Griet, Thorsten, Jara and Lisa

Lisa's walking

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:50:00 +0000

I just wanted to share this video with you!

girls only!

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 20:27:00 +0000

It's been a while that we (women) have been talking about it. "We should go away for the weekend and leave the men with the kids" and "I need sleeeeeeeeeeep". So a few weeks ago we did what we did: We went to Kribi for sea, sand and sleep. It was great. 4 women, no men, no kids. We slept, swam, eat pizza, played games, made long walks on the beach, ate fish in the harbour but above all relaxed!

trip to the North West

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 09:14:00 +0000

Thorsten had to go to Kumbo for partnervisit (as he often does) and this time, Jara, Lisa and I joined. We added a weekend in Babungo with friends and the holiday was complete!
The North West is one of the most difficult places to go to because of its inaccessible, very bad dirt roads. Interestingly enough, the North West is also the country of the opposition... In the hight of the rainy season it is almost impossible to go there due to the heavy rains that turn the road into a mud pool. We're at the end of the rainy season: roads are accessible, but you still have the odd shower to wash away the dust.
Click on the images to enlarge them!

The first part of our trip, we stayed on the "hill of immaculate conception" in Kumbo. Filip, the BD cooperant working there lives on the bishop's hill and we stayed with him. While Thorsten was of doing his work, I hung around with the kids, strolled up and down the hill and watched the goats and chicken (especially Jara wanted to look for them).

Wednesday the kids and I joined Thorsten en Filip to Mbiame, a little village on a 1.5-hour drive, where BD's partner organisation ATP (Agricultural Training Project) has a demonstration farm. The drive was just beautiful! It was like driving through Scotland with bananatrees. I had to sit in the back and hold Lisa's head while she was asleep because of the road condition. I think her head would have fallen of otherwise.
ATP is training young (and older) promising farmers of the region in alternative farming technics. Over the course of one year they spend 10 times 2 weeks on the demonstration farm to learn through practice and theory. Afterwards they go back to their villages to do their own farming. For three subsequent years they will be followed up by the project in their villages to assist them with their farms and to give advise. It is a really promising and innovative project that can change the lives of the students!

Thursday we left for Babungo, a small village in the valley surrounded by waterfalls. Tom and Julie joined us on Friday and we spend the weekend just relaxing, not doing too much. The women (Julie, granny Jude and I) went to visit a nearby pottery shop where we saw pottery happening from beginning to end. I did some pottery myself in Thailand but never realised the lenghty process of getting the clay to be the way it's supposed to be. And of course we had to indulge ourselves in the shop...
The boys (Tom and Thorsten) went for a hike up the hill and the kids loved pottering around, having a communal pee on the potty and being the stars of the village. So everybody was happy.

Every village in the North West has a fon, so also Babungo. The fon is the king of the village or chiefdom and people go to him for advise, to solve problems etc. He's the cultural leader of the village. In Babungo, the fon is only about 35 years old, but has already several wives. In addition, on becoming fon, inherited many wives from his late father. His palace is packed with wooden statues that people make and donate to him. His living quarters are an interesting mix between traditional and modern goods. It's complicated!
Anyway, the fon's palace was well worth a visit as you can see on the pictures!

Mais c'est normal en Cameroun!

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 09:24:00 +0000

In Cameroon, founders and directors of local NGO's and organisations seem to have developed an interesting pension scheme.
They apply for grants and funds with international agencies to run their organisation: to pay for trainers and trainings, materials, project costs etc. All very well and good organised, proposals look solid.
Then an audit is done to see that the money is spent accordingly. And usually it's the organisation hiring the auditor.
But then you come, and you look into the spendings yourself, you check why suddenly a thrustworthy member of staff leaves or hire an auditor yourself.

And that's where the pension scheme comes in.
Suddenly it seems that hard working people only get a percentage of the wage they sign for. Their payslip may say 100.000FCFA but in practice the person goes home with only 50.000FCFA.
When you question this with the responsible of the organisation the reply is usually something like "Mais c'est normal en Cameroun".
And to a certain extend it is.
People who start a little NGO usually see it as their baby and a good way to get funds from international agencies. They may be doing good work all along (improve livelihoods, give training and built trainingcentres), but it has become absolutely acceptable to cheat on the accounts and steal to save for later, start a private business or whatever.
It is not only Broederlijk Delen who is coming across these issues but the majority of our friends here working in international development are coming across similar situations.
It creates a catch-22. Do you stop all collaboration with the organisation in question but then jeapardize all personnel as well who will be going from a small income to no income? Or try to work with the organisation to improve their habits, knowing that behavioural change is about the hardest thing in the world to do...

a few movies...

