New Elders Apartment

Wow, I knew it had been a while since we had posted anything, but five months?  Here are a few photos of a new apartment we just leased for our elders.  There are currently two companionships there--those serving in the Eleveur Branch, and those in the Manguier Branch.  We believe another companionship will be assigned to Yaoundé in the future, so at that point those serving in the Mimboman Branch would also live there, and the new companionship would live in the Ekounou apartment.

Here's the "salon".  It's good-sized.  Sliding doors to a balcony that goes the length of  most of the apartment.  It's on the third floor--not too fun for old knees!

Nice big kitchen (for Cameroon.)  I believe there will be a large white "Y" on the walls before long.  : )

Here's the half bath.

Here is one of the bedrooms.  Beds should be finished this week.

The master bath.  Must have had a sale on blue tile when it was constructed.

Here's the shower in the main bath that contained the plumbing and wiring for the washer--not sure about electrical code in Cameroon, but I can't imagine that passing.  It took two weeks to get them to move the drain pipe and outlet.  Now the washer is safely outside the shower area.

This is a long, narrow apartment.  Here's the hallway, leading from the "salon".  All bedrooms are accessed to the left, as well as the main bathroom.  The door at the end of the hall is the half-bath.

Here's the master bedroom.  It's good-sized.  Glad the elders could come to a peaceful agreement who got it--drawing lots.

If we were to take a walk from our apartment, this is what we'd see.....

When we were getting out and exercising a bit more regularly than we're doing now (Anne is doing great on the mini tramp she got for her birthday--thanks to all who made that possible!) these are the sights we'd see as we left our apartment and walked up a nearby hill.

Here's the view out the front of our apartment, directly across the street.

Home, sweet home!  Our apartment is the closest one to the camera on the lower level.  The course of our walk goes right up the road, up the hill, and then back.

Here's a better view of the slight hill we climb to begin.  The road in front is paved--but not for very far.

After the end of the pavement, the road gets pretty steep.

There are some serious ruts along the way.  We only drove this once.  The people at the top were very surprised to see us!

You can see the beautiful grounds and the wrought-iron fence around the "Palais de Congres".  It sits atop the hill just behind our apartment.  (Kind of a foggy day--sorry!)

Here's a bit clearer shot, with some of the wild flowers and foliage.

Lots and lots of shrubbery and trees!  It's green everywhere!

Some banana trees along the way.

Palm trees are found all around--but they're not the main tree we see.

From near the top, here's a view of our apartment building.  We're on the first floor of apartments, the second level of the building.

When people ask, "What animals do you see?" we have to chuckle.  We frequently see chickens, dogs, goats, cattle, even a horse or two,  occasionally cats and rats, thousands of bats in the late twilight....Nothing like we expected in Africa!  (I asked some members recently why we don't see more cats.  Their response:  "People here eat them."  Now I understand!

Another view looking down.  There are lots of buildings being constructed--one hand-made cinder block at a time!

The Colemans leave Douala

This past weekend, Elder and Sister Coleman bid farewell to Douala.  They've done a great job here.  They've taught a number of members how to play the piano.  They've helped seven young men and young women get out on missions--everything from passports and visas to vaccinations to clothes.  They've taken care of two apartments of elders and four branches.  We're going to miss them!!!  (And not just because we need to assume many of their duties since no couple has come to replace them yet!)

Sister Coleman taught piano in San Diego for years.  Wish our students had access to her skills! 

Elder Coleman joined in, too!  (Notice the creative piano table!)

This young man is going to take over the lessons in one branch.

They'll be sorely missed!

Here are the Douala elders in the Coleman's apartment for some goodies one last time.  (Two of our former missionaries, E. Tucker and E. Mpongo are there now.  It's fun to see them again!)

The Douala Zone.

The Colemans with two of their future missionaries and one of the stalwart couples in Douala, the Su family.

Helping Hands--Mains Serviables

We have had a number of "Mormon Helping Hands" ("Mains Serviables") this past year.  Most of them have been simple activities like picking up trash along the streets.  That has been rather frustrating to us, because the people here don't hesitate to toss something on the ground.  As we cleaned, we'd look behind and see it was already being littered.

Today, we had an activity that was more meaningful.  We worked around the outside of a hospital, cleaning the entrance and getting rid of weeds, brush and trash along the street leading to the hospital.  At one point, one of the men came to me and said, "Don't work in this brush.  There is something in there that is very bad."  I'm not sure what was there, but I definitely followed his instructions!

Brother Bedi giving instructions at the hospital entrance.

Sisters ready to go to work.  They carry pretty much anything they need in those plastic bags.

Motos that have brought people to the marché.

The main project was to clear off the weeds and brush from this little incline along the road outside the hospital.

Machetes are the tool of choice for just about any job.  They really know how to use them!

In clearing the weeds, we found a lot of trash.  That was piled up along the side of the road along with the weeds.

Brother Bedi is using his machete to chop down that tree.  It only took a few whacks.  Notice the huge pile in the lower right corner.  This went on for several hundred yards.

Some of our missionaries at work.  For those who didn't have machetes, they used sticks to push the piles together.  Simple tools, but they make them work very efficiently.

Heading back to the hospital entrance, weeds chopped and piles left for the city to haul away.

How many hospitals have you been to where you were greeted by a rooster getting a drink on the sidewalk?

Most people don't have running water.  They're very grateful to have a pump in most neighborhoods so they can have clean (sort of) water.  

Washing up after a good morning's work.

Here's the crew.  We love these people!!!