize I made a huge mistake and then I have to explain why I was talking about my underwear and not my trousers.

The rainy season seems to be calming down a bit…it still rains every day but the sun has been shining for a bit each day as well. I continue to be amazed at how beautiful this place is…it doesn’t even seem real! I have taken many pictures but they really don’t capture everything I am seeing. I’ll try and post some soon!

That’s all for now…I’ll try to update in a week or two!

On African Soil!

I have been in Africa for almost 2 weeks now! The internet is very, very slow here and I didn't have a converter for my computer so I am finally updating my blog.

 The second flight too Africa went well. I met a boy my age from the US that was flying into Douala as well so we helped each other to our next flight. It turns out that his dad had security meet him at the terminal in Douala, and the security guard thought we were traveling together so we both bypassed customs (which was way too easy...) and found our bags at the baggage claim. When we got to baggage claim, I saw a lady holding a sign that said, "Caty Fontem", so I figured she must be waiting for me. She didn't say anything and motioned for me to follow her (she didn't speak English)... I didn't know where she was going, but I didn't really have another choice so I followed her and she lead me to my group! I got my first glimpse of Douala outside of the airport...Douala is a very big city with many people everywhere. I have never seen so many people in my life! We stayed the night in Douala in a Catholic missionary hostel building and then left in the morning for Fontem. The day before I arrived, an Italian girl named Chiara arrived in Douala to go to Fontem as well, so we traveled together with an Italian focolarino (from the hospital) that came to pick us up in his truck.

The journey to Fontem took all day. Most of the trip was on paved roads, but the last two hours were on dirt roads. The dirt here is orange and very slippery when wet so since we are in the rainy season, we were sliding allllll over the place. The road was so rough that I hit my head on the window two times on the way! We climbed some mountains and then descended into the valley where Fontem sits. It was a beautiful sight coming in- a little town in the middle of a jungle with a river flowing through and palm trees everywhere! So many different fruits grow here as well- plums, bananas, coco (what chocolate is made out of), pineapples, passion fruit, papaya, guava, sugar cane..etc. My house is on a giant hill and the hospital is about 100 yards below. We have sugar cane, pineapples, plums, and bananas on our land! I live with my Italian friend, Chiara, (she is also a nurse), and three women: two from Africa and one from Chile. Although everyone here speaks English, it is a very different English! It is a British African English so it is difficult for me to understand sometimes what people are saying and vice versa. It actually keeps things interesting but I am causing chaos in Cameroon because my American English is so hard for everyone to understand. The locals also speak a form of English called “Pidgeon English”. It is basically a very basic form of English with many slang words. When you want to know if someone has pooped, in Pidgeon you would say, “you de shit?”. The first time I heard this my mouth fell off of my face…a nurse kept asking a patient if they needed to “shit”. But then she explained that was how to ask if someone has gone to the bathroom in Pidgeon.

Chiara and I met with the matron of the hospital (the head of the hospital) to discuss our jobs before working. In the middle of our serious meeting, my chair suddenly collapsed beneath me and broke! I fell right to the ground on top of the broken chair that belongs to the head of the hospital. Then the next day when we started working, Chiara fainted while dressing a wound. The new nurses had a rough start to their jobs but it can only get better from here!

I am working in the men's ward with men (obviously) and some people with infectious diseases such as TB, malaria, AIDS, and chicken pox. When I get back to the US, I am going to be so grateful for saline flushes, paper, trash cans, toilet seats, alcohol swabs, paper towels, fitted bed sheets, and washing machines because these don't exist in the hospital (or in Fontem). If you need a saline flush, you must withdrawal it out of a saline bag with a syringe. If you need an alcohol swab, you must pour alcohol on a cotton ball for use. It works just the same, but it takes much more time! They re-use everything here in the hospital. For example, we wash gloves that aren't soiled, we use cardboard to write on and label things, and we use the plastic bags that infusions are packaged in for patients that need to vomit.

Nurses are allowed to do much more here such as suture wounds and order some medications. The women are all kept in one big room and the men are kept in the new ward, so there are three to a room. Everyone must pay for everything out of pocket, so if the family cannot afford something, they refuse treatment. Today, we wanted to put oxygen on a dying patient but the family refused so we could not give this to the patient as he was dying. It was very hard for me to watch, but there are also many happy moments in the hospital.

I work from 7:30am to 2:30am Monday through Saturday. Mass on Sunday lasts longer than in the US...last Sunday was almost three hours! Mass here has an African twist with singing and dancing...its awesome. Cooking also takes much longer here...from the beginning of cooking until the end of dishes is about 2 1/2 hours! But the food here is very good so far. The five of us take turns preparing breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I have cooked twice so far and butchered both meals. Hopefully I will get better soon. We also have to wash our clothes by hand because there is no washing machine, so I am still getting used to that as well! We buy our food at the market, which meets every four days. We must walk 30 minutes uphill to get our food and then carry everything back home. I need to learn how to carry food on my head because it looks much easier than carrying everything in your arms. 

Life here is beautiful. The people in this town are amazing! People are so nice and welcoming...everyone you pass greets you with a handshake and wants to know how you are and what is your name. I am meeting many WONDERFUL people from all over the world and I am having a GREAT experience so far!

I'll update more in a couple of weeks!