Interestings

I thought it might be nice to share some non-medical facts and happenings from my time here in Cameroon.

Cameroon itself is called "Africa in Miniature" because it contains all the major climates seen in Africa. Douala, the city that the Africa Mercy is docked in, is in the Monsoon climate region. Supposedly the dry season is coming, but we have yet to see it! Lots of rain and thunder and lightning. The countryside is lush and green, with multiple plantations growing bananas, plantains, coffee, latex, palm nuts, and flowers.

Plantains

Palm Nuts harvested by a small farm

Flower Plantation

I've gotten to see two large waterfalls: Chutes d'Ekom, which was featured in a Tarzan film, and Chutes de la Lobe, which is an unusual water fall as it spills directly into the ocean.

Chutes d'Ekom

Chutes de la Lobe

The port we are docked in is on the Wouri River. So far, I've seen ships pass by from Panama, Singapore, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, Malta, and Liberia, among others. The river itself is very muddy and filled with little fishing boats and African Water Hyacinths, which are actually an invasive species from South America. Clumps of the plants free-float by the ship, attracting both birds and trash.

Ship from Malta (and the mighty little tug keeping it in the shipping lane)

Fishing Boat

African Water Hyacinths

Mt. Cameroon is the highest mountain in western Africa. It is an active volcano, having last erupted in 2012. Many Mercy Shippers have climbed the 13,435 foot (4040 meter) peak. Every evening at about 1800, the nightly migration of fruit bats can be seen flying across the Wouri River. If you listen very hard, you can hear them squeaking as they fly over.

The nightly fruit bat migration and Mt. Cameroon (photo credit: MS Communications team)

Cameroonians speak approximately 230 different languages, French and English being the predominant two. Pidgin English, Fulfude, Toupouri, and Arabic are four of the many other languages our patients speak. Mercy Ships hires local Cameroonians to translate, but due to such a high volume of languages (another reason Cameroon is "Africa in Miniature"), sometimes we don't have a translator for every language, so our patients have to translate for each other. For one lady, we had four people involved every time we had to talk with her. You can imagine the difficulties! Some important phrases and words I have learned:

Marche (Walk; French). All of our ladies know this phrase very well even if they don't speak French, as they have to Marche! Marche! three times a day.

A bouyaby (Have you pooped? Fulfude). Super important after surgery!

Jamna (Greeting; Fulfude)

As-tu mal? (Are you in pain? French)

Ca va? (It's okay? French)

I've tried several local foods while here. Ndole (a stew of bitter vegetable, fish, and ground nuts), eru (vegetable soup with beef skin), fufu (made from fermented cassava root), plantains, and cocoyam (tropical root).

We sampled some local food on the ship at one of our cultural training sessions

N'dole, plantains, and cocoyam

Eru and Fufu

A local restaurant run out of a woman's home (this is where I ate the Eru and Fufu)

There are markets located all around the city, selling such things as food, cloth, art, kleenex, and hubcaps, among a multitude of other things. The fabric chandlers and craft markets have been some of my frequent stops.

Dress the ship tailor made for me

Fabrics and clothes at the Craft Market

About the ship

The Africa Mercy itself started out life as the Ingrid Dronning, a rail ferry from Denmark. Queen Ingrid of Denmark used to travel on the ship so her suite has now become a conference room, appropriately named the Queen's Lounge. The third deck of the ship which used to hold the rail cars is now the hospital, which contains the OR, five wards, and the eye clinic. The third deck also has crew rooms, so I literally live 2 feet from the hospital. It's a very short commute! The ship also has a pool, library, Starbucks cafe, shop, dining room, crew galley, laundry, internet cafe, hair salon, and crew accommodations for about 400 people!

The Africa Mercy (photo credit: MS Communications Team)

Library

Henry, one of the happy little vacuum cleaners, paying our room a visit