Griet, Thorsten, Jara and Lisa

Birthday's at the beach

2011-11-19T11:28:00.001+01:00

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

2011-10-10T14:34:00.006+01:00

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

2011-06-06T14:42:00.008+01:00

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?

2011-06-01T16:53:00.002+01:00

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!

2011-03-07T17:06:00.004+01:00

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.

2011-01-03T16:35:00.000+01:00

Sinterklaas

2010-12-06T19:34:00.004+01:00

Sinterklaas or St Nicolas is big in Belgium and Holland, very big. He's even so huge he came all the way to Cameroon to visit all the children that had been good throughout the year. All who had been good got a present, who wasn't didn't.

So Jara obviously had doubts whether she'd get something - who's never naughty heh?

Also, we'd been coaching Jara all week (several months actually) to give her pacifier/dummy/tut tut to Sinterklaas. So he could give it to another small baby who hasn't got one.
Big was our surprise she actually gave it herself! Very proud of our little big girl now.
Luckily she did get a present afterwards - after giving away her tut tut, she definitely deserved it.

Lisa didn't seem to think too much of Sinterklaas and his helpers - although she didn't want to come too close either :-)

The nights without the dummy have been fine. We've had a lot of ups and a few downs but I think she's made it now. A hell of a milestone has been taken last week!

In the mean time, also our Christmas plans have changed. We were due to travel to the extreme north of Cameroon with some friends, but unforeseen circumstances have made us change this. Jara and Lisa have been asking for their grandparents (and the grandparents for them) so we decided on the spur of the moment to book tickets to Germany. It'll be nice: gluhwine, christmas markets, central heating, snow, hot latte with chocolate,... Don't want to think of the running noses, cold feet and frozen fingers just yet...

Kid's playground in our place

2010-11-13T20:50:00.021+01:00

In our last blog we already mentioned that we have felt like being in a roller coaster for the past months. Lots of things have had changed but all definately to the better. We are very glad with the new house and enjoy living in the neighbourhood of our friends. No more daily hassle with all the yellow taxi drivers on daily commutes.

Both Jara and Lisa love to paint! Initially they paint on paper or pots, but at a later stage they usually end up to train for the body paint competition. Well I think they are on a pretty good way to win...

In the meantime we have had also time to enjoy lots of quality time with our kids and friends and have even managed starting our own little playground in our garden. Thorsten has far too many ideas to find excuses to do some woodworks, while Griet needs to entertain the two angles alone. But at least we have now a wonderful slide and climbing tower! Kid's love it! See for yourself in the pics.

After the roller coaster

2010-10-05T14:41:00.012+01:00

It's been a while... yet again. And as Julie pointed out as a comment on the last posting, it's time to add some news.

Since June, I feel like we've been on a roller coaster and it's finally slowing down (that's a good thing!).
Jara and Lisa started the summer holidays in Bietigheim, Germany with Oma and Opa Huber. Thorsten had 6 weeks of training at the GTZ head quarters so it was the ideal opportunity for the girls to spend some extra (bonding) time with their grandparents. The grandparents enjoyed it at least as much, if not more, to be in charge of our precious little princesses. I stayed behind in Cameroon as I was working and had a few busy weeks ahead - a military health conference in Yaounde and a GEIS retreat in Kenya.
I had never been to Kenya before so it was a welcome change and distraction. I enjoyed getting to know my colleagues from the US and Cameroon from a different angle - the retreat was very relaxed, laid back and on the beach...

Beginning of August, I joined my family in Belgium and had a very short but intense visit. We also met our new nephew Mats (son of Dries and Grietje) who was born in December. He was baptized while we were there and Jara and Lisa enjoyed playing hide and seek and showing him the tricks of the trade.

Once back in Cameroon, we moved houses and are so much more enjoying living in the centre now. No more roadblocks, no more trying to avoid drunken policemen at night, no more spending hours and hours in traffic jam. We're happy people. We're living in a very nice and quiet neighbourhood, residential street and lots of friends around the corner. And we've got a swing!

Jara started kindergarten on the 1st September and she's loving every minute of it. She was very pleased to see there were scissors in the classroom because this meant she was gonna WORK! Also Lisa is going to the creche 3 days a week.
Jara and Lisa have developed soo much over the last few months. Jara's become a cascade of words in a mixture of 3-4 languages, but she definitely manages to get her message across. Sometimes the way she thinks is just hilarious. Lisa's also speaking lots, mostly copying Jara and every word you say.. time to watch our language! Physically, she's got no fear and loves climbing high structures and balancing on the cords. They also learn to play together much more and it's nice to see how they engage in their role plays - Jara the bossy teacher, Lisa the caring mother of her little bear.

Changes, lots of changes

2010-06-14T19:40:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since our last blog update and a lot has happened since.
Thorsten's parents have been to visit and especially the girls enjoyed their company. Due to several reasons and circumstances, we were not able to do the traveling we had planned. But they were very understanding and loved spending time with the girls. Thorsten took them and the girls to Limbe for a few days - which they enjoyed a lot. They made themselves at home in our home and helped out with whatever they could - Thank you!

Most of you know, that I, Griet, have been waiting to hear about a job coming through. Well... It has finally happened!! A few months later than expected but still. By the end of May, I finally heard my contract came through and I could start working for HJFMRI (Henry M. Jackson Foundation Medical Research International), an American not-for-profit organisation that supports medical research in developing countries. Here in Cameroon, I am the program manager for the Avian and Pandemic Influenza Surveillance Program funded by DoD-GEIS (Department of Defence Global Emerging Infections Surveillance Program). We support 2 labs that do the research, one in Buea and one in Yaounde. Together with the Centre Pasteur du Cameroon are they the sole laboratories that conduct research in this field.
I have to say - it does take time getting used to going back to work full time, after a few years break (studying, having children, moving around) but I enjoy the welcome change and challange.

Also Thorsten is changing jobs. As you all know, Broederlijk Delen (BD) is moving out of Cameroon so Thorsten's contract would come to an end in March 2011. And in this sector, the jobs are not always plenty so Thorsten started applying on time with the result that he'll start working for GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit) from the 1st July. Although BD is sad to see him leave, it's a great opportunity and we're both happy to be working and living in Cameroon a little while longer. What Thorsten's new job is all about, I'll let him explain :-)

With the new jobs comes also the fact we have to move to the town centre. We have been contemplating moving for a long time, although we will miss our little paradise. But commuting to town has become impossible due to increasing traffic. On top of that, they're closing the roads on a weekly basis these days which sometimes prevents us from leaving our house the whole day. And Jara's starting school in September - which is also in town. But I will look forward living closer to our friends and not having to loose 2 hours a day on school/crèche runs only.

