Cinq

It's February.

Being a Minnesotan, that means it's usually cold, gray, and days have been too short for too long. I'm usually weary this time of year but hopeful that spring isn't all that far away.

Here in Cameroon February isn't all together different. There's a touch of weariness in the air. We've been working hard for six months - the work isn't completed and the time is starting to look more finite than it was at the beginning of our ten-month service. There's also a growing hopefulness replacing the dusty air from Harmattan (the dry season / when dust from the Sahara Desert blows into Cameroon and other Central and West African countries / driving up the temps and pollution while erasing visibility). We can see clouds again and it rained recently, meaning the transition to a better season has begun in earnest.

Last week I spent time with a visiting film crew capturing footage for a Facebook/Oculus sponsored Virtual Reality project. Hopefully the finished product, directed by Armando Kirwin, will be released online in the next couple of weeks. Until then, I'm not supposed to show too much of what I've been doing on the project - but it's been incredibly fun. Ryan Kunkleman, DP on the project, has been a really great teacher and it's been great to watch and learn from that talented guy (also, witnessing his superb drone-flying skills hasn't been disappointing). We were able to visit some of the Mercy Ships' Medical Capacity Building volunteers as they worked in one of the local hospitals. My good friend, Jonas Kauffman, is an ICU nurse educating and training nurses and staff in the ICU. It was an interesting experience filming a teenage boy who likely had meningitis. He was on a ventilator and over the course of the day, all signs pointed to him being brain-dead due to the severity of the infection. The next conversation between the hospital staff and his loved ones would be about pulling the cord. Not long after, I was interrupted from filming a scene because I had to put the camera down and help someone who's friend passed out right in front of us. I wear a number of hats in this position.

The week culminated in a trip to Lobo, a village where Edith and Valerie, the stars of the Facebook project live. We left Douala at 4:30a and had a marathon day. Here are some images I shot while driving. I was operating the other camera most of the time we were in the village but you can get a sense of what the Cameroonian bush offers.

Last weekend, I had the chance to spend the day with some lovely people exploring Bonamoussadi, a neighborhood here in Douala. We walked around and found some friendly locals who happened to own a boat. We got in it and had a ride.

Thanks everyone! I hope you're feeling peaceful, well loved and full of joy. God bless you all!

Caleb