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:37:00 +0000

of the kids of course... who else?

Jara and Mia in the tub, having a lot of fun with skiing pinguins.
And Lisa going shopping for books... Not really but she is dying to walk and we are tired of walking with her haha

a boat trip on the river Nyong

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:04:00 +0000

Since we just got back from Europe, we thought: high time for a day out!! So last Saturday we went on a boat trip in Ebogo, an eco-tourist site a little but further down the road from Mbalmayo. Not far, easy to get there and a great day out. Jara and I went on the pirogue, while Thorsten and Lisa stayed ashore. After our trip a great meal with freshly caught catfish and a cold beer. What else do you want?
Jara was happy to see her best friend again and we were happy to catch up on the latest gossip!

And we're back!

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 10:08:00 +0000

Yes, after a couple of busy months, we're back home, settling in all right. Thorsten has started work, Jara has started kindergarden, Lisa has started walking (holding on to 2 hands of course) and I, I've started going through our pictures and realised there are too many!

We'll start with the beginning. Click on the pictures to enlarge them!
Beginning of June, Rhoddy, Thorsten's colleague from BD came for a fieldvisit. As BD is working on an exit strategy in the next couple of years, they had to visit all partners in the country to officially announce the not-so-good news. It was 2 weeks of solid travelling, visiting 16 projects in the Extreme North, North West, Centre and South of Cameroon.

As soon as Rhoddy left, my (Griet's) father arrived for a blitz visit. As he would otherwise have to wait till Christmas to see the kids, he decided to cross the continent for a week.
The weather wasn't great, but we still had a nice time catching up at home and in Limbe. After opa Frans left, Jara kept repeating 'opa partie' for quite a while.

Then it was time for the real holidays. This year, we decided to go to Italy in stead of only visiting our friends and family. We started with the 60th anniverary of Griet's grandparents before heading of to Germany where we stayed a few days.
In Belgium:

In Germany:

In Italy we were lucky to stay in the apartement of Sofie and Sven who are living in Parma. They have 2 small boys, hence everything was on hand (push chairs, toys, baby carrier, trycicle, plastic plates etc) and they are living in town centre with 3 playgrounds on a 5 minute walk! We devided our time between a stay-at-home-and-do-playgrounds-day for the children and an away-day for the adults. It worked out great and everybody was happy.
Jara was especially happy when she managed to convince her parents to have at least one ice cream a day... That is one word she learned very well. Everybody warned us about the hot weather in Parma in the summer, but apart from the first couple of days, it was all right. In addition, we went to the mountains a couple of times and even went to the coast. Obviously had to get some real balsamico vinegar in Modena and have spaghetti bolognaise in Bolonga. Not to mention Parmasan and Parmaham... Did you know there's a town called Gorgonzola? Wonder what that is famous for.
The playground-home-days went like this:

The away-days went like this:

While we were in Parma, oma Doris and opa Heinz came for a couple of days, as did Elaine and Andrea, 2 friends from the UK. It was very nice to have this little reunion and we decided they should next come to Cameroon...

Weekend in Kribi

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:13:00 +0000

Thorsten is leaving for Belgium on Friday so we thought it would be nice to have a few days away of Yaoundé before. So last weekend, we went off to the sea-side. But instead of relaxing in an expensive hotel, we decided to go "camping". We stayed in the unfinished house of friends of our friends. Which means there was no water nor electricity, but there was a well where we could fetch water, there were beds with matrasses and a garden where the children could play safely.

The sea at Kribi is known to be a bit rough, but we hadn't really expected our children to be mortified by the sound and the waves. Luckily, after a bit of gentle persuasion they decided it was OK to play in the sand at a fair distance of the sea. Once that was settled, we had a great time. Jara, Lisa and Mia (daughter of Julie and Tom who's about the same age as Jara) loved playing in the sand. The nanny's, who came along, loved playing in the sea. And we, we loved having a beer on the beach while the children were playing.
Our nanny's also decided that they could do better than the food in the restaurant and made us a delicious meal.
Saturday night, we decided it was the night off for the parents. We enjoyed the night out, sunset on the beach and long talks without children waking up, crying etc.

