catching up

3 months have flown by!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

To prophylaxis or not to prophylaxis?

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

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

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

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