Sensory Overload

Last week I saw a cobra.

I went out to the village with the community health care team. What an afternoon it was. Sometimes I think it is all the sensory overload that can be overwhelming. First stop Duala market because we needed some peppers and onions for the meal provided for the participants in the class. While waiting in the land rover, there were so many things to see. UN vehicles, taxis, taxis, taxis….So, after the buyers got back into the vehicle, I reach in to the bag to see what they got and pulled out……chicken feet. Wow!! Not expected. Then on our way to the village, watching from the back of the vehicle - A beautiful young pregnant woman hurrying through the crowds. What must it be like to be her? What does she see. I know as women, our dreams must be the same.

As we travelled along to the village we saw a large black stick in the road which, of course, started to move and crawl along the road. And it raised its flat little head. Cobra! The picture here is not the one we saw but - it looks like it! It was about 5 feet long.

Reaching the village, something is amiss. We find out that the baby our team took to the hospital on Tuesday died of malaria on Wednesday. Today is Thursday and she is already buried. It is her 4th child to die. They think all died of malaria. We got started late with the class, held in a small Catholic church which functions as a school in the mornings. We talked about nutrition and they coloured and played a game. It was a review day and they seem to know their stuff. Rice is the main thing they eat. And in talking to our crew, we learn that if they have not eaten rice they have not eaten that day. A crew member from Guinea told me that he might eat potatoes, carrots, and corn but if he had not had rice he would not think he had eaten. And I have also heard that if rice is hard to come by, it is considered a desperate situation, like a war time situation. And we know that right now rice is hard to buy. It is expensive everywhere. It poured while we were there. It rains so hard during this rainy season that if you are in a building with a zinc roof, which most public buildings are, it is so loud you cannot hear the person beside you talk. All teaching stops. It was like sheets of rain. On the way home, we stopped to see the young mother to offer our sympathies. Losing 4 children I cannot imagine. And from Malaria?? Next week the team begins handing out mosquito nets, training in the villages at the same time and then the teaching and hanging of the nets will be continued by the participants in the class. They will go from house to house in their villages and teach at the same time.

Here is my latest little song, sung to Happy Birthday…

Use your net every day.
Keep mosquitos away!
Use your net when you’re sleeping…
It is the best way!

Saturday, I went along to a meeting of various NGO’s with a friend. I was just observing but it was interesting to hear the difficulties of obtaining the tests to rapidly diagnose malaria. Malaria is a very big problem here. Right now I cannot imagine being back in North America and getting bitten by mosquitos and knowing you do not have to be concerned about malaria. What a privilege that is and I do not even think about when I am at home.

Anyway, it was five hours of sensory overload.

And again…..so much to think about!