Traditional dental care
on Wendy Bird in Cameroon (Cameroon), 07/Jul/2009 14:35, 34 days ago
Before going to work we left early to observe Veronica's encounter with a traditional dental hygienist. I know no other way of describing it. We had breakfast early and then caught a taxi to old town Bamenda, to where Veronica grew up. Bali, mentioned earlier, is her father's village. Apparently it is a tough area of town and she is certainly not one to be messed about.Veronica is best described as a wonderful combination of an assertive, intelligent, compassionate Cameroon woman, who does not suffer fools gladly. How much of thathas been added to by the experience of living in the USA, I don’t know but she has a lot of drive.But let's get back to the traditional dental care. We arrived and he put a pot, hole in top and bottom, on top of three balls of some mixture, which was heated on a spade. Veronica took the smoke into her mouth, which she ensures us she did not inhale. This was done three times and the pot lifted.The photos show it all! Three tiny maggots were located coming away from the melted mixture, apparently these came from Veronica’s mouth. She last did it about ten days or moreago and 14 maggots came out.Now what does one make of that?I think after all these extra curricular activities it is time I wrote about what I am doing here and something about every day life.Back soon....