July 1, 2011

Well, this morning I have a bit of time to write. Milan and I are going to Bamenda today to do a little shopping for some household items (tea, Maggie-a soy sauce, a lighter for the stove because the matches are as Milan would say, a “fail” here).  I’ve gone through a full box trying to lite the propane stove to heat water for tea.  Milan seems to have better luck, but we still go through a good 15 matches before a lite happens, if at all.  And of course, wouldn’t you know, that since I haven’t really cooked in years (with school, work, and Milan), I would come to Njinikom, in Cameroon, Africa and have to try to conjure up a meal.  There are 2 ladies that prepare a wonderful dinner for us 6 days a week, but breakfast and lunch is up to me. So, for someone who doesn’t cook in the first place, this has been a bit of a challenge. I have managed to make toast over the skillet and scrambled eggs or omelets with chopped yellow/red pepper, onions, salt, and pepper. Milan seems to like it, and loves the toast. I just realized that I might be able to conjure up french-toast (please don’t laugh for you advanced chefs). We drink tea a good bit and lunch is usually Tartina (hazelnuts mixed with chocolate-Nutella) on bread for Milan and I usually have a banana and protein bar.  

Milan is still doing okay in the orphanage. It is sometimes tough for him to stay motivated, but I try to give him some direction.  He continues to teach Terrence reading and math and each day tells me who he has fed, how they ate, and who he played with. Each little one has some sort of personality quirk that he shares with us. And when I come there after clinic, I usually try to play a short game of hacksacking the soccer ball with him and the older ones. I only get a max of 3 hits, 2 knees and a foot while the other boys and Milan keep it up for 6+ hits using their head, chest, foot behind their back, knees, etc. Yes, I am a hacksacking soccerball fail.
 
Our kitchen sink broke at the beginning of this week (today is Friday, July 1st). Milan was washing his dish and must have turned up the pressure too high, then I hear this “Mooooom!” from the other side of the house and run to the kitchen and see water squirting straight out at him and all of the kitchen.  We couldn’t figure out how to shut the water off, and couldn’t see a ring to turn or something, so SOMEHOW, we got the knob back on and turned it tight to the left and it seemed to stay, although it had a leak, it was better than spurting across the kitchen. Now it just went down the sink.  So this has made washing dishes a little complex.  There is a big bowl in the sink that catches the leaking water, so this is where I wash the dishes.  Then I take the tea kettle to the sink in the bathroom and bring water back to heat on the stove to boil and wash/rinse the dishes.  It’s just a little system that we’ve developed… they are supposed to get a part to fix it in Bamenda, but things around here get fixed when they get fixed. Transportation and money is not plentiful and so patience is a virtue.
 

I am unsure of the peoples’ mentality towards HIV.  People take their medications when they can or want to. Essentially they are hurting themselves with this method because once you stop taking the medications more than once, your body will develop a resistance to the meds and it won’t work to reduce the viral load. Some of these people go months at a time without taking their medications. Then they start to develop a rash, or get a cough, perhaps because their CD4 is so low (we’ve seen as low as 6 here), and it is then that they come for medications. This is very frustrating because the only thing left in their future is AIDS… there are no 2nd or 3rd medications to try here.  Now, the medication is FREE, but every 6 months, you have to have lab values drawn to check and see how the medication is working and whether it is hurting your liver. These lab values cost 15,000 francs, which is the equivalent of $30.  Now this is a large sum for them, but they are not required to get the lab values, but this is the reason they sometimes give for why they couldn’t pick up their medications.  It is very frustrating because you see the epidemic and how many default, and we’re not sure why. They see what HIV can do to someone once it becomes AIDS… why wouldn’t they want to avoid that?
 
There is a group here from England that are part of an organization called Project Hope.  Their purpose is to help educate about HIV/AIDS, prevention, treatment, and decreasing the stigma.  We met a woman here, Rosie, who has come to help establish some organization within the project houses around Njinikom.  Another lady from Uganda, Bet, is the roommate of Rosie, and she works with the children who have HIV.  Her job is difficult because she encounters young children who are not receiving their medications. She is hoping to start a youth club for them so that they many have a place to share and receive support.  We are hoping to attend one of these group sessions.
 
(evening of July 1st, 2011)
Well we returned from Bamenda and brought a few groceries, one of which were something similar to Ramen Noodle Soup. Milan was happy!  We also brought a coconut and snacked on that. I had never eaten one before and you pretty much eat the whole thing. Bamenda is a busy town. Lots of traffic and outdoor markets, like a continuous fleamarket. There are many taxis here as well, both car taxis (they’re all yellow) and motorcycle taxis. The terrible thing about motorcycle taxis is that there are very few that wear helmets and there are many babies and children on them. These have lead to some very horrible accidents.  Another thing that I learned is that there is no inspection required of vehicles. Some businesses or missions may require inspections, but for the vast majority, there is no requirement. So for some, failing brakes may have only been discovered after the fact.  I’m not that great about keeping up with my inspection sticker, in fact, it’s usually a family member that sees it’s overdue and reminds me.  But there is a good reason for inspection. I have seen it firsthand.