04/02/2010 Arrival to N’gaoundéré and Day 1

We had finally made it to N’gaoundéré. As we exited the train and prayed our bags made it with us (they were thrown into some other car by the porter), we couldn’t help feeling excited and a bit nervous. With our appointed porter, we eventually found our luggage in the midst of a huge crowd. Carolyn Brown, wife of Dr. Jim Brown was waiting patiently to pick us up at the station with yet another medical student from the US! We all drove into town and made our first most important stop: lunch. We ate at this little restaurant called “The Coffee Shop” and tried out the local fish, Capitain, with some fried plantains (yum!) and the Cameroonian soda, Djino. Once we were sufficiently full, we made a quick trip to the grocery store, a bakery, and finally to the EELC Mission. We were met by Dr. Jim Brown, who is one of the most talented, hard-working, dedicated and kind-hearted people. Once we introduced ourselves and tried to figure out who we were “officially” meeting at the hospital we were assigned to our different mission houses and left to get settled in.


The houses here are pretty comfortable. Courtney has a two bedroom/one bath house that is right across the way from the house Kim and Magdalena (the two girls on the train) share. It has a kitchen, a dining table, a living area, hot water, and electricity. Brent lucked out with a three bedroom/one bath “mansion,” with a huge living area and a fire place (for all those cold nights…), a large kitchen and huge storage areas. Overall we are quite pleased with our living situations.

Once we got settled and cleaned up a bit, we visited with the other students since there was nothing going on at the hospital (as it was Good Friday). Two students, Marit and Lauren, are from the University of Minnesota. Marit is originally from Duluth and there is a strong connection between St Mary’s Hospital in Duluth and the Protestant Hospital here in N’gaoundéré. Through some contacts back home, she and Laura were able to come out here to work. Kim and Magdalena are from Danville, Virginia, where Dr. Brown used to practice. Through his connection, they were able to set up a rotation here. It was amazing to talk to these other students from across the country that ended up here, at the same place at the same time. The others had been here for 5-6 weeks and were very familiar with the area and with the hospital, which eased our nerves and helped get us oriented quicker.

The evening was spent having a nice pizza (made with fresh picked mushrooms!) at the Browns. We talked and ate and got to know one another. We felt extremely welcomed here and were excited for what the journey brings us next. Rounds at the hospital in the morning….

Courtney and Brent