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| Gas stove maintenance in Cameroon. Step 1: Carry old/empty canister (~30-35lbs) down to provision store. |
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| Step 2: Have provision store lady pick replacement. Full canisters are ~50-60lbs. Step 3: Get Security guard to help me carry it up the steps to our house. |
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| Step 4: attach to stove and cook! |
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| "Tabopi," one of our Cameroon cats. She loves fish, mice, rats, crickets, and avocados. |
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| Tabopi and 'Widget" are good friends. |
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| Sometimes our cats don't eat the entire animal. This small creature was found under our bed after a few days when it began to smell... |
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| Scolastica "Scola" is a mental health nurse. She and her husband are often seen "around town" in their matching outfits looking too-cute. (Since this picture, they have acquired helmets and now appear both cute and safe). |
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| New Year's Dinner with Dr. Ben Malikidogo, our surgeon, whose "Carving" skills extend to fruit sculptures! |
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| Looking for reception.... |
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| Sometimes empty chairs, benches, and paint-peeling walls appear very beautiful to me... |
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| This little guy asked to pose for a picture. |
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| The local lingerie store. |
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| Our neighbor, Dr. Johnson, and his family had us over for dinner and served us this deLICious fish - looked like a piranna to us! |
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| New Year's celebration party selfie |
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| Some of our co-workers came over for a small party. |
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| Don't all hospitals have roosters wandering around outside the wards? |
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| "Pap," a mixture of flour and water, is often part of our inpatient's "soft diet." We try to encourage more protein... |
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| What's wrong with this picture? (hint - large right temporal lobe tumor) Brain tumor! this woman is only 53yo and her only symptoms were headache, fatigue, and occasional vomiting. |
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| Dr. Klass, visitnig Neurosurgeon from Germany, reviews the patient-with-the-brain-tumor's CT scans along with Dr. Ben Malikidogo, Surgeon from DRC (Democratic Republic of Congo) trained in Cameroon. They think the tumor is resectable and prognosis will be good! |
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| Dr. Klass, German Neurosurgeon, takes out that brain tumor! |
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| The guy wearing the "Loops" (high magnification operating glasses) is Dr. Ben Malikidogo, our awesome surgeon from the DRC. |
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| Post-op vist on surgical ward. Margaret is doing even better than we expected! |
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| Mary's nurse friend insisted on her striking this pose so she could "snap" her (take her picture). |
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| Local cooking oil. |
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| Cali-lilies have been my favorite flower for a long time. I love that they grow right outside my kitchen window here! |
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| "House for rent - two rooms" sign. |
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| Turkey for sale! (40,000cfa = $75-80) |
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| Outside the surgical theatre (operating room), a rare peaceful moment with empty stretchers. |
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| "Jimmy's Petrol Station" |
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| Anyone need a hair-cut? (Anyone who's traveled to West Africa knows that creative, quirky, and random-seeming names/signs are common). |
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| Dry season in Cameroon brings orange-brown dust EVERYWHERE on EVERYTHING. |
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| This boy has Autism. He designed and built this "drum set" himself. He has such an amazing sense of rhythm and style. |
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| His mother likes to sing for him while he keeps the beat. |
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| Drums in chapel. Love the actual stick mallet. |
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| Herbert is a man with schizophrenia. His family is not involved in his life but he improved so much with treatment that our hospital hired him. |
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| Did we mention we have a washing machine? this saves us so much time from hand-washing (or hiring someone to handwash) our clothes. We do still dry them on clothes-lines. |
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| Dr. Allen Sawyer, OB/Gyn from Arizona, teaches bedside rounds. This patient had a cord prolapse during delivery along with a surprise twin that had already died in the uterus. The first twin survived and is reportedly doing well. |
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| Dr. Allen, Dr. Shanna, and us head to "hilltop/MTN tower" after work. Check out the view! |
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| A local tailer jazzes up one of Mary's old sweat-shirts with some West-African flair. |
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| Dry season "Hamartan" in Cameroon. Dust everywhere. |
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| Anya Nadege is an experienced mental health nurse and the head of the Cameroon Baptist Convention's mental health department. She and Mary have been traveling to health centers to "supervise" (check up on quality of care) trainees from last year's trainings. |
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| Nadege examines a "patient registry" for diagnoses and treatments to make sure they match/are reasonable. |
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| "Girl and tree." |
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| Patient "waiting room" at rural health center |
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| Sink outside? And why not! |
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| View from rural health center. |
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| A clothesline and building at a rural health center |
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| Ran into this guy and his mother at a health center |
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| Generational differences are in every culture! |
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| Apparently "white ants" build these structures. |
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| Some seem to be "townhouses!" |
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| Mind your Buissness! (taxi slogan fun) |
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| Kumbo/Banso town opened a tiny gym! Half the equipment turns on, but it's been a nice self-care option 1-2x/week for Mary. |
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| The Spangler family teaches us how to make fire-pit pizza. Precious cheese and pepperoni. |
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| 12 year old boy with a bad pneumonia. (It looks a bit like "bat wings.") |
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| Bryan and Mary enjoy morning tea/coffee (Mary prefers the ceramic mugs, Bryan the plastic - yes, we found matching ones) |
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| While visiting a health center for supervision, we ran into this "fisherwoman" carrying her fishing basket on her head. |
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