Enough about the parents, Jara and Lisa then. They're both doing great. Jara is still a princess with a strong character. She's very stubborn and knows what she wants (or not want for that matter)(it must run in the family, somewhere). The best way to get her to do something or listen is to make a deal. On the other hand, she's incredibly gentle and sweet with Lisa (who's cutting 4 teeth at the moment), gives her her bear or a bottle of milk when Lisa's crying. They've also become very close and play together a lot. Lisa's usually copying Jara, which sometimes leads to hilarious situations and Jara's usually bossing Lisa around. Lisa's is a very easy gentle child who can play on her own for ages. Where Jara will make a scene when she bangs her head, Lisa will say "Aw, bobo"(french baby language for pain), rub her head and will continue her game. She's tough!

We're moving

2010-04-21T12:05:00.000+01:00

That's it! We're moving!

We're sick and tired of the road closures, distance to town, school and friends. Jara and Lisa helped us creating and decorating our new home...
They did also a bit of decorating themselves...

Easter in the tropics

2010-04-07T17:43:00.000+01:00

Easter this year is easy to describe:
good friends, lots of sun, pool, too much chocolate, beer and coffee, jeu de boules,

Saturday we went decorating eggs and needless to say Jara did not want to rinse her hands in the pouring rain. Interstingly enough, she did not mind getting paint all over herself.

The easter-egg-hunt was a big hit - even with Miko (our dog) who found some more chocolate the day after...

no comment...

2010-03-17T11:36:00.000+01:00

business as usual

2010-03-17T11:32:00.000+01:00

We went to Kribi (sea side) a few weeks ago but forgot our camera... Ah well, at least it could not fall in the water.
This time it was a great success (so no time to take pictures anyway). Jara and Lisa enjoyed the sea, were not so afraid of the waves anymore - I even had to run out to Jara one time as she was running in to the sea and would have been caught badly by the waves if I hadn't caught her just in time. Lisa, our little tomboy, enjoyed being splashed and didn't mind the waves at all (which resulted in a painful ear-condition for 10 days after wards...).
Every morning, next to our hotel, fishermen went out in the sea to bring back the catch of the day. Jara and Lisa enjoyed the attention they got ("oh, ce sont des jumelles?" "mais qu'elles sont mignonnes", etc) and Thorsten and I were curious as to what they caught. Disappointing actually. Thanks to (or better despite of) big international fishing companies, there's nothing left to catch for the local fishermen. We saw several nets being pulled in and each time there was nothing worth selling. A few tiny fish (I mean tiny - 5-10 cm long), a few jelly fish and a crab or two was about the average.

At home, things are business as usual. Thorsten's in Belgium for the annual reflection days of Broederlijk Delen - the last for him as BD is closing down in Cameroon by next year. Jara enjoys her "toute petite section" (kindergarten) and Lisa joins her 2 days a week in the creche. They are growing up remarkably fast and engage in role play's together (where it is usually Jara who instructs Lisa and Lisa who, more often than not, refuses to become Jara's servant).

The rainy season has started and when I was on my way to the creche this morning, the river Mfoundi had overflown (is this correct English?). The water was knee deep at certain places and I could only be grateful not to have to be in a taxi...

A belated Happy New Year!

2010-01-28T15:22:00.000+01:00

We're not yet February, so I suppose I'm not yet too late to wish every one a happy, great, full of challenges, wishes-come-true and colourful New Year.
We started the year well and are looking forward to an interesting and eventfull 2010.

So what happened?
In December, Griet's parents came from Uganda to celebrate Xmas and New Year with us. We started the holiday with a party at home, full of friends and nice weather:

After everyone recovered, we set of to Kumbo, with a few days stop-over in Foumban.
In Foumban, we visited the Sultan's palace (the Sultan still lives there today with his numerous wives), enjoyed the scenery and the kids had a blast on the playground. It was especially nice being with the family and even though Jara and Lisa don't see/hear the grandparents all that much, they take to them within a few hours every time.

Christmas and Christmas eve, we spent in Kumbo. Due to unforeseen circumstances we spent the days in a pastoral centre, which has the charm of an old and rundown boarding school without water (and if, only icecold)... But the scenery was beautiful. The weather was crisp and clear in the mornings, nice and warm in the afternoons.

Then came the phone call we were all dreading – things were not going well at all with Griet’s grandmother and Frans en Lut had to rush to Belgium. Luckily, they managed to get on a flight the same day and were able to see Moeke, spend some time with her and say goodbye. Moeke passed away a few minutes after the fireworks on New Year’s Eve – May you have found your peace now Moeke, we will miss you.

Since we had plans to meet friends for New Year in Buea and Limbe, we decided to go anyway. Although the day was overshadowed by the news from Moeke, it was great spending the time with good friends.

Lisa's walking

2009-11-22T21:50:00.000+01:00

I just wanted to share this video with you!

girls only!

2009-11-22T21:27:00.000+01:00

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

2009-10-01T10:14:00.000+01:00

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!

2009-09-16T10:24:00.000+01:00

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...

2009-09-07T09:37:00.000+01:00

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

2009-08-31T14:04:00.000+01:00

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!

2009-08-31T11:08:00.000+01:00

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

2009-05-19T10:13:00.000+01:00

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)!

2009-05-12T14:03:00.000+01:00

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

2009-05-06T14:49:00.000+01:00

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

2009-04-26T11:05:00.000+01:00

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)!!

2009-04-26T09:41:00.000+01:00

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

2009-04-24T10:48:00.000+01:00

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

2009-04-15T13:02:00.000+01:00

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

2009-04-13T11:13:00.000+01:00

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....

2009-03-17T19:02:00.000+01:00

...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

2009-03-15T21:15:00.000+01:00

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

2009-03-13T19:25:00.000+01:00

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

2009-03-10T14:02:00.000+01:00

Jara and Lisa are full of life! See below:

Nothing special

2009-03-03T20:44:00.000+01:00

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

2009-02-07T14:57:00.000+01:00

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...

2009-01-26T12:20:00.000+01:00

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

2009-01-15T11:45:00.000+01:00

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

2008-11-16T22:57:00.001+01:00

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

2008-09-17T13:04:00.000+01:00

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!

My work in Cameroun

2008-08-03T16:37:00.000+01:00

Since march 2008 I am now in Cameroun as the country representative for Broederlijk Delen (BD). Having worked the previous 7 years in the forestry sector (mainly on Community Forestry or FLEGT policy work) I am grateful to be back in my real domain - the agricultural sector. BD is supporting 15 local partners in the field of sustainable rural development. For logistical and development reasons BD focuses on three regions in Cameroon - the Extreme North, North West and the great Center-South. Most of our partners are small organizations working directly with farmer groups and associations.
In the past weeks I have visited most of my partners and could learn about their work. During my trips I could experience with my own eyes the huge diversity we have in Cameroon. The Extreme North reminds me very much of the Senegambia. I felt like I have returned to my roots in Africa, seeing the wide open Sahel plains with groundnut fields, donkeys, mud houses and experiencing the hot days. The only real difference for me was that the majority in Cameroon is Christian, whereas West Africa is Islamic. So I had the permanent urge to use the Islamic greetings 'Salam Alaikum' but soon realized that this was the wrong place. Life in the Extreme North is rather difficult as it is very dry and the nature harsh. It seems however, that the harshness of the life is compensated by the warmth of the people and a very 'no-nonsense' appeal. Most of our partners in the Extreme North are around Maroua and work on the improvement of the soil and agricultural production, the marketing aspect of the products, and the strengthening of farmer groups and organizations with the aim to improve the lives of the people. The real threat to the lives there is the ongoing desertivication and with it the further destruction of valuable and scarce agricultural land. [To be continued...]

