Weekend Outings

Saturday, we adventured into Bamenda to do some shopping and to see the sights.  It takes about an hour to drive there on the no rules, everything is legal and fair roads.  The drives are always an adventure in themselves!!  We took one of the PACS residents, Treasure, with us who was looking to get out of Mbingo for a bit and “see some people that were NOT SICK”.  It was great having him with us.  We enjoyed his company and stories of his life and work in Liberia and the DRC.  He is one of the many heroes that worked through the Ebola crisis (B has a separate post on that).  He also helped us navigate the shopping and made sure we didn’t get charged too high of “white man price”.  In town, we ventured to the main market (which is complete craziness in itself!) so that Joe could get material to make a shirt, then we went to the supermarket to grab a few snacks for the upcoming week.  Toby wanted a haircut, so Treasure took us to his barber and Tobs got an official African buzz with a little decorative flare.  We hit a couple of artisan shops so that we could bring home some treasures and then we had lunch before heading back to Mbingo.  Our lunch was at a restaurant recommended to us by another Dr. volunteer.  It was one of the “nicest” in Bamenda.  It was very fancy, with full place settings and all.  The kids were very happy because they could get a cheese burger and fries.  The men all ate goat dishes with yams and fries.  The staff took excellent care of us.  But, I was quickly reminded that we were still in Africa, even at the nicest restaurant, when I asked to use the restroom, I was sent outside to a toilet in a separate building that had a half door and a bucket of water that you had to dump into the toilet to flush it.  The sink did have running water, but no soap or towels or napkins, and definitely no sign that read “Employees must wash hands”.  Next to the toilet building was the staff laundry hanging up to dry on a clothesline and there were chickens running around oblivious to the fact that they were the next order off the menu.  We left full and happy, it was a good day.

Busy Saturday market

Coffin store/funeral supplies

If you can zoom in on this one, you can see it is a butcher shop.  All meat is butchered outside in open air markets.

The meat on my salad was chicken stomach.  It is traditionally reserved for the chief of the village to eat.  I tried it, but passed the rest to Joseph, our driver.  He got to be chief x2 that day!

Sundays are one of my favorite days in Mbingo.  It is inspiring to witness the depth of the Christian faith that so many of the people here have.  The praise music, full of emotion and adoration for our Lord and Savior, coupled with the beat of the African drums nearly brings me to tears.  I love watching the faces of the people around me, I have never experienced a church service like the ones here in America.  It definitely stirs the spirit in me.

Worship service in Mbingo Baptist Church

After church, we packed a picnic lunch and headed out for a hike.  As usual, it quickly turned into another typical “Ipsen adventure”.  About 30 minutes into the hike it started to rain, and not just sweet gentle rain, it was torrential, drenching rain.  We were, of course, on one of the steepest parts of the hike.  The wind blew so hard that my umbrella flipped and broke, but it was ok because I was worried about it getting caught on the barbed wire fence the was about a foot to my left.  All this while trying not to lose my footing and slip on the extremely slick packed wet clay, that would cause me to plummet down the steep hill about a foot to my right.  This is the same path that the locals climb every day, with a skip and a hop, and usually with something on their head.  I am so impressed (and embarrassed for my lack of balance) watching them gracefully navigate these steep, slippery, and difficult paths, with a baby on their back, something on their heads, and often in nothing but flip flops.  Asha for me!  By the time we made it to the top of this first peek, I was a soaked jungle rat.  But we all rallied and powered on in the rain, we were too far to turn back at that point.  We made it to our destination just about the time the rain let up and were able to have lunch and enjoy the beautiful view of Mbingo.  On the way down from the peek, I came two feet from stepping on a snake, which in the last day has become quite the buzz around the hospital.  Apparently one of the most venomous around and most of the people haven’t even ever seen one of this kind.  If you know me at all and know my snake phobia, you would understand the anxiety that this has brought me.  It’ll take a lot of convincing to get me to venture into the jungle again any time soon.  But even with all the excitement, it was all worth it to see the view from the mountain top, God’s beauty at its finest. 

Some of the houses on the path along our walk.  Electricity in the house, but no running water inside.  There is an outhouse, a cook/smoke house where they cook, and an outside communal faucet.

Ran into a soccer game up in the hills, barefoot in the mud, between corn fields.

 We returned home to find Grace working on her “house plans”.  She has spent hours drawing out our house here and rearranging the furniture to make it just perfect for when she moves here permanently.  She even included a guest room…” for when you and dad come to visit”!  I guess I can say that homesickness isn’t hitting her as hard as it did last time we were here.  At least she is keeping herself entertained.

Besides our adventures, I have so many pictures and stories that I still want to share with you all.  Stories about all the things that make living life here hard, that are the things that we take for granted.  And about all the wonderful people that we have met.  There is just not enough internet here to do it.  It saddens me that the people here have such a hard life.  At the same time, it saddens and embarrasses me to think about the state of affairs back home.  Let me just say about home…no one should complain about anything…not work, or school, or healthcare, or ailments, or about what they don’t have, or how they are oppressed, or how life isn’t fair.  What we consider to be not fair is nothing compared to the way the people here have to live every day.  I was thinking yesterday about sweet Justine, who I met on our first visit.  Sitting in her dirt floor mud hut, watching the hospital counselor perform a rapid HIV test on her two babies.  It has been experiences like these that have changed me and my perception of life and people.  It has humbled me and has made me more and less tolerant all at the same time.  I can’t wait to see what this week has to bring.  Please continue to pray for healing and strength for the people here that B is operating on.  God is in this place, I know his people here are guarded by his mighty hands.  And every outing we take and every encounter we have opens our eyes to the glory and beauty around us, right here in the heart of Cameroon.