Congo

Lots has happened since I've last posted. I've beens struggling with this blog, and questioning wether to keep it or not.
We've moved, again! This time to DR Congo. Where we first lived in a community house and now in a small flat. We're gardening again and we live next to the river Kasai, so in the weekends we can go for a swim.

Congo is really hard. It's difficult to get food over there and there are no other women but me, so it's very lonely.
Finding decent personnel is nearly impossible, so we have decided to get an au pair from Canada.

In the meanwhile, I am six months pregnant. I got pregnant almost immediately upon arrival.

The past year we've spend lots of time in Belgium. This is actually the second time I'm in Belgium, and I only moved to Congo in March!

I promise to be back with pictures later on. Maybe I'll make this more of a picture blog than a text one.

Merry Christmas!

Safe and Sound

Just to put everyone's mind at ease, we are indeed in Belgium. We've even been evacuated! That was exciting. Here's the story.

We were planned to leave Ivory Coast on the 5th of November, after the second tour of the elections.
The first tour went smoothly, we just had to stay on the plantation for a while. We all foresaw trouble at the second round, but as we were leaving permanently, my husband had some loose end to work through on his job and of course we had all this packing to do.
Come friday the fifth, we had packed and wee living in an empty house, but Ivory Coast closed it's borders. No way in, no way out.
By Saturday, the company had decided to evacuate all women and children and we tried to get a plane... to anywhere, because Brussels Airlines had stopped landing in Abidjan as soon as Laurent Gbagbo (previous Ivorian president) had launched curfew.
We ended up having the Sophia airplane land on the plantation, because it was too dangerous to take the road with all these people to San Pedro airport.

We said our goodbyes to all our staff in a wave of tears and emotions, because we had a really close staff, and I know that I will forever miss Mariam, our nanny/cook, who had become a close friend, and just about the only person I really talked to.

Here's a picture of our car and the plane on the plantation's landing strip. 

Here we are all waiting for the last people to arrive. 14 of us left, leaving only 4 other expats on the plantation.

Our evacuation experience took 52 hours. We Took off on the plantation, landed in San Pedro to pick up some other people. Then we landed again in Abidjan, where we would be taking the same small plane to Accra, Ghana. 

The plane was scheduled to leave just after lunch. We all waited in the 'lounge' with the seven kids and five women and two men. 

When we got on the plane again, there appeared to be something wrong with the radio, so out we went again.

We waited another six hours in that sad excuse for a lounge to eventually find out that plane would not be taking us to Ghana. 

So of to the hotel it was, which meant we had to drive through the entire city. We didn't want to take the risk of multiple cars, so all 14 of us with our ton of bags squeezed into the hotel bus.

The morning after we took an Ethiopian plane that came from Monrovia direction Accra.

And finally we were safe!

We spent another day in Ghana, in a hotel, where we ate and changed our clothes and even went for a swim, and in the evening we took another plane first to Frankfurt and then - many security checks later - yet another one to Belgium.

It was quite an experience. 

The best things happen when you're gone

Of course when you'll be moving, suddenly you get all the good invitations. We've already been invited to two new year's eve parties, but we won't be here.
And now we find out that there will be a new hotel opening in Grand Bereby, by the same owner as the Italian restaurant we have been going to every Sunday for nine months now.
They're even putting a bar on the beach.

Ugh... all the good things happen when we're gone.

moving

As if I had a sixth sense, the day has come: in a little over a month we'll be leaving Ivory Coast. For good? Who knows... maybe we'll come back in a couple of years. At least here I would want to come back, whereas in Cameroon that wasn't really on the top of my list and I was glad to go.

So how am I feeling? Right now pretty good. Really excited about the prospect and happy to find new dwellings... Also very happy to leave a rather poisonous social situation. But I have to admit it really hurts too.
I have grown to love this country, and its people. I have found my way...
I must admit - in a way - I have settled.

And where it really stings is that we will be leaving Mariam, our nanny/cook. She has been like a second mother to my child and we wee rather close. I don't know how my daughter will cope with leaving here for good.
We have already told her we would be moving to another country and we woudn't be coming back, but that's rather abstract for a two year old. She must aprehend something, because she's very clingy the last couple of weeks...
I dread the day I have to pack her room.

So in a while it will be all boxes again (I've already started, but really in slow motion). And then we'll have a long holiday in Belgium. And then my husband will be leaving us again to go to our new home before us... ugh.

