Now I've Had the Real African Experience

This week I got through my biggest fear in coming to Africa. Getting sick.
Last Thursday we took an overnight train to Ngaoundéré, the capital of the Northern region of Cameroon. The “first class” seats were similar to second class train cars on European rail lines, which I rode a lot during my year in Belgium. Needless to say, we did not sleep very much during our overnight trip.
We arrived in Ngaoundéré on Friday morning. We stayed in dorms at a boarding high school. We all played cards, relaxed, went to dinner, and went to bed early. The food in Ngaoundéré is quite different from where we have been. Mainly, they don’t really eat vegetables or fruits very frequently. Most meals are rice, pasta, couscous (not the same couscous we eat in the states, more like big sticky balls made from corn or rice base), or potatoes with an oily sauce. The sauces are very oily and made with tomatoes most frequently. There is very little meat or plantains or manioc or fish eaten here, unlike what we have seen more in the other regions we have been living. Also, many people in the group were happy because milk is huge here! It is either cow or goat milk and often the consistency of yogurt, served with sugar. The Peuls, the ethnic group of the region, are herders, originally nomadic, and so there is more access to cows or goats to milk. Milk otherwise has been powdered and added to hot water, so cold milk was a great change.
Saturday morning we had a class about Islam and Fulbe. The Fulbe (same group as Peul) speak Fulfulde which we had three crash courses in during our time in the North. The language courses turned out to be more helpful than we could have imagined because our host families spoke Fulfulde exclusively in the home. Most of the time the students sat quietly until addressed in French. We also learned about Islam because this Northern region is the vast majority Muslim. All of our host families were Mulslim. I was used to this because my Yaoundé family is Muslim as well, but this family was more conservative.
I’m getting ahead of myself though... so we were in class on Saturday and I began to feel like I had a fever. The director of the program, Christiane, knows all of us very well and noticed that I wasn’t doing well. She suggested I go to one of the guest houses to sleep. I slept all day and all day my fever rose to 102.5. By that evening, my teachers thought it would be best to go to the hospital. There are a lot of differences between American hospitals and the Cameroonian hospital where I went. It was about 6pm when we got to the hospital. You first have to buy a notebook for $1.20 in which the doctor writes your health status, test results, treatments etc. In between every place you go you walk outside. We walked to the Emergency room, which said it was closed until 7pm. My teacher I was with, Nathalie, thought this was ridiculous for an Emergency room to close and we went inside. I will be completely honest. As a white American girl, I was given priority treatment multiple times. This was nice at the time, but also embarrassing and made me feel very uncomfortable. That night they took a blood sample, told me to take Tylenol to break my fever, and come back the next day for the results. I went to my host family for the first time that night. I felt bad walking in sick as a dog and hardly my social self, but they were understanding.
The next morning, Sunday, my fever still refused to go down. We went back to the hospital and was originally told that I had Typhoid and prescribed medicine. I went back home and slept all day, but by 7pm I had such a high fever that I was under three blankets and still shivering. The staff of the program all came over to my house, and my host dad called his American nurse friend, Jackie over to the house to check out my condition. It was a blessing that he was friends with this lady because I could finally explain my condition in English. Jackie is a paid nurse at the hospital through the Lutheran church. She told me that I have the symptoms of Typhoid, but because I had the vaccine I will always test positive for the illness. She thought I had Malaria, the mosquito born disease, instead. Jackie sent out one of the staff members to put me on new medicine and told me to go to the hospital the next day.
The next day I still had a fever over 101. We went to the hospital and they said the final diagnosis would be Malaria and an Amoeba parasite. I felt really sick. The whole day I slept and tried to battle with my fever. By Tuesday I still had a fever between 99 and 100 all day, but my appetite was slowly coming back and I was starting to feel a little stronger. Wednesday was the first day without a fever! I knew the meds were helping now. By Friday and Saturday I was walking around town, exploring for the first time, and unfortunately I wasn’t left with a whole lot of time to explore.
So I may have had Typhoid, but definitely survived Malaria and an Amoeba. It is true that these are very serious diseases, but only if not treated. I am on preventative medication for Malaria, I sleep in a mosquito tent and I was given primary medical treatment quickly... imagine those who aren’t as fortunate as I. I am really blessed by my fortunate situation. Now, I am still very fatigued, a feeling that is supposed to last up to a week, but I am doing exponentially better! I survived Malaria! Now, as most of the Cameroonians have told me, I’ve had the true African experience!
My host family, like I said, was a Muslim family. This family was not as modern. My host father who owns his own tailoring shop, had his own sleeping and living quarters separate from the family and was brought his meals by his wife when he commanded them. My host mom married my host father when she was 16; I was told that he was much older, but I don’t know the age, I’d estimate 25 years her senior. I had six siblings, but grasping names was very difficult, especially because I wasn’t able to socialize much due to my sickness. My eldest brother was 19, the next 16, my sister was 12 and acted like a second mother, the next boy was 9, the next boy 3 and adorable but because he wasn’t in school yet he spoke no French and I spoke no Fulfulde so we had a sign language relationship. The last child was a baby girl who celebrated her 40 day birthday the day I arrived. On top of the 8 permanent dwellers in the house plus me, there were people coming in and out all the time. The neighborhood was kind of a big compound of friendly neighbors. Everyone left their main doors open and there was a lot of exchanging all throughout the day and night. I liked this. It made for a warm atmosphere.
My family had probably the lowest economic status that I have yet to live with. Thursday night my host mom told me that she didn’t have money to make the sauce for dinner, so we just ate plain white rice. All the portions were always small. I was fine with this because I didn’t have much of an appetite anyway, but I still wish I could’ve helped more. SIT gives each family a stipend to host us, but with a newborn and 5 other children that stipend could have been used up quickly. They were very generous to host me, especially because I wasn’t much fun. I was very appreciative of their hospitality.
Ngaoundéré was an interesting week. I unfortunately did not get to see a whole lot of the city, but the markets that I went to Saturday morning before we took the train back to Yaoundé were beautiful. Scarfs and beautiful silks and fabrics are sold everywhere. Besides that, my impression of the area consisted mostly of their hospitals and the inside of my bedroom. We did, however, get advised on our ISP (the Independent Study Project for the final month of the semester). I got in contact with one author who I would really like to research with. She seemed very willing to talk to me so I will see where that goes. I have decided to stay in Yaoundé for the four week project because most female authors are based here, the publishing companies are here, and there is a lot of information at the University here. I think the whole group is nervous and excited for this project!
Today we took the train back to Yaoundé. Accustomed to the process now, we all slept better than on the way to Ngaoundéré. We met Peace Corps volunteers on the way back. They are always really fun to talk to! This week we will be presenting our IDI findings (the project about the Church and traditional practices) and presenting our final ISP proposals. The program requires a very in depth final proposal which may be difficult, but in a week I’m sure we will appreciate the preparation!