Initial Observations

At St. Elizabeth Catholic General Hospital ICU and cardiac ward, one of the night nurses leads the morning prayer and reads the scripture at one of the patient's bedside every day during morning rounds.  At the hospital chapel there is morning prayer every day at 6:45a.m. and many employees attend before working.   There is a mass celebrated by the hospital chaplain at 6:30a.m. twice a week.

A guardian or a family member is allowed by the administration to stay with the patient the whole time the patient is hospitalized.  They are given the facility to wash their clothes and cook their food too if they like, or they buy cooked food from our canteen. The guardians/family members  help a lot in taking care of the patients.

We follow team nursing and we have a good teamwork. Employees normally work 6 days a week and nurses go on shift rotation.  Our patients in ICU are only post cardiac surgery patients and when there are no patients we work in the cardiac ward. Two days is the routine stay of a patient in ICU.

Arrival in Cameroon

Upon my arrival in Douala, Cameroon, I witnessed so many things, but most of all, what welcomed me was the warm hospitality of those I met. The main group consisted of Franciscan nuns and other religious orders. From Douala, three of us lay missionaries had a day trip to our assigned site, and mine was in Shisong, Cameroon. 

I have to admit that the road was not like LA, but it was worth traveling. I saw plantations of bananas, pineapples, mangoes, corn, and many other produce that stand along the road. There were green beans, carrots, okra, mangosteen, rambutan, etc. They have rich natural resources. When we stopped by one of the stands, the vendor peeled a pineapple right away and handed a slice of it to each of us, which was so sweet and juicy.

We were also met by the missionary families, the Hornes and the Newburns, with such kind hospitality and that was a blessing that I witnessed. I arrived in Shisong with Sr. Renata and their driver who pulled our car right in front of the hospital house they assigned to me. Almost everyone who saw me arrive greeted me, "You are welcome, and we will take care of you." Their reaction was so memorable.

St. Elisabeth Catholic Hospital is pretty big and their cardiac care center is truly state-of-the-art. It is managed by the Franciscan sisters, and the site is very clean and organized. I saw green surroundings, and different livestock, such as cows, goats, chicken, and turkey. The common modes of transportation are taxis and motorbikes. I heard different people speak English, French, Pidgin, and their dialect Lamnso.

We toured different departments in the hospital compound, including their shops for carpentry, laundry, engineering, housekeeping, sewing, cooking, and others that make the hospital function independently. I also visited  the oxygen, vacuum and compressed air control section, and other biomed equipment in the cardiac care center.

They have three chapels in the hospital property and a parish church about 50 feet away. People ordinarily greet each other anytime of the day.

How would you like to join me here in Cameroon?

Ready To Go

In a week, I will be leaving for Africa. I've lived in California for the last 29 years. This has been my home. This is the place that I know and yet, very soon, I will leave home to do something that I've dreamed of doing, to serve in Africa as a lay missionary.

I'm very excited for what lies ahead. I did all the research that I could do, studied what I was asked to study, raised the funds I needed to raise. And pretty soon, I should be done with my packing too. To say that I am only excited is an understatement though. My family has been concerned about the situation in Africa, my safety, and just the thought that I'll be in another continent unfamiliar to them and in many ways still, to me.

But I'm not afraid. In the email exchanges that I had with the people I will be with there, I know I will be in good hands. I think we all have this image of Africa in our heads because of what we see on TV or online but based on their stories, I have nothing to fear. Besides, that's the thing about life. You're never really sure about what's going to happen, but that's not an excuse to live in fear.

I thank God for the calling and my family for their full support and last but not least for my friends and co-parishioners at St. Francis De Sales for their prayers and generosity.

And so I'm going to this one big adventure.