We're not sure of the destination yet, so I'll let you know in due time.

Sedentary??? Or not?

I don't write here anymore... well, if you're a regular here, you might already know that. There's numerous reasons for this...

I had a conversation with my husband's boss a while back, he is an older man, on his way to retirement and has spent nearly his entire career in Africa. He said he used to keep journals... when he was traveling a lot, and they became pages and pages of text, filled with experiences and sensations. Then he bacame more stable, got to live on plantations... and the writing stopped.

I guess that's what kind of happened with this blog.

On the one hand I got different interests - before this blog was the only hobby I kept, next to some crafting and cooking - now there's the little one and I have a million projects I am working out.
But on the other hand... I have been feeling rather sedentary. Even though I have been living in Ivory Coast for less than two years, it kind of feels like I've seen and experienced everything that the region has to offer.
I've almost finished my house... Time to move, no?

And yet it's not like nothing happens. The last couple of month have been particularly trialing for our family. Our dog probably has epilepsy, we had several hospital trips for the little one (button up the nose, severe fever, dislocated nerve), and I had my own medical scares. And all that was combined with a general unhappiness and an awkward group dynamic on the plantation.

But I don't like to write about this kind of things, they are too days of our lives... So I don't write.

But I bet I'll have a lot to write about soon :)

The Africa Experience

Like many a foreigner who has lived in present day Africa, this experience leaves us with contradictory emotions.
On the one hand, we can't be leaving here fast enough. We are eager to leave behind the many inconveniences of living in tropical West-Africa: the hours of bumpy roads, the penetrating, nausiating smells, the struggle to provide in ones basic needs, the moisture and mold, the insects and diseases, the insecurity...
Yet on the other hand, we already knows that if the day comes that we will be actually leaving we will be heartbroken and forever long for what we have left. There are things here in Africa I think one can find nowhere else. The fish and seafood and tropical fruits will never taste the same. Never again will we have such devoted personell (if you don't count Jean-Pierre).
On top of that we have come to love African fabrics, their colors and designs who brighten markets and roads and who are different in every country. The possibility of having clothes tailor made for no cost at all. The deserted beaches who seem to be waiting there for nobody but me. The way they approach children. The way they dress up for occasions, making a company party feel like the gala event of the year.

If we ever leave, we will be leaving so much behind. Will we be gettinig as much in return?

African Summer

We've been back from a four week holiday - of which we spent ten days in Turkey and the rest in Belgium - for a week now. The weather is really amazing.
Apparently they had the wettest rainy season in years, but that passed unnoticed as the most violent days were during our leave.
Last year it hardly rained at all and it was just terribly dry and souring hot.
Now, there's an amazingly fresh breeze ever since we came back and the sun shines brightly, without it being too hot.

As it is school vacation, every day, the roads and pool are filled with children, so my daughter has a lot of interactions. Sometimes, they come over here and spend the afternoon under our 'paillote' colouring and drawing.

Chocolate, Child labor and Côte d'Ivoire

A while back - ok a long while back - Märy asked me about the child labor question. I have been wanting to answer that a long time now, but I just never got to it.
There has been a lot going on about ethical chocolate and fair trade involving child labor and this specifically in Côte d'Ivoire. (Côte d'Ivoire produces almost half of the world's cocoa)

So here goes:

Yes, Côte d'Ivoire's chocolate plantations probably 'employ' children sometimes. Most African agronomy does in fact.
If you look at this from a Western perspective this might sound shocking, but,

• African children are much more autonomous than Western children and is is not unthinkable that they decide they want to earn some money by picking some cocoa for which they are paid by the kilo. They might do this for their family, or to have some money of their own. This does not necessarily mean they are being forced to work by their family. 
• Mothers sometimes have to work, when the father is MIA, or unemployed, or dead or... and - given that there is no daycare or secundary caregiver, or just because the kids want to tag along - she can bring her kids along for work. It can so occur that the kids help their mother by picking up the cocoa buds that fell on the ground. Again, this doesn't mean they are forced to do so.

Maybe at some plantations here in Côte d'Ivoire kids are being forced to work, I cannot account for every single child in Côte d'Ivoire, but, much of this child slavery discourse is just about the Western world imposing its world view on Africa - again. Probably much of it is also about economic benefit and selling newspapers and getting funds for 'developing' nations.