Greetings from Kribi

2008-07-31T09:40:00.000+01:00

Looked forward to it for weeks, counted the days... and now it's already over... our (long) weekend trip to Kribi. Especially Griet looked forward to leave Odza and its surroundings. Thorsten has had his share of partner visits the last few months and has been in North Western, South Western, Extreme Nord and Central provinces. He has already seen the sahel, mountains and pygmeés. No wonder Griet was getting itchy feet to leave. But 4 days in Kribi have made up for it!
4 days of relaxing, strolling along the beach, fantastic seafood, playing games, reading or doing absolutely nothing. The sea was too rough to swim, but Jara wasn't too keen to get her feet wet anyway - the big waves were a bit scary. Els, a BD volunteer from Ngoumou joined us for this trip before getting ready to return to Belgium.

Jara provided enough entertainment though: the first day we removed a tumbofly from her bum. A tumbofly or mangofly lays its eggs in clothes that are hanging to dry, especially under mangotrees. If the clothes are not well ironed (like the elastic of your knickers), the hatched maggot enters your skin and lives of you. It looks like a pimple, except it has a black tip.
The second day, Jara suddenly got feverish but the fever went down the next day - probably teething, the poor kid is getting 2 molars at once!!

Now we're back at home in Odza and it has to be said, there is no place like home!

Club Odza

2008-07-04T15:36:00.000+01:00

We are getting more and more settled at home: the fence is finished hence Jara can play safely outside, all our luggage has arrived - now with the babypool we feel like holiday every day, and we've got fast internet!! The vegetable garden is growing well, we've had already a nice cucumber to eat and harvest beans every day. The gras we planted is less of a succes. The ants and birds were eating it faster than we could plant it... but we'll try a different technique.

Geraldine, our new nanny is great. In the mornings, when Jara's gone to the crèche, she cleans and irons and in the afternoon, she looks after Jara when I want some time for other things (like updating this blog for example).

And today our dog arrived...

Miko (that's how we baptised him, can't remember his italian name) arrived today and feels at home already. It's a young Cameroonian dog whose previous owners are leaving to go back to Rome. But as Miko only understand - a bit of - Italian, and as we don't, we'll have to change his language. Knowing us, it'll be a mixture of German, Dutch and French. He'll also still need some potty training and learn NOT to eat shoes, toys or the swimmingpool. On the good side, he's used to eat everything: from vegetables to plantain (fried banana's), bread and other left-overs.

This morning, Milan came to play and it was great watching them play in the pool.

A few weeks ago, Cameroon held a CEMAC (Conférence Monetaire d'Afrique Central) meeting for its memberstates. To show a bit of power politics, the road to and from the airport was closed for most of the day when the high officials (mainly presidents) arrived and left again a few days later. And we live... en route de l'aeroport...
It was a bit of a hassle and took some patience and strong nerves as I had to pick up Jara from the crèche the day the officials left. Luckely I was able to get to there in the first place, but to get back it took me over an hour (the crèche is 10 min away) of driving to and fro the different access roads, discussing with the policemen, gendarmerie and presidential guards to convince them that I really wasn't going to the airport, I didn't even need to cross that one crucial junction. It's amazing how one person can close a capital down, get all military staff available to stand at every single junction between the Hilton Hotel and the airport for a whole day. What would have happened if we needed emergency health care?? Don't want to think about that he.

Cameroon –just arrived

2008-05-20T20:08:00.000+01:00

Not much yet to tell really. Except that the weather is great: cool nights, warm to hot days and a shower every couple of days to wash everything clean (including the inside of the car as we forgot to close the windows…)

Materialistic as we are, I’m gonna start with our house: It’s a great place, newly built (which means not a manicured garden as yet…), with a big garden and on the outskirts of Yaounde. But within 20-30 min drive of the city centre. Water and electricity are mostly present – we’ve had a couple of power and water cuts but mainly due to technical problems rather than availability. On the picture below, you see our house on the left and the office and guesthouse on the right. Both are connected with a great terrace.

Jara’s doing fine. Is enjoying running around naked or just a nappy and having a lot of space. A difficult sleeper as she always has been, the nights are not too bad! We’re getting a couple of nights through every so often – hopefully that will become regular before too long. We’re in the process to look for a crèche or something similar which would be good for Jara. She misses her Bangkok –buddies!! Luckily, with us arrived another couple with a son, only a few months older than Jara. We meet up with them at least once a week to let the children have a good play.

We have explored Yaounde a couple of times and no, it’s not Bangkok, nor Ghent or Stuttgart. But if you look, you can find everything. Before leaving Belgium for example, we were warned to bring a water filter as they don’t have them in Cameroon. As they are impossible to find in Belgium, we had one send to us the week before we left from Germany, at great expense. On our first outing in Yaounde, what do we see… dozens of water filters for sale at a fraction of the price we paid in Europe… future travellers, be warned!

Work wise, Thorsten is getting settled well and looking forward to the coming partner visits with trips into the country. I haven’t really started looking for fulltime paid positions as we have another baby coming in November. So far I’m feeling fine and have had no problems. Where I’ll be for the delivery is not decided yet. We’re trying to figure out the options and if possible I would like to deliver here. But we’ll see.

Pai - Mae Hong Son

2008-02-11T12:03:00.000+01:00

Leaving Thailand for good, it must be done in style. So we decided to go for the last 10 days to the North of Thailand and do 'the Pai- Mae Hong Son Loop'. It was well worth it.

We set of to Chiang Mai and rent a car from there. Arriving in Pai, we decide it is such a nice chilled out place, we hang out there for 5 nights - oops! Half of our holiday gone and we haven't started properly... The fact we were staying in a beautiful place in the middle of the rice fields (http://www.thecountrysidepai.com/en/index.php) may have had something to do with it. Pai is a great place to do day treks from. With Jara we were obviously limited in what we could do, but we managed to visit a couple of so called 'coffin caves', drove to and through hill tribe villages and made a few walks in the villages and rice fields.

