Africa Update #2

An update on life this week in Cameroon! It has definitely been an interesting one.

I want to start out by saying thank you so much to everybody for all of your prayers, emails, and comments. You have no idea how much it means to me to know that people actually care enough to read this thing. That you are interested in all that we are doing here makes me feel very loved and encouraged. So thank you! You are all so wonderful and I am very thankful for you.

To start off with, things at the hospital have been amazing! I feel like I have learned more in the past two weeks than I did in two years of school. A full fledged, hands on experience will do that to you, and Jeremiah and I are both so excited and thankful to be able to be a part of this. Medically, the most interesting cases we have seen have been an ileal conduit (turning part of a woman’s intestine into a new bladder), the removal of a massive goiter the size of a softball, a complicated gunshot would, and a BKA (below the knee amputation) due to gangrene.

I am really enjoying getting to know all the surgical residents and the OR staff (good thing, since we spend all day every day together). I have been especially encouraged by Dr Ndasi, the resident I am shadowing. On our rounds on Wednesday, I watched him share the gospel and lead a woman to the Lord who he had just recently performed a c-section on a few days before! It was so refreshing to see him so boldly share the love of Jesus with her, and what an encouragement it was to me to see him care for his patient not only in a medically, but spiritually as well.

Let me tell you a little bit about why I am completely falling in love with Cameroon more and more. The people here are amazing. In my mind that is where the heart of a country lies. Every morning we walk to the hospital in our scrubs and lab coats, and every single person we pass on the way into the OR says “good morning”, or “thank you doctor” as we pass. (I know they must be really confused when they see me, a white girl who looks 16 years old, wearing scrubs, and being a doctor wannabe :). We start off every single morning in the OR by devotions and singing with the whole OR staff, then work our way around the wards with the residents visiting patients. The Cameroonians have this word they use, “Ashiah”, which does not translate into the English language. Its significance is huge. When we first came into the country we were told this is the single most important word we should learn in the alternative to English they speak here, Pidgeon English. “Ashiah” has several meanings. It means: I am sorry for you, I have compassion for you, I wish you well, I care for you. As you can imagine, this word is often spoken along the wards of the hospital, and has personally come to me a lot to me.

I cant tell you what a joy it has been to get to know some of the local people. Last Sunday, we attended a “Singspiration” at the church, which was basically the Africa version of a praise and worship service. Picture extremely colorful African dresses, loud singing, dancing, genuine praising the Lord, and dozens of cute African babies. This two hour service put any American worship service I have ever attended to shame. The joy of the Lord was overwhelming, filling the entire place. I was just in awe of the enthusiasm and heartfelt worship of these people, and was just loving it even more since I had a cute little guy on my lap the whole time named Junior. As you can imagine, I was in pure heaven.

Now, those of you who know me might be in shock when I let you know this, but I have been running every day since being here in Africa. (Im not kidding) Jeremiah convinced me to come running with him, and although I protested A LOT at first, I have actually come to really enjoy it. Dr Snell runs with us now, we run up and down the mountainside we live on, and through a village where Jeremiah has started playing soccer with some of the local guys (they really love seeing his “white man belly” Hahaha). I guess we are really entertaining to everybody around here, because every time we run, all the people on the road and in the villages run out of their houses to yell “hey white man is making sports!” to us, and then die laughing. I mean, I guess white people running are really funny…… ??? :)

On a more serious note, I want to ask you all to be praying for our situation here in Cameroon in light of the recent conflict going on in the country. There is now a travel warning in effect to all US citizens put in effect by the US Embassy to those in the country. I am copying and pasting a portion from Jeremiah’s update letter, because I think he explains the situation very well:

The week has also been a bit stressful as a result of Cameroon's recent civil unrest (which I'm sure most of you know about by this time). About a week ago, taxi drivers nationwide went on strike in opposition to rising fuel prices. This apparently was just the catalyst for uprisings over a number of other problems, including political controversy, food prices, and police injustice. Although we are quite safe in our small mountain community, the situation is quite severe in the larger cities and is affecting the nation as whole. Travel warnings have been issued and the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy here have requested that American citizens leave the country as soon as possible. However, the roads are blocked and closed and we are over nine hours from the airport, so travel is not much of an option at this point. Originally I was to depart by myself in about nine days, but we are now planning to travel as a group if at all possible. We must also consider that the hospital here needs Dr. Snell to be present as he is filling in for a surgeon who will not return until late March. Please be in prayer for our team as we will be making travel decisions sometime next week. Also pray for the country and people of Cameroon and that this situation will be resolved quickly. If you would like to read more, you can google "Cameroon news" or look at the following State Department website: http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_4165.html

Please keep us in your prayers as we are experiencing some of the effects of what is happening in the country (ill give you more details later). None of us want to leave, yet we are trying to make smart decisions regarding our safety. Please also pray for the people of Cameroon, I know how much all of them are worried about the effects of these events on their country.
Sorry this was so long, and again, thank you so much for caring to read, and keeping us in your prayers. I will try to update this more often as I get the chance. If you want to email me (and please do because it makes me day), the email I am using is rachelteat@gmail.com. Email Jeremiah also (so he doesn’t feel left out...hehe) at jeremiahmatson@gmail.com.

Thank you so much again, I love you all!
I love Africa!
Rachel

PS: the person in the picture of the surgery with Dr Salia is me! Weird huh??