Westerners cringe at the words 'child labor', but it does not mean the same here as it means over there. Moreover, in Belgium, young children babysit for money, or they do chores at home or for neighbors and relatives. Farm children tend to help their parents out a lot too. Is that child labor? Why would this here be any different? 

Preparing for the holiday

It seems like ages since I've been here. I'm really neglecting this blog lately.
Well, I'm kind of busy just living life really and there hasn't been anything really exiting going on lately, so I didn't quite see the point in bugging you with everyday things. You must understand that to me, if I've stayed on one spot over a year... well everything turns kind of same old same old.

I have been working on an answer to Märy, which I will have up soon (now, maybe if I tell you this I will be forced to post it sometime soon)

I hate staying put this long, (we've been here for one year and three months - but who's counting) especially because I know this is not the place I want to settle... anyway, we kind of decided we're not ready to settle anywhere any time soon, so maybe there will be some changes in our lives in the near future.

Anyway, I just popped in to let everyone know we'll be on holiday from the 16th of June to the 14th of July.

Greets
Laura

Making friends

In the comments of one of my recent entries, some of you were wondering how I do it to make friends very time we move, and how I integrate.
I have been wondering about that. I'm not the most outgoing person, character-wize, but I must admit that over these few years, I have learned to open up. To invite people over, to talk to people as I meet them in the supermarket or other random places. Before all the moving and stuff I might not have been so extravert. I did have a lot of random chatter, but that was usually because strangers talked to me (I've always thought I must have that kind of face, you know :) )
The first six months we lived in Cameroun, I have hardly interacted with anyone. By the end of that scope of time, I was really bewildered I could hardly follow a conversation without drifting off in my mind. I was so desperate for social interaction, I would stalk the plumber and the electrician when they came around. So maybe I learned the hard way.
Anyhow, ever since that first period of expat experience, I now try to welcome others as well aspossible, if they are new to plantation life. I try to organise things every so often.
And here in Ivory Coast, I have made friends outside the company as well. But that is still limited, because they imperatively live in San Pedro, which is rather far for us.

So you could say it is a gradual learning process. I can believe not everybody is up for this kind of life, but on the other hand, it is so rich in experiences and encounters, and so unique, I wouldn't want to change it so far.

Between church and school

There are more churches in this country than schools. Can you imagine that?
Any village even if it only consists of a dozen houses, has their own. If they are a bit larger, they'll also have a mosque and a few christian options. Those churches rise more promptly than mushrooms here.
While people are living in houses mainly built out of bamboo sticks and dirt, the mosques and churches are concrete and brick and windows and paint.
I'm not against religion, to everyone his conviction, but wouldn't these funds be better spent somewhere else?

When I just arrived I met the wife of a Baptist missionary preacher. Their family, and her sister's family lived in San Pedro. The two families combined supported 14 or 15 kids, all with the money of the mission. When I asked her what the mission was doing, I was expecting her to tell me they built schools, wells, hospitals, the lot... Instead, she told me they build churches. I asked her what happened if the church was finished (again expecting her to say they did alfabetising projects, read to children, did information sessions), instead she said: "Well, we just buil one somewhere else".
She also told me she was a nurse and when I asked if she worked here, she simply said it was too dirty here.

About ants and snakes

The little one is scared of ants... Yes, ants! And yes, I am talking about that same little one that once ate wasps and crickets. Whenever she sees an ant she runs away backwards and shouts "femie, femie, mie!, mie!" Which is   'fourmi' and 'mier' both meaning 'ant', respectively in French and Dutch. She's very apt in making things clear as possible, bilingually speaking. Than she also says they are dangerous. Now I have to admit that they are over a centimeter and when they bite, it hurts, and you have trouble getting them off.
She's, luckily, also scared of snakes. And we see a lot of them here! I personally have seen about five or so. But smallish one and the gardener have seen many many more. Just yesterday there was a viper eating a rog inches away from my door.
Cameroon is supposed to be the snake country of the world, yet I had only seen three snakes over there in the two years we lived there. And we did much more unattentive garden walking over there. In our defense, I have to add we had an enormous garden and only acces to a lawn mower once a week - if we were lucky. Here our garden is significantly smaller and we have bought our own lawnmower (that's so grown-up, don't you think?).
But the snakes here in Ivory Coast don't limit themselves to the garden, they crawl into small spaces at the factory, they are on the streets and dirtroads... It's like Cameroonian snakes were more afraid than the ones over here.