We took our nanny's to see how that would work. But we decided that the advantages (parents having a night out, helping hand) did not outweigh the disadvantages (extra people to care/cater for, own agenda,...) so that was the first and last time nanny's would join.

All in all, it was a great weekend away but we also enjoyed coming back home, lighting the oven and having a pizza!

Boys work (2)!

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:03:00 +0000

Last weekend the boys finished the pizza oven! We were lucky having picked an afternoon with sunshine and no rain - rainy season is full on and it's raining every day now.
The boys enjoyed playing with the sand, mud, making it the right texture (I didn't know but apparently there's a lot of engineering going into clay oven-building) and patching it all up. Then it was time to get the sand out and light the fire.
Yesterday, we had the first pizza out of the oven and it was... delicious!

Let the party begin!

The only draw back is the rain. We need to get a cover built as when it rains on the oven it could turn our oven into a pile of mud when not protected...

Griet's malaria and its consequences for Lisa

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Wed, 06 May 2009 13:49:00 +0000

I had malaria last week - No panic! I'm all better now!
For all who know the disease, it is not pretty. Anyhow, due to the medication I needed to take to get better, I am not allowed to breastfeed for 28 days. The medication stays in your system that long and consequently in the breastmilk. Since I have never had any excess milk, and now putting breastfeeding on hold for one month has basically reduced my milk production to a nihil. Even though I expressed as well as I could (especially as I was having a hard time being ill - fever, pain etc) my milk supply has stopped. Unfortunately.

On the other side, since the bottlefeeding, Lisa's been sleeping better and seems more balanced, i.e. not wanting to feed all the time. Even Jara loves 'giving Lisa a bottle'. If we're not carefull, she would even give her own milk to Lisa! When Jara sees Lisa with the bottle, it reminds her of milk hence she now wants to drink milk during the day too (rather than a bottle in the morning and evening). Sometimes she wants to be given the bottle as a baby. Ah well, it won't harm her and the extra cuddle is welcome. She's been eating well and has been a happy little girl (see video below):

Broederlijk Delen moves out of Cameroon

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:05:00 +0000

Broederlijk Delen has been working in Cameroon for over 47 years and established its permanent presence in Yaoundé in 1999 only. During these five decades thousands of farmers and poor have been helped in securing and improving their livelihoods. Together with dozens of local organisations we contributed to the socio-economic and environmental improvement of many people and farmer groups. Now BD has decided it is time to leave Cameroon. This information came as a shock to the remaining 16 organisations BD is working with.

Broederlijk Delen is presently working in 20 countries in Asia, Africa and America. For political and strategic reasons a reduction in the country base is necessary. This resulted in the decision to withdraw from some countries and Cameroon is one of them. The decision to stop our activities in Cameroon is based on a number of reasons such as the improved socio-economic situation here in Cameroon but also the desire of BD for more regional concerted action. Whilst this decision is a hard pill to swollow for our partners and development workers here, it is a decision that will be implemented over the next 2-3 years only. This leaves enough time for partners to get themselves prepared for this step. Nevertheless the shock sits deep.

During the coming weeks a detailed exit strategy for all of our partners here will be prepared. It is our aim to support them in the best possible way in their challenge to find other financial sources and partners.

For us this development has also direct impacts as it means we will have to find other work after February 2011. Before that there is however still a lot of work to be done. In terms of actual work however the dynamics are different: the approach to develop and build up a partner base in a country is quite different from scaling down and finally switching off the lights. I expect also that some partners might change their approach towards BD as they have nothing to loose any more. We will see how this maps out.
For our family this step is sad as we have so well integrated here in Yaoundé and thought we would stay here for up to six years. Now the situation is different and we have to adapt our plans. So it remains interesting and challenging! We will see how things develop and will keep you updated!

Boys work (1)!!

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:41:00 +0000

Finally we got around to start the work at our clay Pizza oven in our garden. We contemplated about it for a while already and last Saturday was then the day when the boys got around to start it.

