Corona seen from the jungle

This is crazy times and the flood of news, voice messages, videos, calls I get just shows in what a time of nervousness and insecurity we are. It also showed that we are at a seldom point in time where we all share a common experience, across borders and even to that teeny-tiny-little country of Gabon, that I’ve been introducing You to over the past 14 months. Before getting to these big topics, read first how I was doing personally:

Tuesday, 03 March: I might repeat myself, but I really learned to enjoy lab work, like here conserving full blood with RNAlater reagent.

Thursday, 05 March: Ayo was leaving for Leiden, Netherlands for his PhD so we celebrated a little goodbye with him.

Sunday, 08 March: Lilith and I treated ourselves to an afternoon at the pool where we even met some acquaintances from the regional hospital. In the evening I had my first skype call for a flat in Hamburg, and, spoiler alert – I got it! I’m more than happy about this place!

Tuesday, 10 March: Tonight, Lisa and I did a mini ladies’ night at hers cooking.

Thursday, 12 March: And another ladies’ night with Stesie! And what we didn’t know: The first Covid-19 case is declared in Gabon. In the following days, a curfew from 19h30-06h00, closing of bars, restaurants and most shops as well as hygiene measures and a national helpline would be put into place.

Friday, 13 March: The study made good progress over the last days and at this point here were even three patients there at the same time.

Saturday, 14 March: In the afternoon we went to a soccer match by our colleagues at the local stadium. In the course of the match, I was getting really tired, my head was banging, and my skin was hot. The case was clear – malaria. So, I had Rodrigue bring me to the study centre with Franck and Lilith where we found Wilfrid. But the malaria tests came out negative…

Sunday, 15 March: After a night of fevers and chills, I could do nothing but stay in bed and survive with the kind help of my flatmates. Lisa and Wilfrid had a look (and an ultrasound) on me in the afternoon, taking samples for microbiology now and putting me on two antibiotics.

Monday, 16 March: I had just wanted to let my boss now I’m still not feeling better, so then she made me come and both my bosses had a look on me and my blood work redone. 23.000 leucocytes – my boss then called me and had already confirmed a consultation with the Albert Schweitzer Hospital internist who directly hospitalized me. There I was then, luckily having my colleagues and friends sort out money, bed sheets, and so forth for me. And Lilith sleeping with me, as there is no bell or anything in these hospital rooms. I was given a private room, which was admittedly better than I had feared before. The fevers continued despite another antibiotic and paracetamol infusion I was given.

Tuesday, 17 March: The fevers continued, and a fourth antibiotic was given. As much as I would have chosen to skip this experience, I got a proof of love from those around me, bringing me food (Lisa, Lilith, Franck, Theresa, Ruben), decoration (Lilith), sorting out my medication that has to bought outside the hospital (Rella, Francoise, our drivers and fieldworkers), being especially by my side (Franck, Lilith) and visiting me especially on this first day. People here have an awesome culture of visiting their sick, and even colleagues I would never meet with outside of work came to see me and checked on me. I got admitted Monday at 3pm and by Tuesday 10am it seems like all my colleagues and even friends outside of Cermel seemed to know where to find me. I loved this, and it made my time so much more bearable.

Wednesday, 18 March: The fevers finally ceased, and the doctors’ team decided on a pyelonephritis as diagnosis, an infection of the kidneys. As i.v.-medication continued and I was still very exhausted I was kept.

Thursday, 19 March: Today was the day I would have loved to go home, but the treatment didn’t allow me, so at least I got to sit outside the ward.

Friday, 20 March: After four nights at the hospital, more than I spent in the past 20 years, I could finally go home. Franck then did grocery shopping and we were rearranging the room – The occasion being new stuff left by Niko, Lilith, Nathanael and Julia who were spontaneously going home. Also, my professor called me to ask if I don’t want to fly home seen the current situation and coming restrictions of air traffic. Not only my sickness, but also an instant and profound refusal from within me to leave no made me stay.

Saturday, 21 March: I went back to the hospital to get my last infusion and then rid of that i.v.-drip that my veins still did not recover from. We spent a day just chilling and sleeping a lot which normally would have driven me insane, but with my recovery still going on it was just right.

Sunday, 22 March: In the afternoon, Theresa, Ruben and I were invited to a barbecue at Lisa’s and Jacob’s with some colleagues of hers, best food and the nicest view over the river. After a neighbour had moved out, they decided to occupy that terrace.

Monday, 23 March: To avoid falling sick again soon, this week I was only working half-day. The week before, field screening had been stopped to first observe the pandemic situation so there was also not an awful lot of work to do.

Thursday, 26 March: JOE-Tours (@j.o.e.tours) is a German Christian youth organisation that is normally organizing trips and events, but now supporting You via social media through this time. If I need got, I sometimes access him through other people that I’m very close to and who dare and are gifted to speak truth into my life.

Friday, 27 March: My first advantage I take out of this pandemic: I needed a language certificate for French, to be used in an application for support to come back for study activities end of July (because air traffic will be back to normal!), that normally would have only taken place at the university campus in Hamburg. Due to new regulations, I could take it via Skype from here and didn’t miss the opportunity.

Saturday, 28 March: We are in rainy season which is also sunny season, so Franck and I took a long walk, some lemonade beside the river, a talk to my parents, and paid a visit to Stesie and her son. At 6pm, it was already difficult to get a taxi as the drivers want to be home before curfew, so we walked most of the way. Walking evokes talking, doesn’t it? So, we didn’t mind.

Sunday, 29 March: As the barbecue spot had been just too good, Franck and I got invited again and the food was at least as good as last time.

Tuesday, 31 March: Today was my first day completely off antibiotics!

Friday, 03 April: Today we had to say goodbye to Laura at work…

Saturday, 04 April: … as she, Anton, Ruben, Theresa, Lisa and Jette travelled on this day to Libreville to catch their repatriation flight on Sunday. Jacob and I deliberately chose to stay, and this make us two out of three German nationals, one a permanent resident in Port-Gentil, to remain in the country beside the embassy attaché and his family in Libreville.

Sunday, 05 April: Today, there is 24 cases, one death and one recovery for Covid-19, all in Libreville or close to Cameroon.

Monday, 06 April: And from this day on, to avoid the spread of the virus, Libreville is being blocked from the rest of the country. Measures like financial aid for paying rent and food have been announced, as many people have been losing income ever since the first safety measures have been put into place.

I get messages basically daily asking me how I am doing, if I’m already home, if I want to come home – and I get that desire many of my flatmates have. I am not ignorant of everything that is going on, of students helping out in German hospitals, of the impossibility of knowing when I could get home and how I would do should the pandemic really start here. Still, I have the deep conviction (is it me? is it divine?), that my place for now is here. I feel useful in productive in pursuing my research as planned, and I feel the need more than before that Franck and I make the most of our time, as Corona only knows when travel will be free again after I’ve left.

Sitting in this town by the equator, I sometimes have the impression to be in the only place not having cases yet. It feels strange to feel like an outsider on the one hand, but on the other hand Cermel is implicated in adapting security measures, our work activities are reduced, colleagues of mine are in the regional task force, and just across our campus there is the lab that does SARS-CoV-2 testing.

As nothing can be planned right now, I’m just pursuing my plans as I had laid them out, knowing I will most probably have to adapt most of them. It’s been long since I could plan more than three months ahead, and now it’s not even one. And there’s also beauty in this.

See You, take care,

Doro

424 days in Lambaréné/Gabon

35 days until Hamburg(?)