Arriving in Mae Hong Son, we immediately realized that if we would not have stayed 5 days in Pai, we would have done it in Mae Hong Son (http://www.sangtonghuts.com/index.html). MHS attracts lots of hill tribes who come to sell their local produce in town. There are lots of influences of Myanmar (Shan temples, Shan kitchen etc) which brought back memories of Griet's friends of Myanmar during her study. We also went to the Myanmar border and stuck our hand into Myanmar - didn't dare to cross the border as there was no-one there but a watch post a bit further and you never know if they are watching you with their binoculars.

Another great outing was visiting the Long-neck Karen or Padaung Karen village. They came into Thailand years ago, fleeing Burma and their refugee camps have become their home. Jara was as much an attraction to them, as they were to us. The same happened in every hill tribe village we passed. Jara was often almost pulled out of our arms, so keen were they to pick her up. And to be honest, it made it much easier to make contact and take pictures too!

In the Doi Inthanon National Park we stayed in a village-run place. The funny thing was that they cultivated their own coffee in the Karen village, which we could go and taste but the guest house only served instant Nescafé...

Al in all it was the perfect way to say goodbye to Thailand. We will go back but it won't be for the first couple of years.
Now, we are getting ready to move to Cameroon and start our new life there. Thorsten will leave for Yaoundé 2nd March but has to come back to Belgium for work in April already. So Griet and Jara will join him at the beginning of May, when the 3 of us will go back together and start the new adventure.

X-mas in Uganda

2008-02-10T14:30:00.000+01:00

When you live in Thailand, Tourist destination no 1, why would you go to spend X-mas in Uganda?

We came from Thailand, Thorsten's parents, sister and niece from Germany and Griet's sister from Belgium and we all met at the Kenis- residence in Wakiso (house of Griet's parents, who live there), near Kampala.

After a few days of adjusting to the weather and jetlag, we took off in a minivan to meet Santa Claus in Fort Portal, walk around the Crater lakes in Nkuruba, search for lions (failed), hippo's (succeeded) and elephants (succeeded) in Queen Elizabeth National Park and get lost in the markets in Kampala.
We were very lucky with the weather and the electricity - I think the Ugandan government provided a X-mas special. Only once or twice did we have dinner by candle light.

At the end of the holiday, Thorsten and I took a 2-day honeymoon in Jinja at the sources of the Nile and left Jara in the good hands of my parents... She didn't blink once. Think she didn't even notice we were gone... Due to the problems in Kenya and the fuel shortage in Uganda we managed to get a ride both ways although it wasn't always sure we'd get back.

We all suffered a bit of the usual holiday disturbances which make you run to the loo several times at night but it never interrupted our itinerary. Having 2 babies with us ensured that we took it easy and therefore were able to enjoy more as you can see in the pictures.
Luckily Jara and Sophia did not complain about 'too long hikes'. They joined willingly.

A girlie holiday in Krabi

2007-10-26T09:17:00.000+01:00

Through lucky unforeseen circumstances my mum (Griets mum that is) ended up coming to Thailand for a week to join me for a nice holiday in Krabi - women only!

As you can see on the pictures below, Krabi's scenery is wonderful and the beach is never far away... We just relaxed, snorkeled, swam in the ocean and swimming pool, played games, read books and just enjoyed being with each other. Jara just loved the water and would have stayed in it all day long if it wasn't for the hunger now and then - and breastfeeding in the water, not sure about that!

One had to take a long tail boat to get to the peninsula in the first place but Jara didn't mind at all. All she could do was smile and chat away. She obviously enjoyed the 24h attention she got from grandma... and grandma enjoyed Jara...

We were so lucky with the weather as this time of year Krabi has the highest rainfall... But we had rain only once and it was in the evening.

And now the added bonus: as we were ready to board the plane to go back to Bangkok, Thorsten called to say that he has a job in Yaoundé, Cameroun for early next year... So we're getting ready here for our new adventure!!

Holidays, wedding and much more

2007-09-28T03:26:00.000+01:00

Jara's been growing soooo fast, you would not believe it. When she was 6 weeks old (it seems like yesterday) Thorsten's parents came for a visit to Thailand. 2 weeks of helpful hands, traveling and lots of advice. It was wonderful.

We decided to do some traveling in proximity of Bangkok, just to get the hang of it (traveling with a baby that is). A visit to Khao Yai National Park was on the top of our list. We've been in Thailand for more than 2 years and we never made it... shame on us!
We stayed in a lovely place amidst the green hills of Khao Yai en enjoyed the surrounding nature and wildlife. Jara (who has always been a difficult sleeper at night) slept wonderfully in this fresh air.

As we were up that end of Thailand we decided to come back to Bangkok via Buriram, a restored Khmer site à la Angkor Wat. Also Thailand has quite a number of ruins from that era and some Thais even claim that Angkor Wat in Cambodia belongs to them... Nevertheless, whoever it belongs to, these sites are beautiful and absolutely worth a visit.

After spending a few days in the jungle, it was time to wash off all the insects at the beach in Hua Hin. We went back to Jara's birth place and paid a visit at the hospital wing where she was born. The nurses we delighted to see how much she had grown in these few weeks.

Again we stayed in a lovely place and there the idea grew of spending the next Christmas together in Uganda, where Griet's parents live. As of now, the tickets and accommodations are booked and we are looking forward to land on African soil.

Once Thorsten's parents left it was time for Griet to organise her wedding dress... Which was an adventure on its own, not the least finding a tailor who can sew a proper dress ('Thai style' wedding dresses are very, very glittery and extremely tightly stitched together so you can barely move, let alone dance!).

Although Thailand is the country of custom made clothes, Thorsten also needed some encouragement to get his suit tailor made. However, it all worked out well in the end.

At the beginning of July, Griet flew to Belgium with Jara where her mum met her at the airport, arriving from Uganda the same time. We needed the extra weeks to finalise the wedding preparations... ever tried organising a wedding from a distance (Griet and Thorsten in Thailand, Thorsten's parents in Germany, Griet's parents in Uganda and the wedding to be held in Belgium)?

It was also a time for Griet's family to meet Jara and Jara to meet her relatives.

The wedding itself was wonderful. The Weather Gods were extremely kind and provided us with Bangkok-like temperatures. Most of our friends from all regions of the world came to Belgium for this day.

The service was beautiful, plenty of good food and drinks and non-stop dancing.

It was so nice to meet again with all the friends we met during our stay and work in The Gambia, UK, Germany and Belgium. The fact that people made an effort to come from so far away (some came from as far Mexico, Afghanistan, Ecuador and Cameroon) made it an unforgettable day.

The next day we had an "after party" for those that came from furthest away and that was as much fun as the wedding day itself. It gave us an opportunity to have some more time for our friends, finish the leftovers from the party and have a BBQ.

Before we knew it, the holiday was over. Now we're back in Bangkok and for Griet, the job search has begun. It's great, looking after Jara full time, but one needs to find a job at some point...