The idea is to have a wood fired clay oven in our garden to be able to do these crispy and delicious Pizza's, breads and other delicious things. Our garden is just big enough for this little luxury 'gadget' and the idea to have some friends around for Pizza evenings is too tempting. In a first step Tom, Denis and Thorsten constructed the foundation of the future oven with clay bricks and mud. Now all has to dry before we can construct the dome. Can't wait to continue! It is so much fun and the girls were happy to see the two boys 'play' with the mud!

In two weeks the construction of the dome will take place and then we hope we will have nice Pizzas coming out of the oven soon! Just picture it: a bunch of nice people sitting around the oven with a glass of wine and delicious Pizza'z fresh from the oven! Yep, we try to do our best having fun here!

Kids in action

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:48:00 +0000

When I say that Lisa has started to crawl, I'm sure nobody will believe me. So here's a little film. Obviously she's not an expert yet but she's getting there, and more importantly, she's getting where and what she wants... This morning she pulled herself up to stand in the bath. I can't follow anymore, this is going way to fast!!!

Also Jara doens't stop changing. She loves imitation her parents. The other day I found her wearing my bikini shorts...
She sees her father often multitasking on the phone. Well, she can do that too!

Heaven on earth

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 12:02:00 +0000

Last week Friday (Good Friday) was public holiday. So we took the opportunity to discover a new piece of Yaoundé: The Zoo. I have wanted to go there since long, but the opportunity never arose.

The Zoo itself is quite little, quite African (for those who know about African zoo's...) but not too bad - I've seen much worse. It houses a lot of monkey's, a civet cat, turtels, lions and others. The lions did make a bit of an impression on me. You could (if you wanted to) put your hand through the cage and stroke them, but the look on there face made us decide otherwise. They were particulary interested in Jara and Mia (friends daughter of about the same age as Jara) and kept following them with their eyes. A bit further, in the Snake House (or how do you call these things?) a few cages were open... We tried not to put too much attention to that.

However, the main attraction to the Zoo is the little play yard for small kids... Oh well! You should have seen Jara's face when we entered. It was like she had arrived in heaven. I don't think I have ever seen her face lit up like that.

There is a train, mary-go-around, jumping castle, play jungle, slides,...
For Jara and Mia, it was the day of their life.

Now I know for sure: there won't be any stressy days no more ,alone at home with bored and obnoxious children while thorsten is traveling; I'm just gonna camp out at the Zoo!

Jara's 2nd birthday party

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 10:13:00 +0000

I know I know, her birthday is not till wednesday but we decided to have the party early.
So Sunday (Easter) was the big day. Lots of cakes, cookies, chocolate and drinks. A big garden, a sandpit, a real play-kitchen, an Easter-egg hunt and a goodie bag. Do I need to say more? The party was a great success! Well, at least the kids enjoyed it, I hope the parents did too.

We really couldn't leave it....

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:02:00 +0000

...and went to see the pope.

He was passing in front of our door - that is, in reality, on the top of our road. So we went out for an late afternoon stroll and came back with these pictures:

However dubble the feeling is, looking at the preparations the government did and its consequences, people were really happy to see him passing by. The president was trailing behind, but most people (as us) did not wait to see him...

We went to town yesterday and took the opportunity to take some pictures of the demolishments still going on:

Cameroon demolishes street stalls for Pope's visit

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:15:00 +0000

It appears that now also the international press is aware of the recent ongoings in preparation for the visit of the pope. Here is an article by Reuters news agency:

Source: Reuters

Security forces clear street-side stalls for Papal visit
Police beat stallholders, youths at weekend, witnesses say

