Shania Twain

Every night before I go to sleep, and again somewhere between six and 7am I get a taste of home with Shania Twain's "You're still the one". No this song is not on my ipod despite loving country music. Instead it is piped in through my open window from the house next door. Sometimes I think the song or the cd is on repeat. Sara and I sang along the first few times we heard it, but now it just gets stuck in my head.

Sunday I did not hear Shania in the morning since we woke up to no power and the water went out shortly after we woke up too. We didn't think much of it since the power usually comes back on within 20 minutes but we were wrong this time. We had the best of intentions Sunday to get up and do our laundry (and by this I mean I was going to be using 1 bucket with soap and another to rinse, scrubbing, wringing out and hanging on the line: Mom you would be proud!) and then do some work and research to prepare for our first official week of placement here at SAJOCAH and BCCSDR. But without water and power it makes those plans kind of impossible! Instead we walked to our nearby market to pick up some veggies and a few other things, and then went to a foundation stone blessing for a new building being built for the Special Needs Entrepreneurial Group (SNEG). It was a very cool experience. There was a lot of singing and a lot of prayer. We were somewhat prepared for this as Cameroon is very religious (predominantly Christian), but I still don't think I expected as much incorporation of religion as there was. Looking back it really shouldn't have surprised me that much seeing as the foundation stone was being blessed by the funders of the building: A Reverend Father and Arch Deacon from Italy. All in all though it was a great event to be a part of and the pride SNEG members had in their organization and new building was so evident on all of their faces you couldn't help but be excited too. One thing Sara and I do have to get used to though is attending events such as this and being asked to stand up, introduce ourselves and say a few words. The event has nothing to do with me and I am just there to help them celebrate and I don't feel like it is my place to stand up and address the group. This is their event, about them and their new building that will allow them to run workshops and be an example in the community of a fully accessible building. We had talked about this with Emma earlier in orientation week about how we may often be given a seat of honour (for instance if we attend a wedding), be served refreshments first at an event or be asked to say a few words. I don't know I can fully explain it in words but it is just so foreign to me. The seats of honour at a wedding are reserved for the bride and groom, not a foreign guest who doesn't know anyone there, I by no means need to be served first and I don't like the spotlight on me at an event celebrating others accomplishments or day: it is their moment to shine. Emma did tell us though that people will completely understand if we were to ask to sit elsewhere or decline to say anything (although the latter I still feel is expected of us).

The view of Bamenda from upstation

The main reason for all of this as many may have guessed: we look extremely different than everyone else at these events as we are often reminded as we walk down the street and children yell out (one time an entire school bus) "whiteman, whiteman,whiteman". Usually they just want you to smile and wave at them but today while working at SAJOCAH one of the kids kept saying it every time he wanted me to help with something or just to simply get my attention. The first time he said it I told him that was not my name, that my name was Kim. He said it again, so I repeated it again and eventually he started calling me by my name so I was happy.

The last two days Sara and I have spent at SAJOCAH. Yesterday was overwhelming as we were introduced to a bunch of the children that we may end of working with. I was taken aback by how many people were at the centre and at how hard everyone was working on their therapy sessions. The children that we may be working with have CP and potentially some infants with Erb's Palsy (a brachial plexus injury from birth that often fully recovers with therapy and time: or so I have learnt through research yesterday evening). SAJOCAH also treats adults and children with stroke, as well as orthopedic issues such as bone deformities. It has been interesting taking it all in these past couple of days. There are definitely some different ways of doing things compared to at home and that is exactly the way to describe them; just different and I am curious to learn more about these differences as time goes on. More to come on SAJOCAH as our time there continues.

A pic of my room which I know you have all been dying to see ;)

Sara and I cooked our second home made meal tonight: rice with sauteed vegetables (did I mention that I am basically a vegetarian here? Aside from the fish which I love I have not had any beef or chicken basically due to being picky and I did try one bite and just couldn't do it. I may try some chicken eventually but just not ready to yet). It was really good and were quite impressed with ourselves so far I would say!

Sidenote: I am sure you will be sad to hear that Sara and I still have not done the laundry.........but we did have it sent out to have done today. But we are looking forward to trying to do our own laundry one weekend when the water is running! (and yes we will capture this moment on film!).