By Samurai Raider Raiderdrive and Bay Area Sports Drive

“People of all religions, race, and cultures feel pain and/or sickness the same way.  And my job is to be able to see it and help treat them all as best as I know how.”—Melissa Cuneo, RN

We've all seen movies of Africa—the ones that depict the beautifully colored skies, the placid morning dawn, and the lustrous expansive horizons. Then, suddenly, the tranquility is disrupted as the jungle comes to life and thousands upon thousands of exotic birds soar across the kaleidoscopic sky while herds of quadrupeds thunder across the plains.  But is it always so impressive waking up each dawning day and looking off into the horizon?

Not according to Melissa Cuneo, a finalist in the upcoming Oakland Raiderette tryouts.  Last November, the twenty-five-year-old nurse spent a full week in Africa as part of a medical support team that complemented the Amazing Facts 2002 Vision for Life evangelical tour.   “No, I didn’t see what I had thought I would see in Africa, which you see on TV on National Geographic,” said the Raiderette hopeful.  “I didn’t get to see any of the big animals.  I did see some pretty gnarly bugs, but I didn’t see any of the pretty creatures or pretty skies, or anything like that.”

However, Melissa was not on a vacation or sightseeing trip.  “I went to Africa to broaden my own view of the world as well as help medically.  To save people’s lives as well as introduce Christ.   I have always been interested in mission work and leapt at the opportunity,” she explained. 

Melissa saw the real Africa with all of its poverty and disease.  Yet, despite the apparent misery in the

 world, a visionary like Melissa dreams of her own dawn and hopes for a better horizon for the unfortunates of the world, making it her mission to do what she can to create a brighter day for those afflicted.   “People of all religions, races, and cultures feel pain and or sickness the same way.  And my job is to be able to see it and help treat them all as best as I know how,” said Melissa.

Her mission: to provide a modicum of health services for the local nationals at a clinic in the capitol city of Yaoundé, Cameroon.  While all missions, like this one, sound good on paper, they do not define the expense, dedication, and the danger that these young nurses, like Melissa, demonstrated to fulfill such a lofty mission.   The journey cost some $7500. While approximately half of the expenses were paid through donations by members of her church group, the other $3700 was paid out by Melissa and her family. 

It certainly took dedication to make a decision to leave a modern, air-conditioned facility  and take off for the wild to work under what might be best described as less-than-perfect conditions.  “It’s a very tropical region.  I was surrounded by lush beautiful green trees and shrubbery.  Also, we were right next to equator, which made for a hot stay.”

However the hotel accommodations were better than Melissa had expected:

 “It did have running water, although you were not allowed to drink it because of what might be in it.  We had kind of a shower that you could use,” she said with a slight laugh.   “ We had somebody cook food for us, so we knew it was safe.”  The most negative thing about her stay was being isolated at night in the hotel, the times when she was not at the clinic.  “I was not allowed to leave.  I had to stay there because it was too dangerous for a woman to go out by herself.  So I was pretty much isolated in the hotel room any time I was not at the clinic.”

Although she was invited to stay and work with the crowds of thousands that turned out for the evangelistic meetings, Melissa determined it was better to leave with the team in order to secure safe passage.  “If I had stayed, I would have been exiting by myself, which is very unsafe and not recommended by the government.  We [the medical team] all left a few days before the evangelism team actually started.”   Besides, the goal of the mission was “to serve their physical needs first, and then the spiritual needs,” Melissa concluded.

In many ways, Melissa felt like a member of a Survivors cast.  However, the show has a great deal of glamour associated with it, with millions of viewers and fans engrossed in the action—not to mention career opportunities.  But Melissa’s drama was real life, not reality TV.  There was no script, no groupies, no TV coverage, and no exposure—except maybe to disease and danger.   “Yes, I did feel like the people of Survivor.  Until Africa, the only place I had traveled to was Louisiana.  When I was in Africa, it was the first time I had ever been separated from everything I was familiar with.  It was the first time in my life I had nothing or no one to depend on other than God.”

And despite the humanitarian function, the populace viewed the intrusion of foreigners with suspicion, she noted.  “Because some of the population is not open to Christianity, many of the people did not want us there.    They knew we were there on a medical team through a religious organization.  And so most of the people over there are not Christians, and they do not want to convert, so they resented us coming over there to change anybody’s beliefs.”