Since we are back we have been able to go away for a weekend to Vientiane, Laos and again, a very nice place to be... wouldn't mind finding a job there...
It is, just as Luang Prabang in the North of Laos, a very laid back place where you can stroll along the Mekong River, have pint and good French food.

Last weekend we went off with the Bangkok House Hash Bikers (http://www.bangkokbikehash.com) to Nakhon Nayok (towards the Khao Yai National Park). Thorsten did the biking, I did the swimming in the pool with Jara instead.
It was a very nice weekend away, among lots of trees and fresh air. The right environment to reload our batteries for another couple of weeks Bangkok. Because in 3 weeks time we head off to Krabi - another one of these places we've never been...- for 5 days beach, sea and sun (although it's rainy season, we have ordered good weather).

Jara

2007-04-27T09:02:00.000+01:00

Jara (pronounced 'Yara') was born on 15th April 2007 (or 2550, BE).
It was Songkran public holidays (Thai New Year) and we decided to go on a little holiday in Hua Hin (200km south of Bangkok). I had been to the doc the day before departure and been given all-clear to go on holiday. Oh boy, how things turned out differently!
To be honest, we did make the decision to go to Hua Hin as it has hospitals where staff is likely to speak some English (Hua Hin is a major tourist destination in Thailand, especially popular among the expat community of Bangkok) and we had rented a car, 'just-in-case'. Of course never bothered to actually check out any hospitals or take any baby stuff with us.

So on the 15th, we were (like one does on holiday) hanging out by the pool, having a nice cup of coffee and a cheese cake, played some games, read some books... a very relaxing holiday! In the late afternoon on Sunday eve , we were walking down the streets of Hua Hin when around 5.30 pm I suddenly realise I am wetting my pants ... Only, I can't really stop it and slowly it dawns to me that it is more than just wetting my pants.
I tell Thorsten we better get this checked in the hospital... hmm, what hospital should we go to?

Decided to go to the Marriott Hotel and ask where they would send tourists for emergencies (hoping to get one of the better hospitals in town recommended). They send us to the (only) private hospital in Hua Hin.

After arriving at the hospital, the doctor initially wanted to examine me in a full and bussy ER room... I kindly refused. After examination (in a seperate examination room) the doctor decided that, yes, it had started, but it could still take anything from 6 to 20 hours before the baby is born. So can we still make it to Bangkok then? Yes, if you leave now now.
At that time, I wasn't really having real contractions yet, just some back ache. So we drive to the hotel (which was actually another 20 km south of Hua Hin) to pack and go. But... on the way, I suddenly got very, very strong contractions, very close to each other. I remember watching the clock in the car and realizing the contractions weren't spaced out as they had told me they would be (more like every minute rather than every 20 minutes!). I told Thorsten to go straight back to that hospital, I was sure I wouldn't make it to Bangkok.

And indeed, upon arrival at the hospital again (about 1.5h later) it became quite clear I would never have made it to Bangkok as by the time it was 10.07 pm, Jara was born (4.5 h after my waters broke).

It surely was a bit of an adventure as with the language barrier you're never really sure how much the person has understood of what you say.
In Bangkok, we had to sign up for a 'birth package' where you choose how you want to deliver (natural birth, natural birth with pain relief, Ceasarian section, etc) and it is well known that the number of C-sections are exeptionally high (especially in private hospitals). Often the woman chooses for an elective C-section but equally often, the doctor decides to do a C-section and you're never sure whether it's medically appropriate or whether it's for the doctor's convenience (faster, more money).
So when we got to the hospital in Hua Hin, we made it very clear from the beginning that we did not want a C-section unless things were going wrong. I had a bit of a scare when the doctor was examining my belly and said 'hm, the baby is very big' (which is a classic in Bangkok to do C-section).

But there was no need for our worries, the doctor was very nice and gentle and did respect our wishes (and spoke English!).

Although the hospital staff was kind, there were still things that disturbed us a bit and made us feel uncomfortable. Thorsten, for example, was initally constantly being guided away from me, out of the room. Until he made it quite clear that he was going to be IN the room the whole time. In Thailand, though, childbirth is a 'women thing'. Thai men do not assist their women; it's the woman's mother or/and sister that accompany them during this time. For me of course, I was having none of it!

Unfortunately some of the staff didn't speak any English at all (and our Thai isn't very good either), which led to some misunderstandings. For example, when I asked if I could come and learn when they were going to wash and dress Jara, the nurse said very politely 'wait a moment please' and the next thing I know, she comes back with Jara all nicely washed and dressed...

In the hospital, Jara got a 'goody bag' with some nappies and... 2(!) tins of formula milk. That really shocked us. Especially since I learned that most hospitals in Thailand are "baby friendly hospitals (BHF)" where 90% of the women exclusively breastfeeds their baby in the hospital. To qualify for a BFH the hospital has to comply with 10 steps, which include informing the mothers about the breastfeeding benefits and management, show mothers how to breastfeed, give newborns NO other food or drink other than breastmilk unless medically indicated, encourage breastfeeding on demand, help mother breastfeeding within a half-hour of birth etc.
In Hua Hin however, that was not the case. I had to insist right after birth to put Jara at my breast, and still then they took her away for washing, measuring etc. , nobody showed me how to breastfeed Jara and the nurses wanted to give Jara formula milk (since it as a free goody) from day 1. Luckely Jara stayed in my room so we could watch over her.

All in all, it was a good experience, the staff was nice and it showed us that however good you are prepared and set up to have your baby, it may not go as planned...

Now, almost 2 weeks later, we slowly slowly start to figure things out on our own (missed the prenatal classes, didn't have a clue on how to wash a newborn by the time we got home, etc...).
And as a friend of us said: you come home with the baby and there's no manual that comes with it... you have to figure it out on your own.

So that's what we do and it's a great experience!

Griet's trip to Uganda

2007-03-11T03:42:00.000+01:00

My MPH (Masters in Public Health) is slowly slowly coming to an end. But before ending it, I have to do a research study in a related field. I am (as the majority of PH professionals) interested in the still growing HIV/AIDS problem, I have an undying love for Africa and have my parents currently living in Uganda... So it became quite fast pretty clear where I would do my research. The one thing that could have caused problems was my pregnancy... would it be to late for me to fly?

Well, I got back about a week ago and I have had an amazing time. Both on professional and personal accounts.

The topic of my research is male condom use among female in-school adolescents. Upon our arrival in Fort Portal, where we conducted the study, everything was organised. The local NGO I was working with had contacted all the schools, we could stay with colleagues of my dad and could use their car. The first day we did all the official visits to District Offices and Municipalities and the second day we could start collecting the data.

