New Year bits and pieces

Tomorrow we start back to class.  The 3 weeks of holiday have gone quickly – but in other ways have seemed long.  There are not really a lot of exciting things to do around Mbingo, and it is just as well to be working!  I did get a lot of preparation done for the next 4 – 6 weeks of class time, and that will ease the load for a bit.  As usual, we will spend most days working in the OR, with Thursday as our class day.  The students are working on “projects” which need to be pretty well completed this term (before Easter) – they are still collecting data on patients for whom they are doing various “quality improvement” treatments (mostly to do with better pain control after surgery).  I typed the first draft of the introductory part for 3 of the students over the break, with 2 to go – and there is going to be a lot of rearranging, revising, retyping etc over the next couple of months, in addition to all our regular work and studying.

                  I did go on a few long walks.  The dust is thick now – but surprisingly, there was rain here at Mbingo the last 2 nights – almost unheard of in dry season.  It has cleared the air a bit, and the humidity is back up to 70% tonight, instead of the usual 50%.  There have been a few little animal events.  Thom and Ellen saw a big cobra in the ditch beside the highway not far from here – he had his head up in the typical pose, then quickly vanished.  They said he was beautiful, but they were glad they were in the truck!  Snakes aren’t very common here, but it makes me think it is not too smart to go walking in long grass.  The Fulanis have been driving their cattle – hundreds of them – down the highway from Back Valley to a place several more miles down in the valley below us – for better grass now as dry season progresses and the grass dries up.  And last Saturday, I heard a noise, looked up, and there were 3 fellows from next door pushing a cart with a whole dead cow on it – which they proceeded to skin and cut up in the back yard beside me.  It is not like home!  The week after Christmas, I asked Richard who comes to cook to buy me a chicken or two; well, he has looked everywhere, and there is not a chicken to be had anywhere around Mbingo.  It must have been a good Christmas for a lot of people!

                  David from OR is progressing with his new house – I went up a couple of times to see what was happening, and here are some photos.  The roof is probably on now, so will have to go for another look.

                  All the expats spent the past 5 days in Bamenda at a yearly gathering for the missionaries who work under the Cameroon Baptist Convention.  There were about 90 people, including all the kids in the families – and from all over the country.  Most of the folks are long-term and were there last year too – plus a few new ones who are here for shorter terms as I am – and it was nice to see ones I’d met before, and nice to meet new ones.  People are involved in a wide variety of work – medical, education, vet med with the Fulani cattle, translation of tribal languages, church planting and very basic agriculture and health care with the pygmies (the Baka) in the far southeast in the rainforest near Congo.  They are all just ordinary folks, but quite a few of them are in pretty remote areas doing pretty amazing things – that make my life look very easy here.  We had a speaker, ate great food all prepared for us (a treat), visited a lot, got some essential shopping done in the city, and did some fun things including a talent show last evening that was just continual laughter.  I am very thankful to live out in the country at Mbingo though – Bamenda has constant noise from traffic, all-night bars with music and yelling and fighting that never ends, smog and more dust than here, thieves and pickpockets to guard against, and very bad smells.  It was a good little break, but I was glad to come home today.  Back to work in the morning – no more sleeping in until 6am!