Malaria!
(This blog is very much overdue, it happened about 4 weeks ago...)
Monday morning. It’s a great morning with lionesses with cubs on the way to the office. The bee-eaters chatter outside the office as we have our short & sweet morning meeting and we get to work. I do a lot of admin while Willem is in and out, checking on the maintenance for our camp (still in the HQ, still in many pieces, bags, trunks, etc). Tomorrow I will fly to N’Djamena to continue my journey into Chadian markets, super markets and that one famous ‘deli’ L’Amandine. It’s the place for good croissants and bread and also the only place to get pork products in Chad. I’m looking forward to browsing the supermarket with the Camp Nomade chef and our head of tourism who carries the appropriate name ‘Bienvenue’.
A container full of Camp Nomade ⚡️
Back to that Monday morning: after spending more time in the bathroom than behind my computer, it dawns: I have a fever. Two options: a nasty case of upset stomach or... malaria. Mosquitoes are mostly present in the wet season but despite that, wearing long trousers, closed shoes and deet, I have quite a few bites. I tell Willem I’m afraid it could be malaria and that when I’m in bed he’ll need to find me a test kit and medication just in case I loose my sanity.
By the time I’m in bed I’m shivering under a duvet (it’s 40 degrees outside). Fever is running high. I’m dizzy and nauseas and have the worst headache. After every loo-run or wake up for obligatory soos of water I crash into bed, not talking much, drifting in and out of dreams. Sleep sleep sleep. Willem runs around for a test kit and the common medication: coartem. The test is negative, but that is because the type of malaria here is not in any test. The symptoms are exactly like what our colleague Rob experiences, so I start the regime of coartem and paracetamol.
It’s a natural remedy, did you know? 🍀
By the beginning of the evening the fever has stopped increasing, a good sign. I sleep and sleep. The alarm at midnight is to take the next coartem. It needs to be taken with food for better absortion. Fat food, preferably. The plate of rice and raisins taken back by Willem after dinner is sitting at 20cm from our heads for that reason. Leaning on one elbow, I churn down as much rice as I can before getting nauseas again, swallow the pill and fall right back asleep.
And so I spend two days in bed, looked after by Willem and the staff at Tinga who bring thermos flasks with hot water every few hours. The last minute buy in Holland of instant stock & noodles come in very handy. Every now and then for a few hours my fever comes back, and subsides. When I’m well enough to be left alone, Willem takes my place going to N’Djamena to prepare for the shopping orientation for our camp (supplying me with 282 photos of coffee, tea, yoghurt and Arabic labels). A bit later in the week I’m well enough to go into the office and communicate with him on what needs to be and what needs not to be on the shopping list...
After all this time in Africa, it was to be expected to get Malaria. Been there, done that...
X IRIS
The face of Malaria 🤯