Already during the data collection and when going through the questionnaires later on, it became very clear there is a great lack of information and even more misconceptions on condom use, HIV transmission, reproductive health and so on. 18-19 years olds who ask about how their menstrual cycle works, 15-16 years olds who are worried about abstaining from sex because they've been told that if they abstain till 20 or older, they would have problems producing children. Cultural beliefs and misconceptions make the girls believe that using condoms will cause cancer, having sex while standing will prevent them from becoming pregnant or that they can get their virginity back by taking some herbs. Others were told that if they have sex as a virgin, they cannot get HIV nor pregnant.
About 40% doesn't know that mosquito's do not transmit HIV and only less than half knows you cannot get HIV through kissing. About 23% (nearly 1/4th!) believes that semen does not transmit HIV.
A girl asked me "I went for HIV testing 3 times. The first 2 times they told me I was negative, the last time they said I was positive. What does that mean?"

Another major problem in the society are schoolfees. Although president Museveni implemented the Universal Secondary Education (USE) while we were there, still a lot of the students we worked with had paid their schoolfees as the school year had started before the launch of the USE (provision of free secondary education). Because of the risk of rape on the way to and from school, a lot of famlies want to send their girls to boarding schools, which in return are more expensive. Often girls are promised 'gifts' or their schoolfees paid in exchange of sexual intercourse. These men are often a lot older and their HIV status is not known. The girls have no power to deny sex without condoms as they would not get their 'gifts' or schoolfees paid.
One girl asked me "there is a man who wants to have sex with me but he is infected, how can I be protected?"
And I can go on like this forever!

Apart from the research, I also had the opportunity to spend some time with my parents, which was very valuable. We did a lot of talking and catching up on each other lives as well as visiting some nice places like Queen Elisabeth National Park and the Crater Lakes near the Rwenzori mountains.

As the time drew closer for me to leave for Bangkok, I must say, I did get a bit anxious about the flight. Although I did have a medical certificate that it was safe for me to fly, Ethiopian Airlines does have the habit of refusing pregnant women beyond 6 months on the plane. But luckely this did not happen.

Back in Bangkok, I needed to adjust to the overwhelming heat and concrete jungle of roads and bridges. But it felt good to be back.

We wish you a Happy New Year 2007!

2007-01-13T13:03:00.000+01:00

This year will be extremely exciting for us with lot's of changes. Griet will finish her Masters in Public Health in April, our baby will be born in May, we will marry in August and then go off on Honeymoon probably September or October.

We wish you all a very exciting year too and hope you stay healthy, have something interesting to do and enjoy your life. Our thoughts are with you all and we hope seeing you all this year!

Griet and Thorsten

Our Year 2006

2007-01-06T11:10:00.000+01:00

I remember telling to Griet that 2006 will be 'our' year. I don't know why I knew it but I had this gut-feeling and should be proven right. It was an excellent and exciting year and I thought I share some of our moments of 2006 with you.

January

We had a a fabulous start into 2006 as we stayed with friends (Sophie, Sven, Rikke, Jenny and Derek) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. We just had returned from Con Dao Island and enjoyed a couple of nice days in the city at their home. Next stop was Hanoi in the North where we met up with Nicole, my (Thorsten) sister. It was a nice coincidence Nicole had decided to fly over from Manila to visit Vietnam at the same time. So we had a little family reunion.

Mid January we went to Europe for a short visit to visit our families. On a short stopover in UK we visited some of our friends there and I surprised Griet with a ticket to a 'Cirque du Soleil' performance in the Royal Albert Hall in London. There we also decided that we know each other well enough to get married! However we decided also to take it easy with the wedding and postponed the ceremony to 2007.

February

We had a couple of lovely visitors from UK at our place in Bangkok and so much enjoyed their company. Elaine, Jenny and Derek made our time so shortwhile with their presence and we loved having them around. Amazing how much we laughed and what fun we had.
For Thorsten it was also the month he got a new manager at work. After much time without any direct manager Mark's arrival was a welcome one. In the meantime he has proven himself a fantastic manager and working under him is a pleasure.

March

Griet had a hard time during the last half year or so as she could not find a job in Bangkok. Unfortunately Thailand has a relatively strict labour market for foreigners and it is rather difficult finding jobs in the health sector. Luckily Griet came across an advertisement for a Masters in Public Health (MPH) offered by Mahidol University in Bangkok. She enrolled and started the pre-course in March. This course has catapulted her from a relative calme to an extremely busy live schedule. Since then her free weekends and evenings are of past memories and the words 'nothing to do' are history. In April 2007 she is expected to complete the course, something Griet is very much looking forward to.

April

In April Thorsten took on a permanent position as Country Program Coordinator at RE COFTC, the organisation he had worked for as secondee of DFID. He has a two year contract and is glad he can work longer for the organisation as he really enjoy working with them. The decision to stay was however not easy. Bangkok is an exciting city but not if you are unemployed. Therefore we are both glad Griet enrolled for the Masters and is occupied with something that is of interest to her.

With a friend of ours - Tanu - we made a stunning jungle trek in the South of Thailand. That was so amazing that it is difficult to describe in words. We actually stayed in the middle of the forest in our own tents and mosquito nets and enjoyed the company of millions of bugs and other insects. We were accompanied by a couple of village boys who went out for hunting. They returned with our breakfast a couple of hours later: loads of Mountain Frogs. We have to say they tasted delicious. We also bumped into a group of Sak Gai - a nomadic tribe living in the dense forests of Southern Thailand and Malaysia. That was very surreal as their features resemble the ones of Africans far more than Thais. They were such lovely people living in and from the forest without any modern amenities. The only luxury was some local tobacco for the cigarettes. Very little is known about the Sak Gai and many Thais themsleve have never heard of them. Thailand has a range of different ethinc groups and tribes with the Aka, Karen and Mongs being the more known ones. Unfortunately the remaining native forests in Southern Thailand are declining and with that the livelihoods of the Sak Gai. More and more are forced to work in the rubber tree plantations as cheap labourer.

April is also the month of Songkran - Thai New Year! That is the time when everybody celebrates and trows water at each other. Especially in the North of Thailand this can get extremely crazy. We went to Chiang Rai and enjoyed the Songkran festivities there.

Songkran is the only time of the year when everybody in Thailand can really behave like crazy. Old and young gets their water guns and splashes the water around. It is great fun and is accompanied by loads of parties and celebrations in the evening. An extra 'treat' is to add some colour and ice to the water - even at 35°C that's a special feeling. The downside of the event is the excess of alcohol that is consumed and accidents caused by drunken drivers. The target of the Thai government was to keep the number of through accidents killed people under 450 (!) down from 600 (!!) a year before. We are speaking of 5 days only and trends in traffic death's are horrific in Thailand! We ourselves rented motorbikes but had to realize it is too dangerous! After Griet crashed on the road when she had a bucket of cold water mixed with soap thrown in her face, we decided to give it up and returned the bikes.