By Tansa Musa YAOUNDE, March 10 (Reuters) - Cameroonian security forces have smashed up the street stalls, where thousands of people earn a living, to give the capital Yaounde a face-lift for a visit by Pope Benedict next week. Pope Benedict makes his first trip to Africa as pontiff next week, visiting Cameroon before continuing to Angola to mark 500 years of Christian evangelism there. "My 10 years of investments have been ruined. I don't know now what to do to survive," wailed Mariane Ngoupendji on Monday when she found her typing and printing shop reduced to rubble. "Will the Pope's visit replace what I've lost?" she said. Ngoupendji, 43, collapsed weeping to the ground as youths pulled pieces of corrugated iron, girders and planks from the ruins, hoping to sell them or use them to build elsewhere. Many people make their living through informal stalls or boutiques, selling everything from imported electrical goods to local produce in a country where millions of people live in poverty even though it boasts one of Africa's biggest economies. But authorities say the stalls, ranging from simple wooden shelves to secure lock-ups built with steel and concrete, are an eye-sore and began to tear them down last week. No compensation will be offered, the government said. "On Monday the authorities of the Yaounde urban municipality continued pulling down illegally erected structures down in the town centre with the support of security forces," state radio reported on Monday. "They vowed that the process will continue as part of efforts to embellish the city and give it a new face-lift." Yaounde council officials could not be reached for comment. Security forces have deployed in large numbers to prevent trouble. Previous attempts to clear traders from African cities have triggered widespread violence, including in Senegal before last year's Organisation of the Islamic Conference summit. Police beat youths and stallholders at the weekend on Yaounde's Avenue Kennedy, where many hawkers sell cell phones and other electrical items imported from Dubai, witnesses said. "I saw gendarmes and police chasing after fellow Cameroonians, beating them up with such ferocity and smashing their goods," said a Cameroon Telecommunications company worker, who watched from a third storey window as police cleared stalls near Avenue Kennedy on Saturday. "Why not simply ask them to assemble their goods and move away instead of destroying everything. Must the Pope's visit bring so much trouble for the people?" said the worker, who declined to be identified for fear of reprisals. But a senior police officer said stallholders had refused to comply with several previous requests to move on. "Now, with the Pope coming, the authorities are left with no other choice than to use force to get them out," he told Reuters. "African traditional hospitality demands that you keep your house clean when expecting a guest." (Writing by Alistair Thomson; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

The long-awaited visit of the pope

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:25:00 +0000

The pope is paying a visit to Cameroon next week - he's arriving Tuesday evening and leaving Friday morning and he's doing a mass in the big stadium of Yaoundé on Thursday. "Great!" I can hear you say. "How nice of him to visit Cameroon." Well yeah...

As a consequence - or should I say precursor - of this visit, some dramatic measures have been taken.
1 All small shops, houses, vendor's stalls that don't look nice enough are being destroyed with a large caterpillar. The truck comes by, looks at your stall/house/whatever and if the driver doesn't like, he just destroys it with all its content. It all started about a week ago in the city centre. Suddenly the streets did not house streetvendors anymore, all the local shops at the post office disappeared etc. Now it's been extended all the way to the airport.
2 The road to the airport has brand new streetlights. But then ONLY the way from the airport to the town centre.
3 Tuesday (for sure, other days to be confirmed) the road between airport and town centre will be blocked. Note: the pope arrives in the evening, but the road needs to be blocked from EARLY MORNING. Hence nobody can get to/from work, school etc.
4 It has been announced on the radio that all shops and houses on the road to the airport etc need to keep all windows and doors closed on Tuesday - police will patrol to make sure orders are followed.
5 As a result of all this, tension has risen in town centre among street vendors and shop owners and riots cannot be ruled out... Keep indoors I would say.
6 As said before, the Pope will do a mass on Thursday in the Stadium. It's open for the public but tickets are 1000 FCFA (almost 2 Euro) and people will have to walk kilometers to get there as the roads will be blocked, obviously.

It's a pity that a major event like this has to become such a disaster for so many people. People struggle so hard to make a living, selling a few papaya's on the side of the road, put all their savings in a little stall and then, wham, a caterpillar passes by and you've lost everything.

Pictures of the destructions can be seen on Sander & Elke's blog.

>To be continued...

a few movies

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 13:02:00 +0000

Jara and Lisa are full of life! See below:

Nothing special

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:44:00 +0000

Nothing special happened but I saw that it has been nearly a month since we wrote on the blog...
What happened in the last month?

- Thorsten went to Maroua of a week for partner visits. Very nice for him - not so nice for me. Jara's usual game in the car on the way home from the crèche is listing all the people she'll see at home: waw waw (the dog), baby (Lisa), Didi (Denis, day watchman), Cati (Catherine, nanny) en papa. Only I had to tell her everytime papa wouldn't be home yet. As the week went on, she found it more difficult papa wouldn't be home and was obviously very excited when we went to the airport and pick him up! Wouldn't let go of him.
Thorsten was given, by some partnerorganisations, a few live chicken... Nice, but how the hell was he going to get them on the plane??? So they traded the chicken for a nice fabric for me - you won't hear me complain.
- Lisa has been growing a lot. She's confidently rolling over and if you're not paying attention she 'crawls' until she's off the mat. A very active girl but wants to be in the centre of the attention.
- Jara has been her usual self - a diva with a temper...

