Finally I can introduce you to some of my friends in Cameroon. he First, "Fonz" is hilarious-following me everywhere, waiting all day for me to come home and 'carry' her. When Fonz was still a baby, AIDS took her father and 7 months ago, her mother died too...leaving her and 6 older siblings. Fonz is living in our house bc her older siblings were not caring for her properly and her case is special-she was born with HIV. She is a normal two year old-playing like crazy and laughing all day. Her mother was sick most of her life, so I can only imagine how often she had time to hold her or the energy to rock her to sleep. Whenever I am home at bedtime, she climbs up in my lap like a little baby and falls asleep, and I have to wait for at least 30 minutes after she is snoring otherwise she will wake up and glare at me for trying to put her down! Fonz will face the life she was given, she will never know anything else-never her parents-and never a day without HIV. Every tiny sickness she has, my Cameroonian family treats immediately and whenever there is protein available, she is the first to eat it. In the month I have already been here, she has eaten chicken twice-but I sneak her half of my Clif bars whenever the other kids aren't looking. I don't know what will happen to Fonz when I leave Cameroon, there are no plans for her future and no one knows where she will be living next year. So...for now-I have to get in all the hugs and kisses she may need in the future.
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