Brace Yourselves, a study is coming

This is how quickly more than a month can pass. I got more and more busy, which is also a good thing and I love to finally update You:

Friday, 19 April: Good Friday should be a day off? Not here, it’s no public holiday. I don’t really get the system of what days are off and which ones are not, but maybe it saves energy just to question less. As I got greetings from German students who had recently been here to, we greeted back with a lab team picture which I’d like to share with You. Dearie, Sarah Joe and I ended the working week by going out for dinner.

Saturday, 20 April: Joe and I let the environmentalists in us live and tidied up outside a bit. There’s a bit too many improvised landfills for our liking… Later in the day we did some walking, which is just really worth it to go and see this place’s natural beauty. Thanks to Joe, we could end the day with a really lovely bonfire.

Sunday, 21 April: The Easter service at the Catholic church was really festive, with loads of different songs and dances, from liturgical to local. The rainy afternoon was beautified by some visit on campus before Sarah and Joe played some good old Uno to end off the day.

Monday, 22 April: Easter Monday was in fact a public holiday, and we were grateful to be invited to our colleague Odilon’s place for a Beninese Easter Lunch.

Tuesday, 23 April: Today I was rocking a new outfit at work, You can see me with my dear colleagues Dearie and Wilfrid. And if You think Game of Thrones hysteria might not have reached us: Yes, it did, Dearie and I chose the series for our weekly date.

Wednesday, 24 April: A day of meetings – As our bosses are absent a lot lately, we had a team meeting today instead of Monday and also a campus meeting to organise a bit the maintenance of our facilities.

Thursday, 25 April: This afternoon, Saskia and I did the journey to Libreville. The rainy season doesn’t do the road any good and it was just a huge relief to have finally arrived there. Saskia, who is in Libreville quite often, introduced me to a restaurant that even had quite nice ice cream. Food makes me just so happy, guys.

Friday, 26 April: I didn’t miss the opportunity to go swimming in the ocean first thing in the morning, before heading to Géant Ckdo, a supermarket that has much more variety (and European goods) than supermarkets at home in Lambaréné. Can You guess how much the items in the picture cost? In the afternoon, we went to the event that we came here for. There was a scientific meeting for World Malaria Day, and researchers from all over the country, including Saskia, Wilfrid and me from CERMEL, presented our current research. As if this wasn’t exciting enough, I was also partly mentally in Germany - So proud of Universities Allied for Essential Medicines Hamburg to host the European Conference! And I feel extremely loved that Valeriya and Maya, You guys are actually coming to visit.

Saturday, 27 April: We returned early in the morning, but only arrived in Lambaréné in the afternoon. Sarah’s apple crumble really got me through an elsewise tiring day. Congratulations André and Kathi, back home, to Your marriage from this day on!

Sunday, 28 April: Using our scarce free time, we went to the Refuge pool and got to spend some time with a colleague’s children. Afterwards I met a friend for some walking. And in case I forgot to show You yet: This is my room, which is quite lovely. All the bottles are my back-up for days without running tap water.

Tuesday, 30 April: Sarah and I had spontaneously invited housemates and colleagues for a German evening and were proud to host over 20 people. Having some proper bread was pure bliss after weeks of baguette. Potato gratin, meatloaf and more were readily accepted. The evening, by then night, ended not so German by killing our kitchen’s rats…

Wednesday, 01 May: We were too early for Workers’ Day Parade, so we ate breakfast at a bakery in Matériau. For this public holiday, all bigger employers had given their employees shirts or fabric to look uniform and then shortly parade before some officials. The CERMEL is indeed a big employer and afterwards we all went to Abongo Hotel, right next to the research centre, were even more employees joined and we enjoyed drinks and food with a lovely view onto the river. See how good we look in our team picture and with some co-workers. This event was just such a nice way to fill this public holiday with its meaning. We came home in the early evening, totally exhausted from a day in the hot sun, but content.

Thursday, 02 May: I went out for field work for the first time in a while, always good to see the beauty of the area and to meet the patients behind the study IDs in their villages. Also, today, the first materials for my study arrived from Tübingen with a visiting biologist.

Friday, 03 May: It couldn’t be missed that today was pay day, as most employees take their salary from the administration in cash and queued up there. My credit card doesn’t get a lot to do here… Lately it has been extremely hot and humid, so I had some maintenance done on my aircon. In the evening we did a short trip to Summit, but I didn’t last long at the club this time.

Saturday, 04 May: I spent a large part of the day having my hair braided for the first time ever! Dearie organised it and came with me. Three hours, with up to four women working on my scalp, later, I got my first ever braids. Take a look. What You don’t see is the weight and headache that came with it, the price of beauty…

Sunday, 05 May: Today we went to a new church that a lady at the hair salon yesterday invited us to. As it was close to Dearie’s place, Johannes and I spent a very relaxed afternoon there, chit-chatting, doing pedicure… What happened today back in Germany: The policy paper on Intercultural Competences and Racism Critical Thinking in Medical Studies got passed by the German Medical Students’ Assembly! Saskia, my fellow Hamburg doctoral student here, a couple of other German medical students and I had been working and revising this for months and months. Finally, German medical students can officially take a stand.

Monday, 06 May: Look at how gorgeous Dearie and I look while working. This evening we got to spend some time with our housemates playing cards.

Tuesday, 07 May: A sick field worker led me to quickly realise how many processes here at work I don’t even notice. Suddenly taking over the organisation and delegation of his tasks to the rest of his team was challenging, yet possible. While our water situation improved lately, this evening once again we had no water, so we also didn’t attend the fitness club.

