We stayed with friends over our anniversary weekend (12 years of marriage!) and they live in the mountains of the North West province in Cameroon in a town called Kumbo, part of the Banso area.  This area is breathtaking!

The weather is like year-round spring time with cool nights and comfortable warm days – it’s amazing!  The mountains are flowing with beauty that surrounds the whole area.  Our friends live on the top of a mountain overlooking the town and a very critical part of the area, the Banso Baptist Hospital.  This hospital attracts top-notch doctors from around the world to come and help train national medical staff to provide the best medical care possible.  Our friends, Dave & Claudia are with the same mission as us, he is a pilot and she does many ministries within the local community.  They are both very connected to the hospital, which is just a long flight of stairs away from their home.

Claudia took me into the maternity ward of the hospital.  This is unlike any maternity ward I’ve ever been in.  It is a large room with numerous beds side by side.  Hospitals do not provide food here so it’s necessary upon check-in to have a “care giver” with you to make and serve you meals, help with your hygiene, etc…  I have to admit at first I thought these women won’t want some stranger coming up to them while they are recovering from giving birth.  Again, my western way of thinking doesn’t apply here and the way to build relationships is to just pop in on someone, sit with a person and visit them in the hospital.  I followed my friend to the beds of the women, shook hands, held babies, prayed over the mothers and children and couldn’t get over the delightful smiles and gratitude these women had because we took the time to visit them.  I have so much to learn and am very grateful for this small lesson.