-I started looking for work. Hopefully something will come up. On the other hand I've been keeping myself busy with the kids and started writing a little booklet/website for expatriats in Yaoundé.
- This week, I took our car to the 'Visite Technique'. Decided to go early (less hot and less cars waiting) which paid off well: It only took me 45 minutes. Considering the state of the majority of cars driving around and knowing that the 'visit technique' is mandatory, I didn't expect any difficulties. Our car would definitely NOT pass any car inspection in Europe, but here, no problem. They test the brakes (which were not balanced but hey ho), have a quick look under the car (where certain parts have been welded together), you pay the bill and get an 'accepté' for another year. Taxi's need to do this every 6 months. I think it's just a quick way to make money because it's a wonder how half of the taxi's drive at all! But they all get their 'accepté'.
- Al along our street, all the way to town, they have put streetlights! And they work!! After a second check, we realised it is ONLY on our route to town, which incidently is also the preferred route for the president and his entourage to go to the airport... any coincidence?
-Miko, our dog, is no longer a virgin... There was a bitch (dirty street dog) in heat a few weeks ago and, oh boy, have we known!! Every night, for more than a week, Miko was crying al night long. He wasn't too happy he was not allowed to leave the compound (he'd gone missing one day for more than 2 hours... think that's when he lost his virginity). The same week, he was attacked. Had to take the poor lad to the vet to get stitched up but he's doing all better now and has calmed down.

Club Odza extended

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 13:57:00 +0000

Slowly slowly we're really creating our own little paradise here. Today we (read: Thorsten) finished the sand pit. First Thorsten made a box and painted it. Today, he went to buy the sand and we baptised the sand box. Thorsten, Denis, Sven & Kathleen (volunteers BD) and me had to do a great effort to convince Jara that it's really OK to get INTO the pit and that the sand really is NOT dirty. To Jara, all what she doesn't know, looks funny or dirt itself is "kaka". So was the sand: "kaka". But after a good sleep in the afternoon and a bit of persuation she's now fully confident that it's OK to get your hands and feet dirty with sand...

In the mean time, after many months of trial and error, we've landed with a fantastic nanny. Catherine is not only great with Jara and Lisa, she also keeps our house nice and clean, and above all, is a great cook. We hadn't really looked into the cooking bit but she loves being in the kitchen and prepares the most delicious dishes. From "Haché Parmantier" to "entrée au poireau" or a nice rice salad. Not to mention the local Folon or fish dishes. No, my new year resolution to really loose all those extra pregnancy kilo's has become a real struggle. So if we end up like fat pigs at the end of the year, it's not our fault!! Honestly!!

Living close to the bush...

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 11:20:00 +0000

I did a bit of a shocking discovery this morning while emptying the washing machine... a snake suddenly appeared in my view. Dead of course, it wouldn't survive the hot water and soap used but I suddenly got a bit scared: was it in there when I put in the laundry? How did it get there in the first place???

We figured it must have entered via the water exit or entry. Which means that even we got slippery tiles and have mosquitescreen doors, our house is still not snake free. We tried to find out if it was a poisonous snake or not, but didn't find anything so far (if you happen to know, let us know!). Thorsten put it in alcohol to preserve it so we can find out later. Up to the bookshop!

Ah well, we're living in Africa after all and close to the bush... what do you expect. And it did add some excitement to the day.

The kids are fine, although I feel like taking a discount card at the health centre. Lisa just recovered from her persisting cough when Jara fell down with fever last night. Luckily no malaria and just a troat infection. She should be up and running again in a few days.

Have a great day!

Back Home

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 10:45:00 +0000

Back home... Yes, I think we can call it home. When we see the change in Jara's mood, it's certainly home! As soon as we got back in Cameroon, Jara was a different girl: happy, cheerfull, full of jokes and crazy ideas. So THAT's what was wrong in Belgium, she just missed Cameroon. Would you blame her? Here, it's sunny - every day, we've got the paddling pool out - every day, she plays outside - every day and she can run barefoot and naked - every day!

