Pictured above is one of my favorite patients that I took care of on the Children’s Ward in Mbingo. She came in with anemia and this was taken on the day she was discharged. I knew she was well enough to go home when I walked into the ward that morning and she was singing Christmas songs! Pictured below are two doctors Kamdem and Alvine, who I worked with on the Children’s Ward in Mbingo. They’re actually both Internal Medicine doctors but because there is no pediatrician, they rotate through the pediatrics ward.
I am currently in Bamenda, which is one of the major cities in the Northwest region – about 30-45 minutes south of Mbingo. I've included a few pictures from around the town during my brief stay here. Note the woman carrying the bananas on her head. It never ceases to amaze me all the different things people are able to carry on their heads.
Tomorrow I will make the 6-hour journey to Douala, fly to Paris, then back home to NY. In some ways, my leaving seems very abrupt – there are still many more things I wanted to do, sights I wanted to see, and pictures I wanted to take. But, perhaps one day I’ll get to come back.
On my last day in Cameroon, while in Bamenda, I went to a crafts shop. While there, I was hungry so I wandered into a small café next door. I was shocked to see a latte on the menu, so obviously I had to get one. (Apparently, this is the place where all the non-Cameroonians come to get coffee.) While I was drinking my coffee, a Cameroonian couple sat down next to me. The man introduced himself and his wife. We made small talk for a little bit – some questions about Obama and what I thought of Osama bin Laden and whether I thought we were ever going to have a cure for HIV (It’s World AIDS day on December 1st). The humor in this conversation started when the wife noticed my wedding ring and asked how much my husband had paid my parents for my bride price. I told them he paid nothing, I was free of charge. Then, about 10 minutes later, another woman appeared and the man introduced her as his wife. Interesting. And another 5 minutes after that, a 3rd woman appeared and he introduced her as his wife as well. “In America, do they allow a man to have more than one wife?” the man asked. I told him no. One of the women said, “You should tell your husband that you met a man in Cameroon with 3 wives.” I told them, I probably won’t. I don’t want him to get any ideas. We all had a good laugh.
When I got back to the Bamenda Baptist Hospital campus where I am staying the night, right around the corner from the hostel was a man and his son who were selling some Cameroonian wood carvings. This man, named Joseph (almost everyone I’ve met here has a biblical name), makes all the wood carvings himself and many of them are quite impressive. He told me that he had an idea for what he should call his stand and that he wanted to name it after an American store. “Oh, really? What store?” I asked. He said that he wanted to name it “Trader Joe’s.” I laughed and said that that would be a good name and that I love shopping at Trader Joe’s. He also insisted that I take a picture wearing this hat made of feathers. He said that before, queens used to wear hats like this. It didn’t feel very “queen-like” when I was wearing it.
In less than 48 hours, I will be back in NY. I am sad to leave Cameroon since it feels like there is still so much more to learn and experience here, but I cannot wait to see Matt, my parents and Brian, and everyone else back home. When I told one of the chaplains after the service this morning that I had mixed feelings about leaving, she said to me, “You have to go, in order to go back.” How true that is.
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