May

We went for vacation to Koh Chang, an Island near the Cambodian border. Unfortunately we managed to pick the only week with solid rain in the whole season which left us no choice but to explore all coffee shops on the island and play many, many times Rummicub. Nevertheless it was beautiful and good for both of us to get out of the 'City of the Angels' - The official name of Bangkok. May was also the month we finally bought our own Vespa! Now we are exploring Bangkok on our own two wheels and enjoy the freedom. Even though Bangkok is somewhat lunatic if it comes to traffic, one has to adapt and adjust to the Thai driving style.

June

What else can we add than the King's celebrations. King Bhumibol (or King Rama 9) has been on the throne for 60 years, the longest reigning king in the world. And when Thai people say they are going to celebrate it, they mean it! We had 2 extra public holidays, which were packed with celebrations and activities all over Bangkok.
The King gave a speech which was attended by milions of people. One of the most remarkeble things during this times was the colour yellow... In Thailand every day of the week has a colour. Now, the King is born on a Monday, which happens to be a yellow day hence yellow is an auspicious colour. Since June Thailand is yellow, where ever you look.

The draw back though is that people 'have to' wear a yellow T-shirt on Monday, especially if they are working for the government. If you're not wearing one, you do not love our king... And that's the worst one can do in Thailand. Hence every Monday for the whole year, it's like a walking field of daffodils. In the streets, on the skytrain, in offices, even in Griet's university, the professors wear yellow T-shirts every day of the week...
To join the celebrations, royalties from around the world were invited to join the King's celebrations and to watch the famous royal barges on the Chao Phraya River. We did not make it to the river, but had a much better view on big screen in town centre. It was beautiful!

July
In July, not much happened worth mentioning. Thorsten went to work and Griet went to Uni. We did go away for a long weekend with Tanu (our friend from the jungle) to Trat, in the South East of Thailand. It wasn't as spectacular as our trip to the jungle, but still a very nice break from Bangkok.

August
We were honored by a visit from Belgium, Griet's cousin Lore came over for a couple of weeks with her boyfriend Roeland. As ususal, we act as local travel agents and give advice and recommendations where to go.
The university also organised a trip for the MPH students to Ayuthaya. We had been there before in 2005, but it was quite an experience going on an 'asian' tourist trip. It was very well organised (we're not used to that, when we travel, it usually isn't organised at all...) but it was also 'in the bus -out of the bus - visit temple, take pictures - in the bus - up to the next temple - out of the bus etc. It was nice to see our friends and students in a different setting and go out with them in the evening for a drink - although the majority preferred to stay in the hotel singing Karaoke, we did manage to go out with a few. And it gave Thorsten the chance to meet some of Griet's classmates and get them to know better. It's a very nice and mixed group of people from countries like Myanmar, Bhutan, Tibet, Vietnam, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal etc. It gives us the opportunity to learn more about these countries and only have made our passion for travelling bigger... now we have so many more countries we have to go and visit!!

September

The big headline of the month was the Coup d'etat that took place on 19 September. Political problems were mounting in Thailand as the Government of Prime Minister Thaksin was accused of corruption, nepetism and fraud. Speculation of an overthrow of the Government was widespread however reality took us all by surprise. The coup was bloodless and resembled a festival more than anything else. Nevertheless it was scary to see tanks and armoured vehicles at major junctions and at our Universities. I could not help myself but tried to see it with my own eyes to take some shots. See for yourself.

October

End of September and beginning of October Griet had a 2 week semester break so we spent some time in Europe to visit parents, grand parents and friends. Unfortunately the time was again too short to catch up will all of our friends but we both had a very good time. During our trip to Belgium and Germany we also announced our pregnancy! Yep, we are expecting a baby and are looking forward to receive a little family member in early May 2007!

November

November was unspectacular but we enjoyed the beginning Xmas decorations in town. We spent a nice weekend out of town with some friends - Michael and Claire - and very much enjoyed their company. Again, we tried to see some places we haven't been before so went down the coast, south of Hua Hin, visited a small but beautiful national park with mangrove forests and 300 peaks with beautiful views over the coast line.

December

The year flew by and we found ourselves celebrating New Year in Nan province in Northern Thailand. New Year's eve was a bit tempered when we heard about the bombings in Bangkok, but luckely nobody we knew was affected. Finally temperatures came down to the twenties and every body caught a cold and shivered at night. We are not used to temperatures below 30 degrees any more!
Nan province is absolutely lovely and we would love living there. So much nature and fantastic people (we got lost in the mountains and drove about 100 km in circles, but it didn't matter, it was just too beautiful). That is really a hidden treasure in Thailand. We spent a night in a hill tribe village but needed a bombfire and 5 blankets to keep us warm at night... Watching the sunrise in the early morning, with the dew on trees and grass is quite an experience when you're used to 30 degrees and more.

Amazing Nan

2006-12-29T08:08:00.000+01:00

A couple of weeks ago Thorsten was on an amazing field trip to Nan Province in the North of Thailand. Together with a colleague of mine and colleagues from UNDP we visited some of their field sites in the remote area of Nan province. What we experienced there war truly magnificent. I would call the area up there as the hidden corner of Thailand, far away from all the beaten Tourist tracks. At times I felt like 25 years back. Already the city of Nan itself is of stunning beauty with some of the Wats dating back to the 5th century. But going into the countryside tops even that. In the valleys in and around Nan some 30 different tribes have found their homes. Most of the tribes originated from Laos and Yunnan province in South-West China, some 300 kilometers further North. This potpurri of tribes gives the area a very distinct beauty and atmosphere.
A highlight of our trip was our stay at the Bamboo Huts in Ban Toei. This Eco Tourism place is in the midst of a beautiful valley populated by the Lawa tribe. William the owner speakes perfect English and offers a number of fabulous treks in the surrounding area. Depending on the condition of the clients he offers 1 to 3 day treks of various difficulty. His wife and two sons are good fun and the whole area is of extreme beauty.
The downside? There isn't really any exept that it is basic and one should not expect Luxury, but everything is very clean, food is super delicious and the whole place is well managed. The price is absolutely competetive and one is inclined to top the bill up. William owns a mobile phone but reception is poor, thus most times he cannot be contacted. However, there is actually no need to book in advance as he has a number of huts and if these are full he can arrange for rooms in the village.
Ban Toei is in between Pua and Doi Puhka National Park in the midst of the mountains. The place is signposted but without own transportation difficult to reach. For people who want to escape the city to relax and be closer to real nature, that's the place to be!

A saturday night in the Bangkok Red Light district

2006-11-29T07:31:00.000+01:00

Hi all!!
Sorry it's been so long but lots of things have been going on here hence little time to write...