Jara's going back to the crèche here and she recognised it immediately. Because it is a bit small, we have been hearing around for alternatives and found a new crèche that has much more space, and they have a garden and sandpit. Yesterday Jara went there for a trial day and she liked it. Came home with a drawing.

Lisa's doing fine too, despite a cold that won't go away. But she adjusted fine to the new temperature and is sleeping well - up to 5 hours in one go! May not sound so great to you, but you have to remember that Jara woke up several times every night untill she was 1 year old!! So this is a HUGE improvement for me!!! She's, as Jara was, an active girl, moves and laughs a lot. And enjoys she only needs to wear one piece of clothing.

Last weekend, we picked up the beds we had made for the kids. We ordered them in September and asked the carpenter to really let the wood dry out well before making the beds.
It is very common here (and I think in more parts in Africa) that carpenters make furniture with wet wood. Result: after a few months, or even weeks, your bookshelf, bed or whatever starts bending as the wood still 'lives'. They may tell you they use dried wood, but your doors won't close, or chairs start to wobble after a couple of months. So we found this great carpenter in Mbalmayo, about 25 km from us, who works with dried wood and made a couple of nice beds.

Thorsten has started back at work, it was quite a change, after 2 months of 'holiday'. But there is definately enough to do to keep him busy. If all goes well, I'll also start looking for work soon and hopefully will find some too!

Underneath a short video of Jara's new hobby...

So, this little update to let you know we arrived safely and have settled back in all right.

LISA is born

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 21:57:00 +0000

We are very happy with the birth of our daugther LISA on 10 November 2008! Both, Griet and Lisa are very well. The delivery was (again) rather fast and uncomplicated. Friday both got out of the hospital and we could enjoy a lovely weekend together. Jara has been absolutely beautiful with her little sister LISA. We are glad she is coping so well and hope she will stay like this. LISA had 3.380g and 51 cm, but the most amazing fact are her long feet - we have no idea where our little Bigfoot has these from. So far she is happily breastfeeding and hopefully nicely developing. We are glad we decided to deliver in Belgium as Griet had a very nice midwife and lovely nurses.

Limbe 7-13 september

noreply@blogger.com (Griet and Thorsten) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 12:04:00 +0000

Thorsten had partner visits last week in Limbe. Limbe is a small sea side town in the South West of Cameroon... So Jara and I joined and enjoyed the beach while Thorsten did his work.
Although rainy season has started, the rain mainly fell during the night. Most days were hot, humid and sunny.
Limbe is situated at the foot of Mount Cameroon, a still active volcano. Last eruption happened about 10 years ago and the lava stream passed at 200m of our hotel. It literally blocked the road. There's now an old and hardly visible signboard that warns for diversion. However if you don't know the road and arrive in darkness you might aswell end up in old scrap metal on the lava.

The beach is - thanks to the volcano - coffeeblack. It does feel a bit weird in the beginning, but Jara didn't mind at all. In contrast with Kribi, this time she couldn't get enough of 'jumping the waves'. Mummy just had to make sure she was there to catch her before going under.

We also visited the Wildlife Centre, an initiative from the Cameroon Government, in collaboration with the Pandrillus Foundation (www.limbewildlife.org). The Wildlife Centre houses several spieces of primates and other wild animals that have been rescued from the bush meat trade. Bush meat is still very popular although it is illegal to hunt for bush meat. Jara loved watching the gorillas, chimpansees (especially the baby-ones that were orphaned when there parents were caught and killed) and other animals. She has a nack of communicating with them - hilarious.

One day we went to Buea, a little town on the mountain, about an hour from Limbe. I didn't know there were 2 roads going to Buea and mistakenly guided Thorsten up the old, potholed (but very scenic) road past teaplantations and with gorgeous views. I, however, was a bit at unease and afraid I may go into labour there and then.
Buea reminds of a little hillstation, with its small winding roads. It is the startplace for treks up Mt Cameroon and by the time we left, we were in the clouds.

Now, I'm slowly slowly getting ready for my departure to Belgium next week. I'm sad to leave Odza but I'll be relieved when I'm safe and sound on Belgian ground. I just don't want anything to happen to me while I'm here!