Ion

We have the most amazing dog. It's a boxer and he's now 6 months old. His name is Ion (you can find pictures of him in my previous posts). Having that sweet little creature now makes me smack myslef over the head for having doubted about getting a dog for so long.
I used to have a dog when I was still living at my parent's, he stayed there after I left home (when I went to university, which is a long time ago). He died while I was pregnant with DD. It was a West Highland White Terrier. For those who know little about dogs, that's a rather small white breed with pointy ears and long hair. He also was a marvelous dog, but stubborn and very intelligent (apparently most Terriers are, as I found out a while ago).
But back to Ion. At six months now, he is completely house broken. He goes out in the yard unattached and comes back when we call for him. He is extremely energetic, but not demanding. If I don't go for a walk with him one day, he doesn't get frustrated, and if I do all the better.
When we go out to the beach, he would swim and play with us until he drops.


I had always wanted to get another dog, but we kept putting it off. Wondering what we would do when we went on holiday (well duh, we'll take him with us), how he would cope with the continuous moving, if it wouldn't be too much work...
We've been idiots! If anything that precious dog is the best companion my daughter will ever have. The two of them are like two peas in a pod. You cannot imagine what she puts him through (her latest thing is riding horsie), yet he takes it with calm and patience and moves away if it is too much for him. When she goes out, she calls for him and he comes. He walks next to her, sits when she tells him too... You have to see it to believe it.

We are so happy with that silly dog that we've decided we're getting a second one as soon as he reaches adulthood. I tell you, we're going to end up being the three sheep five dogs two cats, seven goats, chicken and cameleon type family... But I don't mind. (Oh and a Brady Bunch amount of children, of course!)

7 reasons why I haven't been blogging as much as I should

1. I'm very busy with other projects. Ok, admitted it's just one project, but t has been taking up most of my time and leaves me none for other things. If it makes you feel better, I'm also neglecting my sewing, making the photo ablums, ... pretty much everything I should get done. (Now I'm stressing myself out)
2. The Hubby has been learning to fly with a paramotor, which is basically just a lawnmower engine and a parachute, so he has been very proud about that and it has been exiting, I admit, to go and check that out every so often.
3. I have a very demanding daughter, and there are days she just doesn't want to go with our cook/nanny, so I end op playing with playdough and reading stories the entire day. Don't get me wrong, I equally love both, but it does keep me from blogging here.
4. I'm trying to get back into sports. Bad excuse since I only started of yoga again yesterday and - since the smallish one was in the room while I was doing that - I ended the course halfway, because she had smeared shea butter all over herself, and me, and was demanding a massage.
5. I've also been running errands a lot lately. Going to San Pedro and to Grand Bereby to replenish our food stocks that were getting low.
6. Then aside all that I do try to be social - I mean off the internet in the real world, remember what that's like? - every so often.
7. Sometimes I do have to take care of the Hubby a little bit too. He also got the thing I was sick with a couple weeks ago, so I had to nurse him a lot lately... And you know how men are when they get sick so, basically that's already a full time job for ya

between here and there

We usually follow a five month/one month program, which means we spend five months over here in Ivory Coast and one month holidays in Europe. Now I have gotten so frustrated from being in Europe the last couple of times I told my husband I would rather not go any more, or if we do, we spend the entire holiday somewhere other than Belgium.

So this time, we set off with the idea that we'd be here until september... unless for some reason it would be necessary for us to go sooner. Which meant nine months over here.

Now I thought that would make things easier once I was here. You should know normally, about three months in, I get this desire to go back, and all I do really is looking forward to our holiday. And since that holiday is so far away now, I thought that longng would be postponed, more so because I generally really don't like our holidays.

But guess again! We have been here for three months now (what did I tell you) and already I am looking forward to leaving. But looking forward to what exactly? I can hardly blog or read my email over there. I have to run behind the little one all the time - that doesn't bother me, but combined to the fact that I cannot go out because all activities are to far away and I don't drive... It's a recipe to go bananas.

I seriously couldn't tell you... Except I want to do some shopping... If only we could get our webshopping delivered here, there would be no reason whatsoever to go to Belgium every five months any more.

Safe for the shopping. I'm good here. I'm fairly happy most of the time. There's hardly any appeal to go to Belgium, so what is this longing??? I think we have been conditioned by the 5 month system. I think the fact that we know this is not OUR house, makes us not feel like we are living here, just residing. Another thing that makes it equally bad is that we never know when we're moving. We could just as easy be here another six months as another two years. Now how are you supposed to settle in under those conditions?

