Shanksteps #24 and 25

ShankSteps #24
The Runaway Christmas Present

Our first Christmas in Cameroon…Wow… Sure is hot
for Christmas!
Dad and I went out to cut down a Christmas tree a
few days ago. It was not only a small tree, but also
the wrong kind! But with decorations made from candy
rappers it looked just fine! (Our stash of American
candy was diminished incredibly that day. We couldn’t
fit the candy rappers in our plastic Zip-lock bag!)
To make it seem even more like Christmas, we cut
out paper snowflakes and taped them around the living
room.
Next we got our presents for each other and rapped
them. In toilet paper.
Then Mom sewed stockings for us out of blue
hospital pants.
Well, everything’s ready! Except my parents have
some tricks up their sleeves. You see, on Christmas
day my parents brought me to a mans house to pick up
my Christmas present. Only the man wasn’t there. He
was of at a party.
Great. I have no idea what’s going on. I hear my
dad speaking in French. But when I listen I pick up a
few words before Mom covers my ears. I hear the him
say, “She needs to chose… he said we could get it
here… Before 9:00”
Then their ten million kids go scurrying and
climbing their wall shouting, “There it is, there it
is!”
Unable to find “it”, we headed home to open
presents.
What a nice Christmas! I got an African harp, an
African dress, candy (yum), a wrap (a piece of cloth
you wear as a skirt), and a box my grandmother sent us
filed with paints and stuff that smells good you put
on your hands-very handy when your sitting by an extra
stinky person in church. Just rest your head on your
hands and try to smell your hand lotion instead of the
person. I also got some fake, purple, sparkly
eyelashes about an inch and a half long. I think I’ll
put them on one of these days too!;)
We still hadn’t found the runaway Christmas
present.
That night Mom got sick with what I had. Vomiting,
diarrhea, pain, and fatigue. So Mom got it from me, I
got it from the pediatric word, and the pediatric word
got it from one little kid, who probably got it from
this kid, who got it from that kid and so on…
The day after Christmas a nurse came and got me and
Dad to come to his house. When we got there his cute
little puppy greeted us and then went off to chew up
somebody’s shoe.
We sat down on the chairs outside and talked. His
son came out with two kittens the size of a kid’s
hand. My eyes got big and I squeaked as Dad explained
that I could pick one out.
One was gray with darker gray stripes and was a
boy. The other was white with gray and orange spots
and was a girl. What luck! I’ve always wanted a girl
cat! And I’ve always wanted a cat with spots! Now
I’ve got a spotted girl cat!
Of course I had to leave her with their mom. They
were only 3 days old!
I was the happiest girl!
Dad explained that they had tried to get a cat at
the other person’s house but could not fined it
because it moved.
The hardest thing was naming her. Patches was to
classic and Spot sounded like a dog. But wait! A
Christmas present! Either Holly or Noel! I picked
Holly.
So now the house won’t be so lonely like before.
And I won’t be alone all day! We’re all happy for a
pet! And that will make living here easier!
And so ends the story. Toodles! Sarah Shank

