Elephants and more

I realised it's been way too long since I posted something on the blog... We're already the end of February 2012 and the last time we wrote something was in November!!
 

So.
 

With the Christmas holidays, we decided to go to the Extreme North of Cameroon, a trip we actually wanted to make last year, but didn't happen.
With a couple of families, we went to Boubandjida, one of the most bio-diverse national parks in Western/Central Africa. Only draw back with such beautiful places... they're a LOOOONG way away.
Thorsten drove up to Ngaoundere (2 days drive) with Andreas and Mauricette, the children, a third couple and I took the overnight train (15 hours).
What an experience. I was a little worried as you never know how it will go. We've heard enough stories of delays (not only hours, but also days stuck in the middle of nowhere), robberies, derailements, but also of the nice and wonderful experience, the quality of the sleepers etc. Plus, Lisa gets very motion (travel) sick. But it was great. The train left on time, we arrived -reasonably- on time, the sleepers were great, clean,... And Jara and Lisa slept like angles all night.
From Ngaoundere, it took us another 2 days of driving to reach Boubandjida (but that can be done in one day, we realised later, as the roads have been improved).
Boubandijda was wonderful. We saw lots of animals, we had a great time and deicided on the spot we're going to go back.

Since we're back though, we've been hearing about horrible things that are happening in the Park. The park is (or rather was) very rich in elephants, but since the beginning of 2012 hundreds of elephants have been killed for the ivory. Here,here and here some more information about it. It has become a national crisis.



After Boubandjida, we continued our trip to Maroua, the capital of the Extreme North of Cameroon. A different country! It is one of my favourite places in Cameroon. The pace of live is more relaxed, people are friendly and hard-working and the city is beautiful. We were lucky to meet up with friends who we hadn't seen in a long time. It was great to spend time with them. Mia, Jara's first 'best friend' in Cameroon moved up to Maroua nearly 2 years ago and they've seen each other maybe 2 times since. It was again love at first sight.

Birthday's at the beach

8 adults, 9 children between 1 and 5, boardgames, birthday cake, treasure hunt, sun,  sand, sea, pool and pizza. That's all you need for a few days away!

Lisa and Miriam both turned 3 lately so we decided to celebrate on the beach. There's nothing more than a beach party, no?

Girls' trip to Maroua

Julie and Tom (friend of us, of whom you can read in previous posts) moved to Maroua last year, but we've never been able to pay them a visit. Recently they had a baby and my contract finished - so the perfect combination for a trip 'Up North'!
Jo and I set off for a short break to another world. And that's what Maroua is! It's like being in another country. And we were 'lucky'. We saw the Extreme North in its best: it was green, it rained a few times, millet was growing high, there was water in the river. Within a few months, it will be all sand and dust what you see.

Apart from seeing Julie, Tom, Mia and meeting Naëlie, I also caught up with other friends and we made a little trip to Rhumsiki.

Rhumsiki, in the Mandara mountains, is well known for it's beautiful rock formations and terrific landscape. We did a 2.5h walk in the morning and enjoyed every minute of it.
On the way back, we stopped at Tourou, where it was market day and learned that a market is not necessarily and primeraly about buying and selling. In Tourou, it's about meeting friends and drinking Bili-bili (millet beer). The women wear calabash hats and have a stick in their nose.

Maroua may not be as sofisticated as Yaounde, but I love the tranquility, the feel of the town and they've got fresh cheese, milk and tofu (in Yaounde you can only get imported milk and cheese - there is supposed to be tofu but haven't found it yet)!
Plus - I'm having a leather bag handmade and delivered to me in Yaounde in a couple of weeks time!! What a luxery ;-)

catching up

3 months have flown by!

We’ve been to the beach for a weekend (or two), had my (Griet’s) parents over and Jara celebrated her 4^th birthday.

We try to get away about once every 4-6 weeks, for a short weekend or a few days extra to escape the city, the crazy (taxi)drivers, the hassle, the leaks in the roof, but also to explore a bit more of this beautiful and diverse country.

Kribi is often choice number one. And rightly so: with its sandy white beaches, delicious shrimps and prawns, barracuda or any other catch of the day. Jara and Lisa love playing on the beach and are getting used to the waves (the first time we went to Kribi, they didn’t dare going close to the shoreline). It’s just a nice break from the city.

We went in March with our good friends Axel and Tina, and again just last weekend with “the board game gang”.

In March, we spend the whole weekend at the hotel, and decided that pool next to the beach is the best idea! The kids loved going back and forth between beach, waves and pool.

Last weekend, we were with 3 families and 6 kids between 5 and 1,5. Again, pool, beach and waves were the perfect combination. If Jara and Lisa had any reservations against the sea/waves left, they were gone by the time we hit the beach. We found a place that served dinner before 7pm, so we got the kids in bed in time for us to have a nice long evening – usually spent playing one of the many great board games.

