Sannu

Asalaa Maalekum Himbe Pat. I hope this finds everyone happy and healthy and not too bogged down by snow or politics. I get the political update every once in a while here, from some nurses at the hospital. They are quite fond of Obama here, since he is half African and are rooting for him. Besides random political updates from the states, and hearing about the news in Tchad, (rebel troops took over the capital city for a days, located about 12 hrs away from me/threats of a massive coup d’etat, now peace/rebels have been stopped/no problems) I do not get too many updates from states. People cannot even fathom snow. I try to tell them is minus 15 degrees Celsius but since it never gets below 10 degrees Celsius here, it’s an odd concept.

Any way, life has been chugging along here in the dusty, sunny, hot, dry, allergy enducing province of Adamoua. Since it is the crux of dry season and there are sahelian winds blowing dust everywhere, my allergies have been horrible. Without sunglasses and protective covering, skin just shrivels up /it’s difficult to see. Highlights these past weeks have been; 1. Developing my curriculum for the health education class 2. trying to start/help various women’s groups in the area 3. visiting vaccination campaigns and doing health animations 4. Getting my second cat as a present

I absolutely love teaching at the college, about the equivalent of 7^th grade in the states. Various topics have been covered such as malaria and hygiene, but now steering towards sexual reproductive health. Since most of the kids will probably not continue school, have never received health education before, and in their culture many topics are taboo, it makes the classes oftentimes stressful and challenging, especially with my french vocabulary, but feels rewarding.

In 2 weeks is the National Holiday of Women’s Day. At my post, they have never ever done anything for Women’s day, due to cultural constraints and perhaps ignorance about the holiday itself. Most elsewhere in Cameroon it is a HUGE day including, parades, partying, dancing, etc. Well…I wanted to try, try, try to do something in my post for the women. Currently in the midst of organizing a large party for them next week. Since funds are greatly limited and each women can only contribute about 50 cents to the party, it’s not exactly going to be an exquisite affaire, but we’ll make do. There also is no locale to have party, no community centers/large rooms exist. So I invited 50 women over to my house. So far the plan for the party is eating and listening to Fufulde music, hopefully will get a good ambiance going to chat about health issues.

In addition to the womens group in my village, also trying to develop groups in villages nearby. A town 25 km away has a very large weekly market. Consequently, prostitution is a huge issue. There are dozens of “free women” they call them and unfortunately ISTs/HIV is a very large problem, estimated at about 30%. Thanks to a very dynamic, french speaking women in that town, we are working together to try to educate women/mobilize them.

One of the cutest moments in my weeks here is every Thursday which is vaccination day. Scores of women bring in their babies to be vaccinated. It’s adorable. Fortunately the vaccination campaigns here are very efficient and run well. However, only about 50% of women give birth in health centers and very little come in for Pre-Natal consultations. Culturally it’s just not seen as necessary to give birth at hospital. Women usually leave there house a month before giving birth to go live with their family. Needless to say, promoting Pre-Natal consultations and birthing at hospital is one of the topics targeted.

About my cat….I had a cat last week. I called it “Fatty” short for “Faturo” or cat in Fufulde. In fufulde the term for “I like” is the same for “I want.” A precious grandmother thought I said “I want a cat” not just “I like cats.” So she brought me over a cat. It was cute but frankly made me really, really appreciate all the work put into cat rearing. Living alone, not liking to prepare for myself here, and having no cat supplies that we have in the states, I sadly thought that I could not provide a nurturing environment for Fatty and had to give it away. C’est la vie.

J’avais trop parlé. Once again hope this finds people healthy and happy. Happy end to February. Sey Yesoo kaddi, Ali ou Amina a Tourningal