So the old adage goes.
I must say that there is profound truth in this wise old proverb. There
has been nothing more infuriating than the seemingly cavalier, no-care,
slow-paced attitude of the Cameroonian people, especially in situations where urgency is required. This is probably the biggest 'thorn in my side'
keeping me humble before the Lord, just like Apostle Paul wrote about (2
Corinthians 12). For doesn't the Lord require such patience (and
forgiveness) of us? Forgive as you have been forgiven (Ephesians 4:32 and
Ephesians 5:1-2). For if God is love and love is patient, kind, long-suffering
(1 John 4:7-8; 1 Corinthians 13:4-8), we too are to be 'Christians' which
literally means 'Christ-like or imitators,' to share in His attributes (the
highest of all being love).
I have never faced such hard
lessons in patience and long-suffering as dealing with the local people
here. I don't want my reflections of them to seem derogatory. I
simply want to relate, with candor, my firsthand impressions. Cameroonian people are so so terribly passive in most things or just slow to react. If
something is broken and a band-aid fix cannot be utilized to preserve
limp-along functionality, they will throw their hands in the air and say 'oh
well' and just make do without (instead of getting to the crux of the issue).
Stark difference from the west where we are much more 'let's fix this and
efficiently' minded. The contrast in attitudes has been almost
incomprehensible! The same goes for running out of medications in the pharmacy,
which happens almost every other day. (Their response being 'oh well' nor will
anyone try to figure out how to rectify the situation). Or running out of
supplies on the ward (Oh well!). Such practices would be considered
unacceptable system flaws back home.
But then I started to think
of the country I've been living in and experiencing, how tumultuous the
geo-political and economical landscape is for most, where the schools can just
close on a whim...and a year later are still closed, children are left at home
uneducated (and even then, children can only go if their family has means to
send them!), where the government can just kill people in the streets for being
critical of the governing party, or shut off the internet indefinitely, or the
phones, or electricity, where today food may be abundant and tomorrow not so
much. The people just float along and
persist.
This is a country where most
people can't even trust the the banking institutions, and so they keep what
little savings they accrue under the mattress or in a jar...where rats can eat
at the money edges. And get this! Here, if money becomes damaged in
the least, it becomes un-spendable, worthless! You laugh (or gasp) but
this happened to my cook who showed me hole-ridden, rat-chewed currency with
utter dismay! (Oh well!)
Lets not forget that in this
small country the size of California, most individuals have little or no access
to healthcare. Most people can barely afford to come for medical
treatment in their most dire hour let alone seek out regular health
maintenance. As such, the norm is people presenting way too late for our
limited capabilities, and then they die. Death is so palpable and matter
of fact here (Again, the people have become desensitized and have an 'oh well'
attitude). In residency I can remember only 2, 3 maybe 4 of my patients
dying in my three years of training. To die in the US has become an
almost rejected possibility, especially among the pediatric population!
After having walked in Cameroonian
shoes, I am beginning to understand their global worldview, one
of utter unpredictability, where people literally do live one day at a time. If it happens, it happens, if it doesn't, so what? I am
beginning to understand how the pharmacy could be out of medications today. And I am beginning to empathize with
their 'oh well' responses to the many troubles that plague them because I see just how oppressed they are. My prayer now is
that through my wizened perspective, God would grow in me greater
love, patience, and forgiveness towards the people whom I'm serving.
The Cameroonian people have many tormentors (disease, poverty, unsatisfactory government) but 'father time' is not among them. Surely , surely while the locals seemingly control very little in their lives, bowing to the clock as their task master, absolute nonsense! And perhaps, that's one lesson I'll try to learn from them.
The Cameroonian people have many tormentors (disease, poverty, unsatisfactory government) but 'father time' is not among them. Surely , surely while the locals seemingly control very little in their lives, bowing to the clock as their task master, absolute nonsense! And perhaps, that's one lesson I'll try to learn from them.
