My placement in Camroon has finally come to end after a crazy 12 weeks in Kumbo.
I have loved my time at SEREP and the last few weeks flew by! With the arrival of other volunteers, the work load became less and I managed to focus on working with the women’s groups. I am really happy with the outcome of the Palm Oil Project, it is now up and running smoothly and the women are working extremely hard!
STOP the stigma still needs a lot of work but the base is there and I am hoping that as more volunteers come it will improve. I gave a seminar in order for the women to set up drop in sessions for the public to come and receive advice and information about HIV/AIDS. Whilst doing this I learnt many things about HIV/AIDS in Cameroon, such as, for you to be able to receive treatment you must first take a CD4 test as only those with a count below 300 receive treatment. However, the test is extremely expensive meaning hundreds of people do not take it and thus become very ill. As well as this, the government does not provide nearly enough drugs for everyone who needs them; I met several people who had gone months without receiving any drugs and were subsequently extremely sick. This really shocked me and made me angry. It is an issue that I really want to change in the future and have various ideas of how to do that!
I really enjoyed having some familiar British company and I felt much less lonely! However I had got used to being on my own so it took a while for me to adjust. I can safely say that 12 weeks was enough time to spend in Cameroon and I was definitely ready to leave and return to my family and friends. However, when it came to leaving everything was much more emotional than I anticipated! My women’s groups gave me several presents and sung many songs for me. They were so appreciative for the time I spent with them and the work I did with them and it really made me realise how much I had accomplished and the amazing friendships I had made. Saying good bye to the students was also extremely emotional! I have really made a huge investment in these people and feel extremely attached to Kumbo. I look forward to seeing how all the project and people grow and will definitely be keeping in touch and will return in the future!
Thank you for the final update, Hannah. It's good to know you were able to devote more time to the projects you had set up, and that you were able to see the results of your work.
ReplyDeleteAnd welcome back to Sussex. I hope the acclimatisation doesn't take too long!