Salut! This week started with no electricity in the hospital compound for about 48 hours...thankfully this caused no life threatening complications for any of the patients. However it did make things difficult, with patients in dark wards without any fans to stay cool, the x-ray machine, (one of the main diagnostic tools here) not working, drugs not being kept cool & Sarah assisting in operations by torch-light. Tuesday ended up being quite eventful for us...as well as the powercut, our house was invaded by 3 different types of animals - a gecko, (discovered when it jumped onto one of the missionary kids hiding in our cupboard!), our 1st big cockroach, & then our 1st ant infestation of the week (another one was found last night).
Both of us have had the opportunity to assist in operations as we split the week between the wards & the bloc. Yesterday we went into the local town, Maroua, to explore...whilst waiting for the taxi we drew interest from a couple of cameroonian men - which was interesting! We had a great time in the market in Maroua - it is a maze of different stalls with people everywhere - and this being the hot season tourists are less common, so we definitely stood out. We practised bargaining too (apparently the price they give tourists is at least double the actual price) - however they are very skilled bargainers so we suspect we probably gave them a lot more than the items were worth!
Cameroonian culture is very different to the UK especially in relation to women & relationships. Polygamy is common amongst the Muslim men, with them able to have up to 4 wives at any time...if they want a new wife they just divorce one of their other wives! It's normal for each wife to have up to 8 children each...the children are the possession of the father so if a wife is divorced the children stay with their dad. One of the men who works in the bloc is the son of the chief of Meskine...he has 21 brothers & sisters and as the chief the normal '4 wives' rule doesn't apply so he has 10! Although attitudes to women seem to be slowly improving as they have more access to education, one of the men described women/wives like 'cups of coffee', good for temporary enjoyment & when it's finished you just move on to the next cup!! Please pray that this attitude would change. Polygamy also causes health problems as it increases the spread of infections such as HIV.
Harvest was celebrated today in a 3 1/2 hour church service with lots & lots of singing, 2 sermons & a competition between the different groups within the church as to who could give the most money...the women won! Cameroonian Christians are very passionate about their faith & love to praise God by singing & dancing...every tribal group sings a song each week (including the 'missionary tribe'!) & the young people's song is always accompanied by energetic dancing!
Just a quick prayer request...as Monday & Tuesday are holidays (due to the international festival of work on Tuesday) there's a small chance that the doctors won't turn up (this is Africa!) & that we may be asked to do the ward round. Prayer that God would give us wisdom if this happens would be greatly appreciated!
Sunday 29 April 2012
Tuesday 24 April 2012
Week 3 :)
Bonjour toute le monde! Hope you're all well. Lots has happened since we last wrote. We spent last week in 'le bloc' (surgery)...it was so interesting that we've decided to go back for a couple of days each week until we leave. We saw lots & lots of pus, 3 heads of femurs being removed (& not replaced!) & mastectomy (of a massive breast with very advanced cancer...unfortunately the wound was too big to be closed). One of the big medical problems here is that people present too late...such as coming with a fracture over a year after it happened so that it has healed. The one medically trained surgeon is leaving in less than a month but there are 2 trained nurses (surgeons) who can do all general surgery & some nurses who have been trained to do anaesthetics. We both had a chance to get involved with some practical procedures: Sarah attempted a chest drain (but a later chest X-ray showed that the pus had cleared up by itself) & Vicki attempted to give a spinal anaesthetic (but didn't quite manage!). At the weekend we went on safari with 2 with a new doctor from the UK & a new occupational therapist from Germany...the journey north was VERY bumpy & we spent lots of time on the other side of the road & off-road trying to avoid the almost continuous pitholes...but it was definitely worth it as we saw giraffes, loads of birds, hippos, monkeys, 2 lions & an elephant. (Just to let you know: the operation on the man with complex leg fractures went well & he's recovering on the ward). Please pray for the family of a young girl who died yesterday of tetanus (she had been in hospital since we arrived). Also, the hospitals main generator has died & will take 3 weeks to get the right bits to repair, & today one of the smaller generators near the paediatric ward caught on fire...so please pray that the frequent powercuts wouldn't jeopardise patient care.
Sunday 15 April 2012
Our 2nd week at l'Hopital de Meskine
This week we've had lots of great opportunities to see both the work of the hospital & of the long-term workers. Christianity is allowed to permeate hospital life much more than it would in the UK...every weekday at 6.45am there's a devotion & prayer time for the hospital staff (what a great way to start the day, fixing our eyes on Jesus & praying for the patients), every Monday evening the 'Jesus Film' is shown in Fulfulde (last week there were about 100 men, women & children both relatives of the patients & people from the village who heard & saw the Gospel...which was amazing!) & every Tuesday evening there's a 'prayer round' where we talk to all patients (& their relatives) & ask if they want prayer (very few decline). There are also 2 full-time evangelical chaplains. The hospital is always very busy during the week days (which makes it more difficult to take photos)...both with lots of patients & lots of relatives who literally camp out at the hospital until their relative is well again (they do most of the practical caring...preparing food, washing clothes...& also provide good emotional support). Sarah's spent most of the week with the medical director who mainly covers the mens ward...there are lots of young men with serious injuries as a result of road accidents many of whom would normally be in high dependency units in the UK but that's just not possible here. Vicki has spent most of her time with the doctor who covers the paediatric & maternity ward...unfortunately there's a measles epidemic (3 children from the same family died this week from measles) & other children are seriously ill with malaria, severe burns, malnutrition & tetanus. (A baby came to the clinic this week with hydrocephalus (water that's compressing their brain)...unfortunately nothing could be done at the hospital & the family are too poor to travel to one of the bigger cities in the south, so the parents just had to take their child home and wait for him to die). We'll be spending next week in the surgical block...please pray for wisdom & skill for the surgeon particularly as tomorrow there's a very difficult case (a young man with multiple severe leg fractures due to a road accident). That's all from us for now...have a good week :)
Sunday 8 April 2012
More about our 1st week!
Apologies for not posting anything sooner – we’ve had a busy
1st week! We eventually arrived to Meskine Hospital Cameroon is
different in lots of ways…everyone is very friendly, the women wear beautiful
(but very modest) clothes & there are no supermarkets (just small shops or
outdoor markets). For Easter there was a service on Good Friday & Easter
Sunday (followed by a church lunch)…church here starts at 8am as a later
service would be unbearably hot. We’ve only spent 2 days in the hospital but to
give you a quick idea of what it’s like there are only 2 full-time medical doctors
covering the whole hospital during the day (so they see over 60 patients each
during the daily ward round before they go the clinic at 10am!) & there’s 1
medically trained surgeon. Despite the lack of doctors the hospital is well run
with nurses taking on many of the roles that doctors would do in the UK . Prayers would
be appreciated that we would understand the ward rounds as they inter-change
between using Fulfulde (the local language) & French in very noisy wards…but
overall we’re having a great time :)
Sunday 1 April 2012
Where are we going?...
On Monday, we’re flying to Cameroon to spend 6 weeks in
Meskine Hospital for our medical elective. The hospital we’re going to on
Tuesday is in northern Cameroon near the town Maroua. It’s a Christian hospital
in a French-speaking majority Muslim area, although the local language is
Fulfulde. If you want to find out more, here’s a link to the website: http://www.mcwanet.org/en/projects/hospital/
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