Shanksteps #25 Food edition

Imagine for a moment that it’s Halloween. . . without
costumes. . . an endless supply of kids. . . all
singing “trick or treat” at the top of their lungs. .
. at 4:45 in the morning. . . demanding candy and in
many cases money. . . and lasting all day long! This
is New Year’s Day in Cameroon. But instead of “trick
or treat” it was “Bon Annee” (or “Happy New Year”).
We were warned of this holiday a little bit, but not
nearly enough. For New Year’s Eve, we had all of the
hospital workers to our house for a party, singing,
prayer, vision for the hospital, and lots and lots of
food. People cleared out by about 1:00am, and by
4:45, there were children at the gate singing for
their candy. Fortunately the children are happy with
candy (although not planning ahead, we didn’t have
much). The adults however, bring flowers in exchange
for money. “Sounds endearing” you many say. I’m just
not usually in the habit of handing out money to
anyone who asks. Apparently though, this is
Cameroon’s “charity day”, an acceptable day to beg.
On this day the Mayor’s office gives out tons of
candy, money etc. as a way of giving to the community.
It’s still a bit daunting when you are one of only
two white families for 60 miles and therefore you wear
a huge dollar sign on your head. I hope next year I
will be better prepared for this crazy day.
Have you ever been put in jail for stealing lemons?
I was so excited to find that we have a lemon tree in
our yard. Lemons mean lemonade in the hot season.
However, this tree has turned out to be more trouble
than it’s worth. About a week ago some of the
neighborhood kids discovered this tree. Someone told
our guard that a girl had been stealing lemons from
the tree and when we went to look, the lemons had been
cleared up to about 5 or 6 feet from the ground. We
have a fence all the way around our house, and a
guard. She must have known that it wasn’t okay to
come and take lemons. Since that time we have had
lemon tree surveillance, and several days ago Pierre,
our guard, caught the girl inside our gate. We found
that she is the same girl that had stolen the lemons
last week. So, Greg and Pierre went with her to talk
to her family. Her father wasn’t home, but Greg made
an appointment to talk to the Blama (like a chief) of
her neighborhood. The Blama said that this girl and
her mother have both stolen from many people and are a
problem in their area. So, the Blama said that he
would put her in jail for a week, hopefully to teach
her (and others with the same idea) a lesson. She
disappeared before they could put her in jail.
Yesterday, we caught two more kids with the same
intentions. Will kids never learn??? Interestingly,
they were from the same neighborhood. So, Greg again
talked to the same Blama, who personally took the two
down to the police station. Don’t know yet how this
will turn out.
Well now a week later we finally just picked all the
rest of the lemons ourselves and are giving them to
our friends. So this has currently stopped the
thieving by getting rid of the stimulus. So we had
Pierre check into the other two boys that were
apprehended. Well they also didn’t end up with
anything happening to them. Surprise? No not really.
I really don’t think this is considered an offense
here. Just frustrating to the forigners who want to
let them ripen and use them.
{(Greg) So a few letters ago I told you about a kid
who had been in a knife fight and nearly lost… his
life. Well I’m glad to say that he has healed well
and is ready to go home soon. He is of the nomadic
tribe and they live way out. He herds the cattle most
of the time. He was the one with the diaphragm
laceration, huge liver laceration, stabs in the
shoulders down to the bone. I thank God that he has
his life today. It’s really amazing that he even made
it here in the first place.}
Etiquette tip for the day:
This FYI (For Your Information) is for all of you
non-vegetarians out there. I want you each to know
this in case you are ever presented with the
situation. The next time you sit down to eat chicken
with your friends or families, BEWARE: Only the men
are to eat the stomachs, and only the women are to eat
the chicken’s feet. UNLESS you happen to be a woman
who is about to leave your husband…then it’s okay for
you ladies to eat the stomach also. You never know
when this kind of information may come in handy.
(Greg) This information comes from the new years
party at our house for the hospital workers. The
hospital and us, put on a New Years party behind our
house. So many of the hospital workers wives prepared
the food, leading to the above revelation about food
ediquite. We had a good time. I gave my “directors”
goals for the new year and encouraged all the workers
to work together and strive for better service for our
patients and our God. We had a great fiest at the end
and brought in the new year together. My “normal” new
years is to bring it in at Summersville WV playing
walleyball with the church members. So this was quite
different but was nice anyway. No ball dropping, but
we did have some fireworks someone came up with. We
had a good time and all the workers were happy,
especially for the large quantity of food.
Well we just want to thank you all for your prayers
and support over this past year 2005. It has brought
about many changes in our family and your support
means all the world to us. Also your calls are very
appreciated. We have found out that www.viapin.com
has a calling card that can call us for about
15cents/min from the US if any of you are interested.
It costs us $1/min from here to the US. Thus on our
salary it’s not permissible. Thank you all for your
love and support. We so much appreciate it. Our love
to you, The Shanks

Shanks
BP 53
Koza, Extreme Nord
Cameroon, AFRICA