2 weeks in! - Blogabond

wow. so what should i write about? the shortage of supplies in the hospitals and clinics? the professionals i find: intelligent, hard working, graduates with good degrees, while also jobless, or having a job and being cheated their pay? supposedly some nurses pay out of their own pocket to provide a patient with unaffordable care. while others have experienced nurses who won't care for them until they are 'tipped.' one blood pressure cuff shared by different departments (including the emergency room). lack of alcohol and cotton! three women who've given birth share one room with eachother and the respective newborns. scales that are broken (i know i haven't gained 25 pounds in 2 weeks!!!). the ambulance is more often used to carry the dead to their barrial site than the injured to the hospital. sometimes medications are unavailable. ...i'm not sure where there's corruption, someone sitting and eating the funds themself or perhaps the government really can't afford financing it's hospitals adequately. ...it's really unfathomable facing the difficulties that the population here have lived with all their lives. jobs are scarce, even with great degrees. preference is pushed to the wayside while necessity or desperation takes over. i'm humbled, hey? i'm embarrassed at times. embarrassed to see such deprivation when the world i know has such an excess. embarrassed that so often we look at inequality and poverty and call it culture.
i feel very blessed.
one thing is sure, these people...they are rich with family and friends. the people i've met are kind, generous, and hard hard workers. i've really been taken care of well! :)

hopefully more soon! love you all...

written by

theresa on October 31, 2009 from Douala, Cameroon

from the travel blog: to africa

tagged Healthcare, Corruption and Shortabg

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