Holiday Surprise

Yesterday, July 6, 2016, turned out to be a holiday in Cameroon.  Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the fast of Ramadan, which is a national holiday here in Cameroon.  Following a busy morning of surgeries at the hospital, including removing a large benign ovarian tumor, I discovered that at noon we were done for the day.  It was a beautiful day here at Mbingo, and the hiking here is amazing.  The 16 year old son of another missionary physician offered to guide our family up into the mountains to see the waterfalls from the topside of the waterfalls!  The beauty of these lush green mountains speckled with waterfalls is an amazing contrast to our home in Arizona.  

This little chameleon wasn't too happy that we discovered him while on our hike. He blended in beautifully with the plants that he called his home.

Anna (left) and Amber didn't seem to mind at all that they were standing next to a 1,000 foot drop behind them.  

 This is one of the many waterfalls that can be seen from the front entrance to Mbingo Baptist Hospital, although from the hospital the waterfall is way off in the distance.  Let's just say that this is much more up close and personal!

In a previous blog I had mentioned that the boundary of the land of the hospital is the top of this mountain range and down into the valley below.  The man who donated the land to the hospital believed that the mountains would prevent the spread of leprosy from going over the top of them.  When we reached the top ridge line, we found this barbed wire fence that I suspect was mostly to keep the herds of long horned cattle from toppling over the cliffs, but I couldn't help but think that this was one last "barrier" for the leprosy from going over the mountain.

From left to right: Teresa, Allan, Andrew, Amber, Ty Nowatzki, Anna.