Hi welcome to our latest Blog and thanks for your continued
interest in us and our life and work out in Chad.
We have been back in Chad for just over a month now and have
been blessed with a relatively quiet month at the hospital in which to ease
ourselves back into the work. We have been amazed at how quickly we have
slipped back into our simple lives here and are not missing the comforts of the
UK too much. Cold showers and a gas fridge are probably the 2 things we would
like to change though. Before our return the rains had been sporadic here although
certainly enough to for us to change our known and trusted route into town due
to standing water. On our first weekend back the rains returned with a
vengeance starting on the Sunday evening and continuing through Monday, which
happened to be a bank holiday to celebrate Chads Independence Day. Along with
the rains have also come the mosquitos and Sue in particular is showing signs
of being eaten. This will also mean the number of malaria cases we will see
will also increase. Although encouragingly there is a supposedly country wide
project to distribute mosquito nets to every 2 people in Chad, led by UNICEF
and Malaria No More. However we have yet to see any being distributed here in
N’Djamena.
Nmercie and little Sue |
Sue and new baby Sue |
We arrived back at the hospital late on the Sunday evening the 3rd, so spent the Monday sorting out the house and unpacking. Despite the fact that Nemercie, our house lady, had been in and washed all the curtains, swept and washed the floors there still seemed a lot of dust so all items left behind needed to be dusted off before we could unpack. During the day members of staff came to the house to welcome us back and to reassure themselves that Malcolm was really better. One such visitor was Nemercie with her new 4 month old baby whom she has named Sue, she is a bonnie child and it is such an honour to have her named after Sue. Malcolm was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t a boy as we know she would have called him Malcolm.
Flooded Village |
Floods outside hospital gate |
Marion in Malnutrition |
There have been a few structural changes within the
hospital, such as new work services and cupboards which all help with the
general appearance and efficiency of the hospital otherwise things are pretty
much as we remember. The temperature is in the thirties but feels hotter as the
humidity is so high, thankfully the nights are OK and we are managing to sleep
well.
So as not to miss the UK too much we brought back with us some
mature cheddar and some chocolate which thankfully didn’t melt so we are still able
to get a daily fix of chocolate. Thinking of inventive meals with mince and
aubergines is still proving challenging and unfortunately for the first time in
over 2 years here we had a batch of rotten eggs, 7 out of the 10 we had brought
in town were bad.
So all in all we are settling back well into life here in
Chad and the daily challenges it presents for us.
Please keep in touch
Love Malc & Sue