Week 9: Betrayal…and statistics!

Week 9: Betrayal…and statistics!

Week 9 started for me innocently enough. A less than notable weekend was marked only by the early return of Martiel from his aunt’s with a young cousin in tow. They visited with me briefly on Sunday, and we made plans to spend Monday together.

Monday morning we all met up together and set off to take a tour of Dschang’s health services, including a half dozen clinics and the district health center. My wingmen ran out of steam at our second stop (the cousin being 3 years old it was understandable), but I continued on through the bulk of the afternoon, arranging to meet with the chief district health officer and collecting statistics from the bulk of the clinics where available. Later that evening I got together for a drink with Alice, and met her fellow countryman Antoine, who works in a local government development capacity with the mayor’s office. He has promised to help me make some introductions to the municipal water works council.

Tuesday morning I discovered that Martiel had stolen half of my money while I was in the bathroom, and directly hightailed it to his Aunt’s house in the neighboring village of Kekem. Ouch. I took my suspicions to the Nana’s and set out in hot pursuit with Valerie at my side. At the end of the day, we returned with the culprit in hand, minus about half of the purloined funds. To make matters worse, it would seem that Martiel is not the only individual I’ve welcomed into my house that has stolen from me, as there still appears to by still about 100 bucks missing from my coffers, minus what Martiel took. I’ve got my suspicions, but there’s not much I can do about it, the situation is unfortunate to say the least.

Though I missed my Tuesday meeting with the district chief, I made up for the wasted day by heading to the Catholic hospital on Wednesday to meet with Alice and examine the records on waterborne disease. The hospital is managed by a group of French nuns and is far and above the largest, best equipped and most professional health establishment here in Dschang. After meeting with the hospital director and lab supervisor I arranged to return the next day for a tour of the lab and a chance to go through the available records. In returning to town I profited from the opportunity to cut cross country and take in some of the beautiful countryside, further acquainting myself with the lay of the land around Dschang and stopping by the hospital Ad Lucem to arrange a rendez vous with the head doctor.

Walking through the field you come across these fetish bags that people put up around their fields to keep theives and bad spirits away

You also find these little huts that traditional western Cameroonian families use to house the exhumed skulls of their ancestors

Thursday I returned to the sisters’ hospital and spent the day pouring through the lab results and noting results associated with contaminated water supplies. By the end of the day I was finished with January 2008; one month down, how many to go we shall see. That evening I met with Alice for a drink before she took off for a holiday weekend. As Friday is a religious holiday, my chances of accomplishing any official business are limited, with civil (and religious) servants taking the day off.

As it was, I still managed to spend the day semi-productively, processesing some samples for the benefit of the benefit of a helpful grad student Richard in the geography department at the University of Dschang. Next week I should be wrapping up the preliminary epidemiological research and heading to Baffoussam to look into purchasing an incubator (the sisters' hospital has a great model and gave me some useful contacts).

One of Richard's samples, don't drink the water in Bamenda!