#52 Shanksteps
Hey ya’ll, (missin WV tok)
Christmas is past and we missed our families and
friends. We did get “snow†the last few days. We
woke up to about 55 deg F(very cold here). All our
friends are in coats and hats, and I even saw a pair
of mittens given by a previous physician. The reason
it is so cold is that the winds are coming in off the
Sahara (Hamartan winds). So everything looks foggy
outside. Though it’s not fog it’s dust in the air.
We have a soccer field next to our house and we could
barely see the other side. A few days it only got up
to 70 deg F. We were cold also. I wore my one long
sleeved shirt over my scrubs for a couple weeks now.
Didn’t bring more “warm†cloths, and don’t really need
them anyway. But long sleeves help. I walked out on
our back porch yesterday and I left footprints. I
told Sarah to go out and make a “dust angelâ€. We had
a little chuckle. Everything in the house and outside
is covered with dust, great for a few electronics (as
if electricity variation wasn’t enough already).
We are starting to plan our next furlough. We hope
to be coming back to the US around mid June to
beginning of August. We will spend the majority of
our time at our parents’ houses and a little time out
west.
We had a very nice Christmas. It was simple but we
had wonderful food. Audrey was able to somehow make a
nearly normal (US) meal for us here. We hung our
homemade stockings and had a small artificial pine
tree. We made paper snowflakes to hang around the
house and paper chains too. Also had some paper
angels with a star on the tree. We made some
stockings for our house-help too. They thought it was
great. We are so blessed to have their help.
New Years was like last year, but this year we knew
what was coming. We had a year-end party with the
hospital workers outside with food and a large fire
for warmth. It lasted about 4 hours, and we brought
in the New Year with goat, chicken, salad, macaroni,
and Coke and Orange Fanta. About 4AM on the morning
of the 1st, we heard the all to familiar, “Bon Anne,
OhOhOh, Bon Anne!†Repeated over and over for 5-30
minutes till candy is given. Kind of like an annoying
Halloween without costumes. It continued until around
noon then took a few hours break, and then they were
back out to try to wrap up the day with a little more.
We were long out of candy by about 8AM after about
400 children had been by. I still can’t figure out
whether this is a French tradition or a Cameroon
tradition. Either way it is strange to my American
mentality. Now we are past that and we are enjoying
more peaceful days in general.
We are now in the process of helping the local
department of health vaccinate the local population
for polio and giving the children under 5 yrs vitamin
A. So we are keeping busy. We are looking forward to
my parents visiting us soon.
We hope your Christmas was very good with friends and
family near, and the Christ was not left only in His
manger, but made it into your hearts. We are so
thankful for His gift to us and hope you all realize
it too. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, Shanks