Well, here we are on this fine Tuesday morning, with breaking news from the Yaounde front. I was going to wait until everything that's been going on blows over, but I just heard that there's a slight chance that it might not. So, going on the chance that it may be awhile before I get on the internet again, let me update everyone on what's going on here with us.
Here in Cameroon, there are a LOT of taxi drivers. I mean, a LOT! And apparently, the country puts a cap on how much they can charge to drive people places. When prices of gas, etc., raises, the taxi drivers don't make any money, so every once in awhile they go on strike for a day or two hoping the government will raise the cap and let them charge a little more to make up for expenses. Well, this time, they started their strike and things are getting a bit out of control... I'm not sure when it started, but on Sunday night it got really violent in the city of Douala...a bunch of people were killed and there was shooting and riotings at the airport there. The Elders down there are stuck in their house. (Something like this happened on my mission, too...I remember being stuck in my apartment and hearing shooting and rioting and stuff...) Anyway, it hasn't stopped. I guess yesterday they let people out to loot the city. The taxis are also on strike here, and they've blocked all the roads leading in/out of Yaounde. (as a matter of fact, my housekeeper left here on Saturday, and was supposed to be back today...but she's stuck where she is until all the craziness stops...) We're hoping it doesn't get violent here in this city. It may get to the point where we're not allowed to leave our houses (meaning Devin wouldn't go in to work...) and it isn't official yet, but they're advising us to have a 'go bag' ready, just in case an evacuation is necessary. No one thinks it will go that far, but, well, just look at Chad last month! So, keep us in your prayers...we're safe, but we don't really want to get evacuated. It's usually a pretty quick thing, but apparently, this time the President isn't doing anything at all about it. Not a really smart move on his part.
On another note, Andrew got really sick yesterday. We took him in this morning, and I thought he had an ear infection. No ear infection. They tested him for bacteria/amoebas, but it tested negative. He fell asleep at 9:30 am and slept for 3 hours, and when he woke up he had a fever of 102.4. I gave him some ibuprofen and it's gone down, but he is supposed to go in this afternoon for a malaria check. Please pray it's not malaria!!! I don't want to be med-evac-ed to Paris for a month. I don't speak French well enough, and it would be miserable...and Malaria in infants is not cool.
We're supposed to get our last shipment of HHE and consumables this afternoon...so I'm hoping for that so we can have some food in case this strike continues and we're not allowed to leave our houses to go shopping.
But, on a higher note...maybe a high C...I feel much better today than I did yesterday! :) And Josh and Claire are doing well, too! :) And so is Devin!
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