Jara turned 4 in April – how time flies!! Oma Lut and opa Frans arrived just in time for the party. Even though there was no specific theme, all the presents, girls and cake were in the Princess theme… must be the age.

Bamessing, is another such gem in this country. When Frans and Lut came to visit, we took them to Bamessing during the Easter weekend. We stayed in a guesthouse in a small village, went to the local market, did walks with the kids in the hills, dried our own mushrooms, had an Easter egg hunt (amazing how the Easter bells – or rabbits found us in the middle of nowhere!) and even found a cooperation that produces local cheese and yoghourt (very, very hard to find in Yaoundé). It was great, spending time with family and friends, relaxing and beautiful. Once we were back, Frans and Lut took their role as grandparents to heart and took the girls for a boat ride, for swimming and walks. Frans did some little maintenance at home, for which we hadn’t found time yet and Lut taught David (our cook/housekeeper) how to make “hesperolletjes”, a very nice Belgian dish.

Lut stayed a week longer and really made a connection with Jara (who always needs more time before she lets herself getting attached to people), which was great, but it also made the goodbye harder. Thank you for coming oma and opa, we really, really enjoyed your stay!

Now it’s counting down to the holidays when we’re going back to Germany and Belgium for a month. Time to catch up with friends and family, have our yearly medical check-ups, do some shopping but hopefully also have some time to rest!

To prophylaxis or not to prophylaxis?

In Cameroon, malaria remains the first cause of morbidity and mortality among the most vulnerable groups. It is responsible for 35 - 40% deaths in health facilities: 50% morbidity among children below 5 years of age, 40 - 45% medical consultations and 30% in hospitalizations. So you first reaction upon arrival in this malaria infested country would be: YES, prophylaxis, absolutely, definitely! But making the decision isn’t all that easy. Do I want to take drugs for many years uninterrupted? Do I want my children to take drugs for many years uninterrupted? What do I take and what do I give my children? Lariam? Maybe they’ll get the nasty side effects – will this influence my children’s development? Malarone? Hardly affordable on a long term basis. Artemisia? Do I want to use the last weapon to kill malaria as a prophylaxis and so inevitably increase chances of drug-resistance?

Most of us (expats) don’t give our children, nor ourselves anything. We use all preventive matters to avoid being bitten in the first place (sleeping under nets, repellent, long sleeves after 6, etc) and hope for the best. But it’s not 100% safe, with its consequences: I (Griet) had malaria when still breastfeeding Lisa and so had to give up breastfeeding. Jara had malaria last year. Although it wasn’t very sure, because a blood test is not always reliable. Young children often don’t show malaria in the blood, or will not be very sick. So it took us some days before the doctor decided to treat for malaria, after which Jara’s headache and fever went in no time. But these are the good stories. We are lucky. A friend and classmate of Jara, had malaria 3,5 weeks ago. She is still in hospital, repatriated to her home country with failing kidneys and we’re all hoping the kidneys will resume work soon. If not, she may be on dialysis for the rest of her life.

So what do we do? In Yaounde itself (and especially Bastos, the quartier we are living in) malaria is not such a problem as in other regions of the country. Although – as you can read, we’re still at risk.

We decided that we don't want our children to be on drugs for many years, but we do give them prophylaxis when we're going to a malaria infested area (such as the beach). And then we become very creative, imaginative and convincing to get Jara and Lisa to swallow that bitter pill.

roll-on 2011!

Finally, by the end of January, we received our car (it took almost half a year to come to us, but that's another story all together).
Not much later, we had all the papers required so time to get out of the city!

We went for a weekend to Edea. Edea is a middle size town about 2 hours drive from Yaounde under good circumstances - which we were NOT having... Due to Friday afternoon/evening congestion, it took us more than an hour to get out of town. On the way we also saw a horrible accident (luckily it was already dusk and the girls didn't have to see it) so arrived much later than planned. Edea is not high on the must-see list of most travelers, but it suited us just well. Good food, the beach not far, a pool, dinner at the riverside, great location, the rooms were clean and tidy... just what you need for a short get-away. We had long forgotten about the drive once we sitting in the restaurant, overlooking the river with a mountain of grilled gamba's (tiger prawns) and a pint of beer ;-)

Last weekend Thorsten did one of his many projects on his list: a new pizza-oven. Again, it was great fun making it. Jara and Lisa loved getting their hands dirty and "helping" papa with building the oven.
We had some friends over who were all eager to help and learn... and be invited later for pizza... It turned out to be quite a party - some were manning the BBQ, others the drinks, people brought salads and desserts and while the small kids ran around in the garden, de big kids got their hands dirty.