To insure the well being of the team, soldiers, who functioned as bodyguards, often surrounded Melissa and her co-workers.  Despite the resentment displayed by some of the populace, the soldiers did not show any resentment.  “I do feel the soldiers truly cared about our safety.  They kept a close watch on our surroundings. ”

While much of the population may not have wanted to grasp Christianity, there was, however, one interpreter who, during a group photo session, was inclined to reach out and grab what he could of the situation and Melissa.  “One of the interpreters grabbed my, well, let’s say, ‘rear section.’ Ha!  That was a shocker!” Melissa recalled.  There was not much she could do about the incident but maintain her professional composure.  “If I had reacted, it could have resulted in my being harmed, as men feel free in Cameroon to do as they please.”  The intention of the interpreter was not serious, however.   And the higher goal, the mission, had to take precedence over any personal indignity she had suffered.

But there were more serious ramifications that could occur as a result of picture taking, if one was not careful.  “I was told you that could actually be killed for taking someone’s picture without asking, because the natives over there believe that you’re taking part of their soul when you take their picture, and so they don’t like that.  So we had to ask their permission every time,” Melissa explained. “We had translators on hand, but there was a lot of sign language, so to speak.”

There were other non-verbal signals that indicated to Melissa that the presence of the team might not be welcome.  On her first full day in Cameroon, a seemingly disturbed individual approached the bus.   “He was probably about six-foot-five,” Melissa recalled.  “He had a crazed look in his eyes.  He would go from window to window, peering in at us with his frightening stare.”

Then he focused on Melissa, who was sitting near the door of the bus.  He suddenly snatched the water bottle that she had been holding, spilled the contents on the ground, and then threw the bottle back at her.  In an effort to allay his wrath, one of the missionaries handed him a pamphlet describing the upcoming seminar, but he ripped it up.  “I was pretty nervous,” Melissa recalled, “and I then moved to the back of the bus.  He followed me and appeared at my window.  He just kept staring at me, looking mad, and then someone just started praying.”

It was then that the other members of the troupe decided to join in the prayer, hoping the driver of the bus would soon move out and that they would be delivered from the tense situation.   However, before the bus could start off, the man threw himself in its path, attempting to vainly push the bus back.  The driver, a native of Cameroon, drove the vehicle slowly forward, a movement that caused the deranged individual to move out of the way.  As the bus proceeded forward, he started chasing the bus.

In retrospect, Melissa believes that their pursuer was possessed.  “And I saw the power of prayer when the bus driver was able to move him.  The part that was so scary is that we were sitting ducks, and in a city of over a million people, if the whole mob mentality had started against us, there would have been nothing we could do.  But fortunately, we never saw him again.”

Obviously, it takes a lot of heart to do what Melissa has done.  It might be symbolic that she just happens to be a cardiology nurse.   However, in Yaoundé, there was only time to try to cure diseases such as HIV, malaria, typhoid, yellow fever, and TB, which are the most prevalent health problems in that region of Africa.

One of the reasons the people might have seemed blasé toward the efforts of the mission group is that disease is so prevalent, Melissa explained, “that it seems to have become a way of life.  It’s almost normal to be sick over there.  They can’t get the treatment they need to get better, so they knew they were sick but there’s nothing they could do about it.”

But not all of the locals were content with their lot, Melissa noted.  “I met a family who longed to come to America.  The husband worked on our construction team, and his wife and children sat with our medical team daily.  It was amazing to see someone long for the comforts I was born with.  I honestly took much of my life for granted until meeting them.”

One other thing she is not taking for granted, more than likely, is that she will get through the final Raiderette competition at the Oakland Hilton on Sunday, May 4.  Melissa made the finals last year, but unfortunately she did not make the squad.  So what motivates her to try out again?  To embark on another mission?  Her answer could not have been stated any simpler, or more direct:  “Sheer determination to become an Oakland Raiderette.”

It is no accident that many Raiderettes travel at home and abroad to hospitals to help cheer up the less fortunate.   If Melissa gets to be a Raiderette, she will be in a unique position, as a nurse, to help patients, although she will be wearing a slightly different uniform.

Whether Melissa will be a survivor and make the squad this year will be up to the judges.  But if Melissa does not become a Raiderette, she hopes to travel with her church group to South Korea in the fall to continue with her work.   She will continue to eagerly await the dawn of a new day and a new horizon, even if she has to create her own; and yes, with God’s help, she will continue to help others and, one way or the other, she will always be on another mission.