However, we did manage a trip down to Patpong the other day, one of the famous red light districts in Bangkok.
As you all know (or not know) Bangkok is quite famous for it's sex industry. And contradictory to what most people think, it is mainly catering for the Asian population. Only about 10% of the clients come from the West. So we wanted to see with our own eyes what the fuss is all about.
Chris, a friend of mine from Uni, is doing his research on street based sexworkers. Not the people working in massage parlors or bars. We thought he might be the right guy to introduce us to Patpong...
As soon as you arrive in Patpong, you get bombared by people who want you to come into their club to watch 'ping pong shows' or 'banana shows'. I'll leave it up to your imagination what would be on show... Anyway, Chris led us through skillfully and we ended up in a gogo bar. Life on the inside is quite different from life on the outside! First this: more than half of the girls and women are actually transsexuals. An experienced eye (like ours!) can make them out immediatly. However, there are lots of (drunk) men who will never find out they actually slept with a woman who was a man not so long ago. The girls that used to be man, often have much more bony features in their faces (unless they had operations there too). Other than that, there's not much difference! They look as feminine as the 'real' girls and often dance better and are more beautifull.

Once you enter (this is thorough observation and investigation!) someone in a tiny bikini will guide you to the bar, or a stool where you have full view of the bar. Behind the bar, girls are pole dancing in tiny bikini's on the stage. Not for long, maybe 5-7 minutes and then the scene changes. This continues throughout the evening. While the girls are on stage they try to catch your eye (I'm talking from the point of view of a single man - they very decently leave you alone when there's a women within your company) or you try to catch theirs. Once their dance is over, she'll come over and gently starts seducing you. Some just take the empty seat next to you and start talking. After some time (depends on the rush you are in, some guys took over an hour, others were gone in 10 minutes) you'll pay the 'mamasan' the barfine (my experienced eye saw it was 500THB - 12 Euro) and the girl will go and change. You'll then take her upstairs to a room or to your hotelroom. Obviously you'll have to pay the girl for her services on top of that.
Next to the girls on stage, there are hundreds of others parading around in the club trying to chat up men while they're waiting their turn to dance.

The mamasan is the owner/manager of the club, often a woman. 'Our' mamasan seemed very nice and even though we were obviously not in for bussiness she let us stay and watch as long as we wanted. Mamasans offer the girls protection and jobsecurity in exchange for the barfine.
Officially all the girls are 18 years or older, but we did see 1 or 2 that looked younger. Mind you, all asian girls look much younger than they are so she might as well have been 18.

As there is a closure time of 1 am in Thailand, a lot of bars close between 1 and 2. A lot of them have obtained 'licences' though to stay open all night or have hidden entrances for regular customers.

So, glad we could share that with you and when you're coming to Thailand next, we'll be able to guide you in the right direction to find the gogo bars!

Rainy Season

2006-09-17T11:02:00.000+01:00

Finally it has started to rain again. Since July we should have had regular rains but most of the last couple of weeks was pretty dry and very hot and humid. Temperatures climed up to levels known otherwise only during the hot season. Not so yesterday. It seemed the sky had opened and all the water you can imagine poured down. We were having nice Indian dinner with a couple of friends when the rain started. Not thinking much we enjoyed lovely indian naan, dal and raita and had a good chat. Once we wanted to leave we had to realize the roads around the restaurant were all flooded. We felt like on an island surrounded by 30 cm deep brackish water (ironically enough next to the tallest building in Thailand). Thanks to the dirt of the water we could not see anything and wading through would have been too dangerous - where was the sewage canal again, the whole in the street...? Somehow we managed to take some detours and reached a spot where we could waive down a Taxi without being splashed on entirely. And yes our feet were still reasonably dry!!! Floods usually mean Taxi prices skyrocket and the bargaining is more like an auction where the highest bidder gets the Taxi. But luck was with us and we found a empty Taxi willing to take us.
We managed to climb into the Taxi with dry shoes just to realise too late that the Taxi was full of water as well!!! Thus all the effort of keeping dry shoes was useless as we had wet shoes (and feet) anyway. Well, that is one of the moments one remembers that Thailand is still developing.

Thorsten & Griet

bussy bussy bussy

2006-07-02T05:33:00.000+01:00

It's no excuse, we know, but it's true. It's amazing how, when you're not working, you've got too much time and once you're bussy, there's no time at all...
Anyway.

July already! Time's flying. I have now officially been going to University for a month and I'm still enjoying it. Yes, there are lectures which don't seem to make any sense and we've got professors who don't know how to transfer their knowledge, but I guess that's nothing new.

We had an international day a couple of weeks ago and guess what... I was nominated for Miss International Day... Everyone was (supposed to be) dressed in his/her national or traditional outfit and as I haven't got one from Belgium, I decided to go Asian.

I had a Karen shirt (Karen is a local tribe in Myanmar) and a Laotian skirt. Obviously it did attract some attention.

Last month, we had some great celebrations in Thailand. King Rama IX (or King Bumibol) as reigned for 60 years and is the longest reigning king in the world. Reason enough to celebrate the Thai people decided. And celebrating they did!
There was lots of firework, nicely lit streets (it looked like Christmas!), activities happening around the Grand Palace, but the one thing everyone was waiting for, were the Royal Barges on the Chao Phraya river.

Because it would have been impossible to get close enough to the river, we went to watch the barges on a big screen.
Which gave us a much nicer and more detailed view than if we would have been at the river we found out later...

Because the king was born on a yellow day, yellow is an auspiscious colour (and the King's colour). So everyone was wearing yellow T-shirts.

So far, Thorsten and I have been able to resist the pressure to get a yellow T-shirt. It does have a bit of a negative taste aswell because now, every civil servant is expected (doesn't have to but...) to wear their yellow T-shirts to work on Mondays and Fridays to show they love the King. If they don't do it, they often get looked at 'you don't love our king?'.

But the best thing about the celebrations of the King were the empty streets!!!

It was so nice to be able to get around easily and fast.
The junction you see here is one of the bussiest junctions in Bangkok (with the skytrain running over it) and because of all the royalties from other countries they had closed major roads in Bangkok. You have to imagine this road is usually packed, absolutely packed with cars, busses, motorbikes and tuk tuk's.
It was quite a sight!

And other than this, nothing much as happened really. Except for the World Cup obviously and this is also being celebrated immensly in Thailand. Unfortunately not always for the best reasons... Betting is very big in Thailand and the World Cup is the opportunity to win (or loose) a lot of money.

That'll be it for today. Please keep writing and keep in touch!

Griet and Thorsten

Welcome to our Blog!

2006-06-04T08:16:00.000+01:00

Dear Family and Friends! Welcome to our Blog!
Well, we are not sure how you will like the idea that we will post our experiences and stories on a blog format now, but we both had to realize it is difficult to keep up with you all on a regular basis via phone, letter or email as often we are out, travelling or simply do not feel in the mood to sit in front of a computer again (as we do most of the week for work or study).
Actually we feel this idea with a blog is fabulous as we now can share pictures, happenings and news with you all via the blog. Please enjoy the blog and let us know what you think!

Have a good time and cheers,

Griet and Thorsten