Saturday, January 8

What a bizarre day! Nothing turns out as we think it will. I do remember that from last time, but it does get frustrating. When we went to bed last night I thought we’d be leaving about 11:00 a.m. to go to Mangamba. We couldn’t go earlier because there was a funeral in the village, and there was no point in having any kind of a clinic until the funeral was over. Next thing I knew, we wouldn’t be leaving until 2 or so. We left about 3:30. There were just a lot of logistical delays. When we arrived out at Mangamba, at about 5:30, the decision was made to go see the hospital in Mbanga. I thought it was a little late to do that, but at least the students would have been able to do something that day. On the way we took a detour to Kotto Up to try to track down Monday’s translator. Ruth couldn't find him. When we got to the hospital, it was getting dark. Unfortunately, then, no one was at the hospital with the authority to give the students a tour. We are learning that communications are very difficult. Sometimes you don't have a phone number so you can't call (no phone book) or you call on a cell phone and it isn't working at the moment.

So we drove the half-hour back to Mangamba.  On the way Ruth bought some kerosene from a roadside vendor for the lanterns at Mangamba -- in case the electricity goes off. We didn’t get back to Mangamba until nearly 9. Then there was dinner and gathering up the serving dishes that needed to come back to Douala. We got home about 11.  It was all pretty frustrating. We see first hand how hard it is to get things done here. It doesn’t pay to get heavily invested in what we think might happen because things always change.