Small grassroots volunteer organization committed to fight illiteracy and disease in Cameroon and eventually greater Africa.
Big banking in the UK received a lump of coal from jolly old Cambridge University this Christmas. The banking trade association in the UK wrote to Cambridge U asking them to censor an academic thesis of one of their students because it exposed one of their security flaws. Instead of jumping at fixing the flaw they simply try to cover it up. Click on the crest to check out the article:
Check out some cool pictures from a blizzard here near Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Approximately 14″ (35 cm) of snow and up to 70 mph (112 kph) which has currently shut down Logan airport and also has caused a snow day for many businesses in the area!
My Honda
Wind plastering the side of a neighboring building
Hi everyone, it’s been a while since I posted something. I’ve just caught wind of an NPR story about Dr. Bwelle! Dick Gordon of North Carolina Public Radio hosts a show called The Story and will be doing a piece on Dr. Georges Bwelle. It should air in Vermont on Monday 10/18/2010 at 2pm. Check it out here: http://thestory.org/
Updated 10/18 – The Story is out:
The Story producer Anita “Bekang” Woodley was in Cameroon this past summer, with a tape recorder, looking for her own ancestral village when she happened upon the doctor by chance. Today, we’ll hear Anita’s story of returning to her village, and Dr. Georges’ story of bringing health care to rural Africans.
Blog posts from my trip to Cameroon, where I was lucky enough to join with Dr. Georges, are here. By the way, he can always use your help. Here’s how donations that we raised before my trip in the spring 2010 were used.
Thanks for coming in!
Enjoy this great little tune made by some students at Middlebury College and a fledgling producer flown in from LA. Clever little commentary on what college kids do at school, the brotherhood of lacrosse, and then below is a classic small-town, politically correct report from the local news. Both are worth a chuckle.
Compelling newscast: (Embedding was disabled) on how the lacrosse players feelings were hurt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4CSRAnGyqY&feature=related
The Times also wrote a little ditty about it:
The annual whiffle ball tournament at Little Fenway and Little Wrigley in Essex, VT finished this weekend and no one really cares who won the tournament. They raised over $300,000 for the Travis Roy Foundation to fund spinal cord research as well as help the injured make their lives easier by buying them special wheelchairs and the like. I believe this was the ninth tournament since Pat O’Connor built the field in his backyard, and cumulatively they’ve already raised over $1 million. Impressive! Find out more about the tournament here.
If you’re a lady you’re probably already thinking, whoa there buster, take it easy. And if you’re a man, you’re probably thinking this is going to be interesting…
During my medical mission in Cameroon, I have learned a great deal about the cultural differences between the Western world and Africa. However, as they say, the more things change, the more they stay the same. It seems like they’re worlds away from an economic standpoint, but when it comes to inter-spousal relations, they’re right in our ballpark.
Exhibit A: our friend Philippe came to the hospital on our surgery day, when Dr. Georges and I typically don’t see patients. However, the back story of his plight was just too much for us not to stay a little late and fix him up.
I don’t know how to put this, but the World Cup is kind of a big deal. Even in the United States, perhaps as a result of hosting the 1994 World Cup, the popularity is rising, whereas in the rest of the world, it’s all-consuming.
This is Eto'o. More popular in Cameroon than God or Allah.
Cameroon is a huge soccer country. Where ever there is a flat rectangular area, or just a flat area for that matter, children or adults have erected makeshift goals. Young and old can be seen playing in the morning, at lunch, after school, and also when they’re supposed to be at work. If you want to come to Cameroon, but you’re worried about not knowing French, well, learn to play soccer instead. The most widely used language in the world is football (soccer).
Luxurious nets at the American School of Yaounde
Continue reading ‘The Latest African Epidemic: World Cup Fever’
Yes, I am serious, very much so. Although I can’t say I’ve used one yet, and it’s been over a week.
Didn't expect my first bidet to be in Africa...
Upon our return from Maboye, the rural village of the first medical mission, arranged for me to stay somewhere other than at his home. The switch certainly wasn’t per my request but I’m very happy at the new apartment. Dr. Bwelle traded me to Monsieur Andre Orban, who is a teacher at the American School of Yaounde and was also a member of the medical volunteer team dispatched to Maboye the first weekend. Mr. Orban is older Belgian man who speaks Flemish, French, and English all at a very high level. He’s spent time working for Exxon Mobil all across the world, Belgium, South Africa, Nigeria, and Cameroon. Now he’s retired and is teaching for pleasure, although at the end of the school year the teachers are as fed up with the lackadaisical students as the students are with attending class.
Every hearty Vermonter, or cold-weather inhabitant for that matter, knows the feeling: the desire to do nothing other than shower. After a frigid game of pond hockey or a long day on the windy slopes, the numbness in your extremities seeps through to your core. It’s a cold, wet sensation that only a hot shower or bath will remedy. That’s what driving back from the jungle felt like.
Not only did I not shower during the weekend in Maboye, but the only shower I had taken since I arrive on May 27th was pouring rainwater on me using a cup. Spending the weekend sweating through a set of scrubs and one set of street clothes, I was smelling like the damp sock you left in your high school gym locker after playing soccer in the rain, to put it politely. A shower was all I wanted.
However, Dr. Bwelle had other plans for us, he always does. One of Dr. Bwelle’s very close friends, a minister of commerce I believe, was hosting the celebration for his son’s baptism, a very big deal in Cameroon. We were all apparently invited. Had they known the state that we were in, perhaps they would have retracted the invitations. Never-the-less, Dr. Bwelle assured us that it was fine and I was later informed that part of the measure of your social status in Cameroon is how well you host a party for guests. Sure this is partly a measure of how much money you have, but I must say that the U.S. could use a little more social measurement by how well you share with those around you.
An example of Northern Cameroonian apparel
Friendly folk from California
The first week of the fundraising campaign flew by quickly. The grand total so far is $585 with major contributions from my friends, especially related via our extended hockey families. Not too shabby, but we need to pick up the pace in order to achieve the goal of $5000.
Our simple handout.
Continuing from the previous post on leafletting: for those that are just joining on this post and don’t feel like reading the previous one, my sister and I made leaflets and distributed them on cars at Easter eve church service at the Patrick Gym on the campus of UVM. The Essex Alliance Church management was rather displeased with our intentions but we decided to see whether our fellow Christians, who are already drowning in fundraising requests left and right, are able to recognize good charity from great charity. My sister and I decided to join the Easter Sunday services for which Essex Alliance Church rented UVM’s Patrick Gym, and for which they advertised like a toothpaste company. We made some fliers to handout, I got me a clean shaven face, and went begging fundraising.