Wednesday, 08 May: My doctoral supervisor from Hamburg, Prof. Michael Ramharter, arrived in Lambaréné today. He brought me some nice products from Germany that my friend Anika had brought him, and I really appreciated the short mentoring session we had.

Thursday, 09 May: Not surprisingly, as “the boss” is here now, today was quite busy! I had to stain slides in the lab, we had meetings with my professor, I did documentation for my upcoming study, Sarah presented an article at our weekly Journal Club. My achievement for the day: I am finally competent to read Loa loa (micro-worms in the bloodstream) microscopically. After having had no real break, I was weirdly energized enough to do some self-admin and blog writing at home.

Friday, 10 May: Meet my dear colleague from data entry, Prisca.

Saturday, 11 May: A week after I made a start, I accompanied Sarah to have her hair braided as well. This took even longer, but the result is worth it! In the evening, our colleague Rafiou had a housewarming and birthday party with some nice food that ended up at Summit. Even some of our new housemates went with us for the first time together. A bummer was, that in the early morning the police came to do a raid, apparently on women dressed too revealing… We partied on afterwards though.

Monday, 13 May: Look at our excitement for Monday meeting.

Tuesday, 14 May: Study preparations, also via calls with Tübingen, picked up a bit today. Especially as my local supervisor Dr. Ghyslain was back today after weeks of absence and is pushing some projects. I can’t miss to mention Dearie’s and my weekly GoT date.

Wednesday, 15 May: Today we had an investigators’ meeting for my study, and I met with my new colleague Dr. Emmanuel to plan the digital database. You see, things are happening…

Thursday, 16 May: Today I presented my study protocol at the Institutional Ethics Committee, that consists of researchers as well as community representatives, to get the final permission to start the study. On a sad note: Our dear colleague Térence left us to go to Tübingen for a couple of months.

Friday, 17 May: Following the positive Ethics Decision, today we held the Site Initiation Visit to inform the whole team, including nurses, lab staff etc., about the procedures of my study project. In the afternoon, Dearie and I received a training at the Research Lab for one of the assessments my study requires.

Saturday, 18 May: Look into my face and see my maximum motivation to work. But a clinical trial doesn’t prepare itself. My dearest colleagues Stéphane and Yorrick helped me to order an additional shelf for my room today. Knowing people who do this, finding them, negotiating, all that while being non-francophone and white – Your help is appreciated!

Sunday, 19 May: My colleague Prisca took me to a nearby church that I hadn’t been to so far, where we also met my colleagues and housemates Mahiné and Térence. It did give me some force to get back to work and finish some stuff - And have the shelf delivered that we ordered to be made yesterday.

Monday, 20 May: After our team meeting, we took a picture with all colleagues wearing this year’s CERMEL material. See my supervisor, the second from the right. Today I had my final study preparations to do, which meant getting materials from the stock, finishing and printing materials, confirming last procedures… I felt like I was running around like a headless chicken, but I did get everything in place. And as if this hadn’t been hard enough already, in the evening both mobile networks went on strike again… But on a bright side: As Saskia has returned from her vacation in Germany, she brought me some stuff. Again, You have no idea how happy Kinder Schokobons and Parmesan cheese can make a girl like me.

Tuesday, 21 May: Today was officially the first day of the clinical trial I’m working on and the field workers started to screen for finding patients. As I had been super busy the week, weekend and day before, today I was just taking work as relaxed as I could… With Saskia also came my voting papers, so I tried to do my part in our upcoming elections. And I also tried (and managed with some help, thanks) to get some credit on my Airtel SIM Card. Last time the networks failed, I had abandoned Airtel, but today they were the only ones with connection. This is where a dual SIM phone comes in handy. In the evening Dearie and I watched the last episode of Game of Thrones. I ended up staying over – Whether it was out of disappointment about the season finale, or because it is still the rainy season and it was pouring heavily, it’s Yours to guess…

Wednesday, 22 May: Upon waking up I noticed all networks were on again – nice to be back to this decade. New tables arrived for CHU (university hospital centre), and the old ones were going to campus – quite an upgrade for both buildings.

Friday, 24 May: After a long week of work I went for dinner with Saskia and her boyfriend Lilian before they headed to holidays.

Saturday, 25 May: After just too many consecutive days of work, we and I finally found some time to go grocery shopping and save my room from demise (clean it). In the evening, we celebrated the “Fête des mères”. CERMEL women used mother’s day as an opportunity to do a celebration with the election of a women’s committee, “Miss Maman” elections, dinner, everybody giving each other gifts… A very lovely idea again to make use of special days to actually make them special.

Sunday, 26 May: After church, Joe and I found some real ice cream (not only packed one from the supermarket), which ended up tasting like chemistry… but hey, we tried. Later I went to Dearie’s again, not feeling so well but babe You’re a star, and my rock.

Wednesday, 29 May: Today was our team’s first scientific meeting since I came here, apparently a revival of this kind of meeting. We talked about clinical trials in general. In the evening, as tomorrow would be a public holiday, we had Tatiana, a guest scientist from Tübingen, over for the evening.

Thursday, 30 May: Today was off for Ascension day – which we only got confirmed the day before… So, this gave me the much-needed time to catch up on some sleep to gain strength for the next days. And to finish up this text for You!

Work and life here has been a rollercoaster lately. Finally, having launched the study that I came here for is a true blessing and really lifted my spirits. As the excitement of the first weeks passes, it gets more and more obvious though that I’m far from really having settled in. And as working hours are long and Lambaréné doesn’t have a lot of leisure activities to offer, home sickness got a little hold on me. Luckily, I’m not alone, neither at work, at home or generally. I’m keeping strong though, You know me.

See You, take care,

Doro

112 days in Gabon