The Good and the Bad

The Bad--6 weeks have passed since coming to Tourningal and all but one of them have been pleasant. This past week was definitely the exception. Getting sick anywhere is not fun. Getting sick when; no one in the town speaks English, when one lives alone, there is no electricity, you have to use a pit latrine that is covered in flies (and your leg muscles are not used to squatting so much), all you want to do is sleep and there are incessant knocks on the door, you vomit in front of a bunch of kids that, unlike in America (even when you are laying helpless on the dirt )they do not get someone to help, the only thing to eat is fufu (corn flour with water), no network in your house, and the only way you can call people is during the night when its cold….etc, etc, makes being sick a little bit more interesting.

I came down with my first bout of dysentery at approximately 3 am 6 days ago and I hope, hope I will not have it again. It was just a stressful week full of a lot of ORS, oral dehydration salt mixes and little movement. I did probably loss about half of the weight I gained since coming to Cameroon. However, having a malady made me realize the luxury of exercise…in order to exercise well one needs to have enough Energy to move, good food to eat, be hydrated etc. I have not exercised for a while. I have now learned my lesson and will eat less, not eat anything that is given to me and definitely not drink as much fresh milk even if it has been boiled. Since I couldn’t necessarily translate all my not-so-good feelings this week into fufulde, it was quite comical the responses I got from villagers when I told them my symptoms. Most everyone thought it was Malaria. About 80% of the health patients have malaria, so even a simple headache people will label as malaria.

The Good-- I am generally quite happy in my village and up until the sickness was doing great. I still feel very blessed that I have found a family here that has pretty much taken me up as their own. The mom came to my house countless times when I was sick providing me with a plethora of food; most of which I did not eat, (who really feels like eating oily soaked squash and large chunks of fatty meat when one is about to explode) and coffee (they didn’t really understand that laxatives aren’t the greatest…) There is always something going on in their compound, since she is the first of three wives, thus a heap of children wandering about and food to eat. Getting close to a Polygamous family has provided me insight on the nature of male-female relations here. Needless to say sometimes, dreamingly, I wish I could just push a button and start voicing my western- egalitarian opinions fluently in Fufulde knowing that their would be no repercussions from the males and they would, magically understand how to treat their wives, etc, etc…but that is not the case.

Work……Unfortunately, one of the repercussions of polygamy in this Male dominated, traditional society is HIV/AIDS. I have only been here for a month and a half, but have already met many people that have had to deal with the consequences of this epidemic. Especially in polygamous marriages, the wives are often victims to the males that leave the compound whenever they please. Last week learned of a case where one of the co-wives died of AIDS and the other Co-wives do not know they have it. The husband has not told anyone, anything….My province has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS in Cameroun at about 17%. Two towns over the rate for sero-positive pregnant women is about 35%. In sum, this is an issue that I want to further explore.

Besides this, on a slightly more upbeat note, I have started working in the middle school in my town. I teach English and Health classes. Currently there is only one class of 55 kids, 10 of which are female. School here is more like a free-for-all, for the age range in my class is about 12-22. Their ability levels are quite eye-opening. There are students in the class that can barely write or read, at the 7^th grade American level. Having no French books, magazines or documents of any kind contributes to this problem. In addition, kids here are encouraged to study and learn the Qu’ran, not their French schooling. They often will spend their free time memorizing and reciting the Qu’ran written in Arabic and learning it in Fufulde. Furthering the education problem in my town is the fact that currently 2 of the 4 Primary School Teachers haven’t come back from Vacation yet. I don’t necessarily blame them, for they were affected to teach thousands of kilometers away from their families in the brousse, and are not receiving salaries; however, now about 120 kids have no teachers. The remaining two classes have about 90 kids to them each….not exactly conducive to learning.

I hope this finds everyone health and happy! Happy End of January. Allah hokku damma. Useko jur.

Until next time, hopefully my stomach will remain tranquil. Sey yesso kaddi.