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Cameroon: Shisong and Bafut

Christians Abroad has been sending professional volunteers to Cameroon since 1983. There are possibilities for doctors, nurses, teachers, secretary to the matron, physiotherapists, occupational therapists and medical elective students.

Volunteer professionals will usually be placed either at Shisong (a regional hospital) or near Bafut (at a centre for the disabled, also with a small hospital). There are schools at both sites. The institutions are under the supervision of Franciscan Sisters who welcome people of all denominations and faiths - anyone who is in sympathy with their aims. They can provide good safe accommodation with electricity, water, bathroom with shower, kitchen and living room in staff houses about five minutes walk from the Shisong Hospital or on site at Bafut. Facilities might have to be shared (but all single people will have their own bedroom). Details of other local facilities are below. The hospital cannot pay salaries. Minimum three-month placements are preferred (except medical electives) but for specific expertise shorter terms of might be considered.

Culture, jobs and expectations

Because of inadequate financial resources the hospital and school facilities are not what UK professionals would be used to. It is also important that all volunteers realise that they are guests. All the institutions have dedicated trained staff open to new ideas - but from people who first take the time to understand why things are done the way they are with the resources available. They have already worked out what they can do and how they can do it! Adaptability and sensitivity are crucial. We want people who will work with, not feel they must simply instruct local staff. While there may be advanced techniques that could be passed on, there are limitations of equipment, training time, and availability of modern drugs or other resources.

Terms and conditions

Christians Abroad will not be the 'employer'. These are voluntary placements supervised by the senior person at each place, from whom tasks will be delegated. It is expected that people will fit in with local timetables and local staff. In all cases evenings and weekends (especially Sunday) are usually free.

Background information

Cameroon has been described both as "the most corrupt nation on earth" and as a " paradise in which God has given us everything we need". No one should be hungry in this fertile land where fruit and vegetables grew so easily - and indeed there is little visible hunger. But many people are in the unofficial economy, buying and selling, making % deals, and bribery is expected at all levels.

This is most obvious to visitors at road blocks - travelling with the sisters usually avoids being stopped at police, customs or 'road safety' barriers - I lost count after 27 such blocks on return to Douala from Bafut. However, in regional terms, despite allegations of ballot-rigging, Cameroon is a model of peace and stability. It has enormous debt but could be reliant on its own resources. Shisong and Bafut are both in the North West Province (nearest large town Bamenda). This is one of two Anglophone parts of Cameroon, and there is some feeling among the community that they do not get their fair share of government funding, and the example usually given of this is that the tarred road finishes at Bamenda. The last two hours or so to each major site is on dirt roads, dusty in the dry season and slippery in the wet.

Most people will arrive in Douala - an unpleasant, fairly featureless city, with not a lot to detain anyone arriving in the Cameroon. Arriving volunteers may need to show their smallpox certificate and their baggage check before emerging into the chaos of keen porters, taxi-drivers and others. As the volunteer manual produced by the sisters suggests, it is good to ask their members from the Padre Pio Clinic to meet you, and a good way to fend off those grabbing your bags is to say that you are looking for them. The Padre Pio Clinic has good rooms, clean, en suite, with a rudimentary air conditioning and welcomes volunteers on their way north. The food is good and basic and there will be an adequate supply a of pre-boiled bottled water - don't forget use this for your teeth too. Arrival dates will have been co-ordinated with days when a truck from Shisong or Bafut is in Douala and the journey north will probably begin at about 6:15am. Generally a sister will accompany you as his makes it much easier to get through the roadblocks and often the truck will have been in Douala to pick up supplies in any case. The journey is about eight hours if made direct, but often it will include stops for purchase of sacks of lowland tropical fruits and later stops for vegetables or other suppliers. The truck will usually be loaded with medical and other suppliers too. The best road is tarred as far as Bamenda, but often a short-cut is taken at Bafoussam, turning on to a dirt road for the last two hours. The vegetation changes with altitude and distance from the coast - from banana farms to more scattered farms, a ribbon development of wooden shacks along the road, more hills and then the beginning of the Highlands in which both main facilities are situated. Beyond Kekem there are compounds of traditional pyramidal roofs and ornate gates - but apart from a few hotels accommodation for most people remains poor and basic.

Shisong

"Shisong" means "the eye of a thief", named when the local 'Fon' or traditional leader offered land to the original Italian Catholic mission. Offered a choice of two hills, the priest instead chose the more fertile area in between them and with two rivers flowing through the valley. Spotting this possibility which could not be rejected earned him and the place the name. A 1935 picture shows just five buildings, the present reception building and four huts, which were the original hospital. The development of the modern buildings is relatively recent - there are many here who state they were born in the maternity mud hut. The hospital itself is described below, but there are schools also run by the sisters that would welcome trained teachers or those able to use conversational English skills to improve the vocabulary and confidence of those being taught in English. The area is hilly with a few waterfalls, eucalyptus and fir trees (many planted by the Sisters) and farmed extensively by them and others.

