And a Little Child Shall Lead Them...

I have been thinking about all children's curiosity and natural openness.  They want to know and explore.  At the same time, cultures teach their children to respond differently to what is different and new.

These thoughts are often on my mind, but never more so than in church last week.  I have noticed for some time that about six kids usually sit in the pew beside me.  Some are there each week and some are change.  A teenager or adult often sits at the other end of the pew with them.  Last week, they were even more open to me than usually.  They vied to sit in the spot next to me.  In fact, at one point in the service I had one sit on either side of me to avoid an argument. 

One little girl kept reaching out to touch me.  I believe she was fascinated by my white skin and the fine blond hairs on my arms.  I had to stop her, though, when she decided to touch my glasses – she made prints that made it hard to see clearly!  Most of the children next to me spent a lot of time smiling at me.  What joy they impart.

I have similar experiences when I walk through town.  It is often the children who greet me first.  They are much more likely to smile at me and wave.  (Many adults stare the first time they see me, looking stern.)  Most children laugh with joy when I greet them in their language – and some adults do, too. 

How do we train our children in the USA?  I think it is more common to discourage them from greeting those who are different than they are.  We discourage the natural curiosity.  I understand stranger-danger, but I think it goes beyond that.  I know, too, that here I am white and privileged which affects children’s responses, but, again, I think it goes beyond that.

What do you think?  Have you ever thought about it?  I would love to hear your perspective.   

Hospital Renovations

I wrote recently about renovation work at the Protestant Hospital in Garoua Boulai (6-29-2013).  Much of the work has been funded by World Hunger Fund of the ELCA, the South Dakota Synod of ELCA. First Lutheran Church in St. Ansgar, IA, and finally the hospital.  Last week I had the privilege of touring the hospital with three partners visiting from the USA and Anne Langdji, regional representative of the ELCA.  Leading the tour were Drs. Solofo and Joely Rakotoarivelo and various hospital workers. 

The most visible change is outside.  A new covered walkway was built.  Here are the before and after pictures. Notice that there are now street lights that are hooked up to the city system.  Many of the patient rooms were also redone; some are wards and some are private rooms. 

The maternity ward was spruced up with tiles on the floor and paint.  The picture at left shows Karen Alseth, representative of Cameroonian Healthcare Development Program (CHDP, based in Duluth, MN) and Jeremie Bouta Karariga, hospital intern.  In another area of the hospital, one small room was removed so make a barely passible hallway into a beautiful waiting area for ultrasound, X-ray and other nearby offices.  Pictured is Daniel Djilla, Surveillant Général.

Global Health Ministries (GHM) sends kits for families of babies born at the hospital; we visited a woman who had just had twins by Caesarian.  She is 19; her older son is now 3 years old.  Donna Wright and her husband Jacques Dupret, both members of an ELCA congregation in South Dakota, are giving this mother her kits.  (The SD synod is partnered with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cameroon. Donna is also works for GHM.)  In the background is the mother’s sister. 

Dr. Solofo’s office was also redone.  Now there is a patient exam room off his office (instead of taking up a part of the primary room).  That means he can have some chairs as a waiting/welcome area.  Here are before and after pictures.  In the after picture, he is talking to Donna; Jacques is in the background wearing the outfit the hospital staff gave him as a gift.  

 

 Through out all the new work, a mural, painted by Jennifer Burnham in 1980 was saved.  It is on the wall in an open area among rooms and departments.  Also in that area is a live palm tree!

 We visited the laboratory that houses the equipment to do necessary tests.  The room is really too small for all the work and workers.  In the future the hospital hopes to add an addition onto this room to better compete this necessary work.  Pictured are Leonel, Donna, an intern, Paul Oumarou (head of the lab), and Jean Amamou.

 

We saw lots of other areas as well including the relatively new generator funded by a church in the Sioux Falls, SD and Mt Calvary Lutheran Church in Eagan, MN, the hospital laundry service room, the medicine storage areas, the well-baby office, etc.  Generous support from partners in the US have made it possible to have a lot of equipment that is so prevalent in US hospitals, but much more rare here.  The picture at the right shows the reception.  Notice the temperature/blood pressure machine between the two women.  Pictured are Jeannette Houma, a patient, and Dr. Solofo.

 

Hospitals in Cameroon (CAR and other African countries) don’t provide food or sheets, but they do provide a large open building where people can cook.  They also have an area where families can do dishes and laundry. This latter was just redone so that it is more sanitary and user-friendly.  Counters at waist height are now around the edges.  Also, a street light was installed so that people can work more easily once night falls (around 6:30 p.m.)  Some new windows with screens were also installed.  The window on the left is new and the one on the right is the old style that is being replaced. 

We also saw the new VIP latrine!  That is: Ventilated, Improved, Pit latrine.  There was another nearby.  Shortly before this one was built, the old one imploded!  It sank like a sink hole.  Fortunately, the only person who had been using it had just exited!  This new one has two shower areas and 8 holes – 4 for women and 4 for men.  It will not smell bad and will last more than 30 years.  When funds are available, a second VIP latrine will be built at the other end of the hospital compound. 

At the entrance to the hospital, local people, including youth, sell bananas, hard-boiled eggs, peanuts, and other foods

I don’t want to get sick, but if ever I need a hospital, this is where
I want to be! 