Over those four years we've been doing the moving game, I never really felt at home in my house. I always did my best to decorate where I live, but it's not the same as when you are there indefinately. There's always those little things you don't do... or hesitate.

Pfffff.

I want to shop!!! NOW

Told the husband he needs to find an excuse to go to Abidjan, but he says he has none... grr

Yay for the virtual world

I just had to share this. If it wasn't for the web... I think I would have gotten sick and tired of being here a while ago. At least since I have internet at home, I can have real conversations about the things that move me with interesting people.

Living in a small community, in a remote part of the world, far far away from civilisation can get very lonely, and even worse, very very boring. But having internet, I can now overcome that problem.

If I feel like shopping, I can go online and browse any type of store I like.

If I want to have a conversation, I can open msn or Facebook and chatter away. Looking for some info or support, just a few simple clicks and off I go. The virtual world is my oyster!

Now, I have to admit, even though I've been online ever since I was 16, I've only really started picking the fruit that is social media... Less then a year ago, I joined Facebook and ever since... no kidding, my life has really changed. (Now I don't want to propagate Facebook, they have serious flaws... but still)

I tapped into a faboulous onlne community of mostly women with the same philosphy of life we live by, and my life hasn't been the same since.

So to those who say internet is bad and doesn't add valuable things to life... you are doing it wrong!

News from the trenches

By trenches I mean sandy beaches with coconut palms, of course.

So I'm in bed sick with not-malaria. I hope this not-malaria will pass soon, but at least it gives me a stolen moment to blog a little.

It's supposed to be the dry season over here, but it's been raining at least two days a week now... People are really puzzled. Ever since we moved to Africa, it seems as though the seasons are playing tricks on people. With the no-rain year at Ferme Suisse and the six months neverending-rainy season at Mbongo, I think we'll have had it all... It has quite harsh repercussions for crops, this unpredictable weather.

Our gardener has stepped into a spell and ever since he has these weird lesions on his legs. He hasn't been able to come to work. I just hope he'll be ok. Eventhough they all adhere to some religion or other, they're all still animists to the core.

Not So Lazy Sunday Routine

I've noticed we've been establishing this wonderful routine on Sundays. This is how it goes:

The little girl wakes us up, around 6.30 or 7 in the morning. We put the dog outside for his morning pee and start cooking breakfast. Most often it is scrambled eggs, omelette or pancakes/some juice/fruit and chicoree for me.

We take our time eating breakfast and chatting away. Then we asses the situation.

If both our little critters are very active, we'll go off on a walk (and end up carrying both of them to get back), which last about an hour or so, sometimes we stop by our neighbors' house.

If they are too tired, we will just chill in front of the TV and watch some TV series on DVD until 11.

At 11 or 11.30 we drive to Béréby and have lunch at Jardin d'Italie, mostly pizza and mousse au chocolat. And then we are off to La Baie des Sirènes for the afternoon. We spend our time there swimming with the daughter and the dog (who really likes swimming in the ocean nowadays), building sandcastles, playing in the shower. On most occasions, another family will join us and the kids will play together in the sand.

Those are the most wonderful Sundays, that leave us completely recharged for the week.

What's your routine?

Stability... for now

The country has stabilized again, for now, since a new government has been established a week ago. At the time all is quiet again, there have been no more marches. People just go on with their daily activities.

I go around San Pedro a lot lately, and am getting to know quite a lot of people. Most of the shops here are owned by women who's husbands are working in the larger companies. Some of them have been here quite a while.

I met a woman today (I had actually met her before, but we only really talked today) who has lived in San Pedro for 12 years now. She owns a little gift and furniture shop. She kept the store open even through the "evenements", and only closed three days!

I went into her shop to buy a doll for DD. I might have to tell you the story behind this: she got a doll for her christmas from her mamie, but it disappeared from the luggage, and I didn't bother to bring my old baby dolls from Belgium. Now she really liked baby dolls,and when we went to Abidjan, that was the first thing she ran to in the toy store. So we decided to buy her one, but cheapskates as we are, we got the cheapest. You can imagine after mothering that baby doll for about an hour, it's arm came off.

Now, three weeks later, that poor doll has no limbs left (some of the dismemberment is to blame on the dog too). So I decided it might be time to get her a better doll.

Meanwhile, little cutie is asking about her mamie and dede a lot, and runs into the back room whenever it is open, to fetch the photoalbum. It really breaks my heart.