Winters (dry season) can occasionally be cold (4-5 degrees) at night. The hammertan makes hazy days for a few weeks early in the year, but the rest of the year is hotter and more humid. The village, immediately outside a hospital, has vegetable stalls and a bread shop. More facilities are available in Kumbo, 100 CFA by taxi (about 12p) - including a supermarket with many European foods and an Internet café. The Internet café recommended is Office Pro - above and beyond the town "square" to the left as you come from Shisong. Current rates are 500 CFA for 60 minutes and 300 CFA for 30 minutes. They also have cheap international phone rates, currently 250 CFA per minute. Mobile phones can be used for (get an appropriate SIM card arrival or check your provider has a local arrangement) but Shisong is in a dip and reception can sometimes be poor - climb up to the church or go into Kumbo for better reception).

For those who do not want to cater for themselves - or at lunch time - the hospital has a canteen that provides good cheap food (10p for a bowl of rice). Most of the current expatriate staff eat there at least once a day. Water comes from springs but many visitors will still boil it , or buy easily available bottled water. Satellite TV is available (if you must).

Shisong Hospital

St Elizabeth General Hospital, Shisong was founded in 1935 by the Franciscan Sisters from Brixen (northern Italy). It is situated in Diocese of Kumbo. It is the largest of the institutions entrusted to the care of the Franciscan Sisters. Attached to the Hospital is the Private Training School for Nurses and Midwives recognised by the Cameroon Government. Both institutions are well known in the Cameroon and have an excellent reputation. For a report from a recent volunteer doctor, click here

The Shisong Hospital is the largest general hospital in the area but there is also a good Baptist hospital not too far from the town. Relationships between the two hospitals are very good with much co-operation between them. The hospital Matron is responsible for the daily running of the hospital and its management and has considerable experience in managing students on electives and other expatriate staff. Students from Yaounda Medical School attend the hospital for 6 months each year. Overseas students from the U.K. as well as other countries are also attached on electives for up to 3 month periods. There are both Maternity and Child Welfare clinics. There is a Primary Health Care Programme involving Health Workers for Mission and Government. There are eight Franciscan Health centres in the more rural area that are visited regularly. The hospital has also supported an Agricultural Development program, in the Akway district. The hospital has 300+ beds, roughly divided as: Maternity (52), Surgical (34), Woman (51), Isolation and long stay (30), Children (46), Men’s Medical (47), Gynaecological (40). There are 8 doctors (mostly expatriates, including two Latvians, one American and a Congolese) and a staff of 216. It serves as a regional hospital, and for a developing country rural hospital has impressive facilities, including two well-equipped operating theatres, and eye clinic, a resident paediatrician and a new Italian-sponsored cardiac unit. The establishment of this unit caused some anger at government level because they would have preferred it based in the capital city, but Shisong has obvious links with Italy and there were also fears of mis-use of funds by the government. Nine children are currently in Milan having treatment, two sisters and one doctor are there for training and the plan is to open a surgical unit in Cameroon by 2005.

Doctors are using drugs and techniques used in the UK perhaps 15 years ago. Wards are poorly equipped, 'Guardians' care for family members - often sleeping under their beds - and many cannot afford even the low charges the hospital has to levy. The X-ray machine is 30 years old and the ultrasound equipment was being thrown away by a UK hospital. Despite all this, along with a Baptist hospital also in the area the hospital is probably the best equipped in the region and certainly the best managed. There is a full range of surgical procedures including abdominal, urological, gynaecological, orthopaedic and obstetric. There is also a G.I. and Urological service. An appendix operation cost 50,000 CFA (£60) - far too much for those living outside the cash economy. The hospital pharmacy bill is 100 million CFA per annum, but many patients get free or subsidised operations and medicines. Some drugs are gifts from donors, and arriving volunteers sometimes bring equipment with them. The hospital obviously benefits from lower staff costs because the religious are not salaried, the chief surgeon is a retired a Latvian doctor (his wife is the paediatrician) and lives simply on his pension and gets a return trip to Europe every 24 months as his 'salary'. ‘Volunteers’ are clearly one way of continuing this level of care, and currently there is a US doctor on a three-year mission the contract and an Italian gynaecologist arrives soon. Medical elective students and nurses are welcomed. An ENT specialist would be most welcomed. A copy of the annual report, with patient and other statistics, is available.

Bafut

Bafut is a few hours drive to the east of Shisong - a town made famous by the animal collector Gerald Durrell and still visited by those who have read his book "The Bafut Beagles". The Fon (local chief) has his palace open to visitors.

The sisters run a number of projects in Bafut, including a smaller hospital than that at Shisong, often only one doctor, and much less well-equipped. Much more impressive is SAJOCAH - a home for people with disabilities (including a group of blind schoolchildren) and recovering from operations (especially club feet in children). This needs physiotherapists and occupational therapists who are willing to give reasonable amounts of time (i.e. more than the three months minimum at Shisong) since the therapy often takes some time and should not be left in the middle. Accommodation is provided on site, and local resources (shops, etc.) are more evident than at Shisong.

Contact
If you are interested in this opportunity and would like to know more contact us.

Look at our volunteer terms and conditions in how it works

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