Lawn to Mud

Torrential rains.  We talk about them in the US, but they come most days here in Garoua Boulai at this time of year.  The skies open and buckets of water fall for an hour or several.  Since the ground is made of a lot of clay, it doesn’t soak in quickly, especially not after several days of heavy rain in a row. 

 

Well, my parking lot (I mean, front yard, where various Central African missionary vehicles are parked) was the site of a challenge last week. Charlemagne was trying to take one of the vehicles out onto the road.  He backed up into what was a small hole and got stuck.  Tires spinning, rocking-doing-no-good, really stuck kind of a hole!  I happened to be nearby, so, of course, I took pictures.   

Putting the Land Cruiser into 4-wheel drive finally got it out of the hole.  Who’d have imagined one needed 4-wheel drive in my yard!  I thought you all might enjoy (!) some pictures of a yard that is sometimes more swamp than grass. 

The larger hole after the incident!

May all of your travels so smoothly without mud traps.

Readjusting

Lutheran Station in Garoua Boulai

I think everyone has a period of readjustment after a vacation.  I remember lots of them as a new school started when I worked for the Pittsburgh Public Schools (PPS).  So, I shouldn’t be surprised that it is taking me time to readjust to work in Cameroon after my month-long trip to the USA.  I think a lot of it can be attributed to continuing uncertainty – much more than I ever faced with the PPS.  OK, those of you who work for the PPS (or any other school district!) and who are starting up this week (or last week, or soon), know what it feels like to be overwhelmed.  Yes, the work is similar to last year, but there are changes – in district priorities and/or what they are asking of staff.  And, there are new students, new parents…  Each year we forget how much energy it takes to establish routines and procedures in a classroom while also attending to all the details that the district considers essential.  We don’t know how things will go for the year, but we do understand the framework of the work and have experience with the process.

So how is it different here?  Let me count the way!  First, there was a lot more travel involved to get back here, including a 5-hour time change.  I am back to speaking a lot of French instead of being surrounded by English.  I also hear Sango and Gbaya and feel like I need to do more to become proficient in those. 

Next, there is much more uncertainty in my current return.  I knew it was likely, but dealing with it day-by-day is sometimes wearing.  Although security in CAR is better in some ways, overall insecurity is still rampant.  Villages and the capital are still plagued by violence.  So, I won’t be going back to CAR right away, even though everything remains calm in Baboua, my “home” town. 

I worry about my Central African colleagues – well, everyone there, really, especially those in the villages who have no say in the difficulties that have invaded their lives.  Please continue to pray for peace in CAR and stability in the people’s lives again.

As I arrived back in Garoua Boulai, I found boxes of books and other materials from Joe and Deb Troester who worked in Baboua for 5 years and lived in the house next to mine.  Dr. Joe worked with PASE, a program working to bring clean water to villages, and Pastor Deb taught at the Theological Seminary.  Neither could do their work at a distance; so, with the continuing insecurity, they have left definitively.  I will miss them and the support they gave me during my first year of work.  I wish them the best as they look for their next job and face much larger readjustment issues that I do!  I also appreciate the books and materials they have left behind for us to share. 

I took time upon arrival to sort through and organize my new and older books.  I love books!  (I am extremely

grateful for my Kindle which provides me with an endless supply, but have really enjoyed reading “real” books this week!)  I have reorganized the bookcase in the guest house living/dining room so that the old mission books are on the bottom two shelves.  These are novels and religions books for children and adults that have been here for years (some are dated 1959!).  On the other shelves are now books divided by language (Sango, Gbaya, French, English-language learning) and topic (papers for work, and novels).  Organized and ready to use – though I don’t look forward to having to move them – the one major drawback to “real” books!

I can’t go back to Baboua to work yet, but I can do a lot from Garoua Boulai. Yesterday, the Village School Program leadership team came to meet with me.  We had a productive meeting (as we always do, I am very happy to say!) in the guest house where I stay.  This picture shows Arnold Minang, Accountant; Mathias Votoko, Community Developer; Abel Service, Director; me, Education Adviser; and David Zodo, Pedagogical Adviser.  One person (in Baboua) commented to me (on the phone) that I was in Baboua yesterday because the VSP team was with me and I am with them all in spirit.  So true.  Distance may make connections more difficult, but I am connected to many anyway – in lots of different places.  It is a pleasure to work with these people again.

I am also content that everyone I meet is happy to see me in GB again – including a couple of Fulani women I pass regularly on the street!  They did a double take when they saw me for the first time after a month and smiled shyly saying “Sanu” (hello).  It feels good to be recognized and appreciated (even if we don’t speak the same language or know each other)! 

I have noticed another cultural phenomenon.  My weight has not changed much over the past year.  Still, when I went to the US, various people said, “Oh, you lost weight!”  Now that I am back, several people have said, “Oh, you’re gained weight!”  In both contexts, these are complements.  How our perceptions are colored by what our culture values/thinks about. 

I have restarted my work with the Village School Program and Christian Education.  I will also be having discussions with the National President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of CAR, the Director of the Bible School in GB, and others to see if I can support other education programs in CAR and/or Cameroon while I am based in GB. 

Uncertainty abounds so readjustment more difficult, but I am trying to focus on the positive and the known.  There is much that I can learn and do, including learning to better live with uncertainty.  I thank God for the support of family, colleagues, friends, and readers of this blog as I do my best based here in Garoua Boulai.