16 February 2011

The Difficult Days

Sometimes this country breaks my heart. I just walked over to the health center. There is an infant who is malnourished and severely dehydrated. Just seeing her sunken eyes and sad face was too much.

Then as I crossed the street to my house I watched two children carrying bottles searching for water. One was bow legged due to a vitamin deficiency. They trudged along slowly going up the hill from concession to concession, as water is out everywhere around.

I wish I was superwoman and I could just fix everything instantly. I want to make it so that kids or mothers do not have to walk kilometers just to get water at their houses. I want to end malnutrition, dehydration, and hunger. If only I could snap my fingers and bam, world peace, education for all, food for all, and happiness for all.

Some days are hard. You see all of this around you and you realize that maybe what you are doing is not making any difference.

10 February 2011

The end of vacation season

I have had almost two months of vacation. It was a nice and needed break. I already wrote about my trip to the North; my next trip was to the US!

I flew from Yaoundé to Paris and then from Paris to Miami. Ben met me in Miami and I visited ECHO with him. After that I met up with my parents and Mary in Fort Lauderdale and we went on a week-long cruise with ports of call in Curacao and Aruba. Mary found he perfect career: dancing entertainment on a cruise! It was nice to see Aruba again after so many years. Also on the cruise were a couple of my dad’s friends from college who had been living in Saudi Arabia for the past 20 years. It was interesting to hear their perspectives and how it was to raise a family abroad.

Once the cruise was over I flew to Philadelphia. I was able to see lots of family and friends here. It was so nice and comforting. I was also able to eat lots of good food. It is amazing how much I missed food sometimes, or maybe it’s the convenience of just being able to say I am hungry, what am I in the mood for?, ok let’s go get it! I then met up with Kevin and we went to the Art museum, saw the liberty bell, and did the tango!

The last part of my vacation was with my god parents. They took me to Atlantic city. We gamble a little (for me it was a very little) and had great food. We also walked to boardwalk and found some great dollar stores. I was able to find lots of good gifts for my friends in Cameroon.