24. November 2007 by admin.

I was hoping my stay here would be without incident, but how boring would that be? The week began normally, work at L’Oeil, a fruit salad lunch at home and off to the DED to talk to Susanne. I’m aclimatised to not being in an air-conditioned environment, so the a/c at the DED was a welcome change. By the end of the workday, I was feeling a bit chilly which happens switching from a/c to non in a short period of time. No biggie, I thought, I’m tired as well.
Upon my return home, I had no apetite and forced myself to eat some noodles and crawled into bed until I realized my breath had become hotter than usual. That night I suddenly came down with a fever reaching 39.1 celsius (thermometer courtesy of Geneviève, my roomate), shivering, sweating and running to the washroom every hour or so. Ugh. Great. I decide to wait until the morning to see if the fever will pass.
4 am in the morning and the neighbourhood rooster goes on his cock-a-doodle-dooing solo, the morning call to prayer goes out and I’ve turned off the fan and still shivering in bed. Pass out….sounds of rattles of motorbikes pass by. Wake up and its 8am. Time to text Stephanie, my coordinator at Oxfam-Québec. I type letter-by-letter on my non-French mobile, “Je suis malade avec fievre” translated into, “I am sick with a fever”. By this hour, I’ve simply given up on any sort of sleep and she tells me she’ll be right over to bring me to the Clinique Française. At a slow-motion pace, I get dressed whilst bumping into every single sharp corner of my room, groggy from lack of sleep and muscles sore from the fever.
The Oxfam-Québec “ambulance” arrives with Edgar (Stephanie’s husband) at the wheel and Stephanie as the “paramedic”. In the sunny, hot weather combined pollution, I begin to feel queasy and am thankful for our arrival at the Clinique. After a quick wait, the doctor sees me and perscribes me a bunch of drugs, that the generosity of the French health system! As a precaution, they test me for malaria, which I thankfully don’t have. And stab me in…of all places, the wrist to draw blood for blood tests. The first blood test indicates that I have a high number of white blood cells indicating my body is fighting off an infection. With the lab halfway across town, we drop off my blood and I also have to provide an *ahem* sample.
Four days later of popping pills and passing out, my lab results indicate that I have E. Coli. Dun dun DUN. I return to the doctor, who prods my stomach and tells me my colon is tight, which is causing me diziness and headaches that I was thought experiencing due to the heat and pollution. More antiobiotics are prescribed since E. Coli is resistant to the type of antiobiotics prescribed by him a few days ago. He tells me its common and is transferred by unsanitary conditions (whon whon), vegetables, fruits and meats.
To my fair audience whom I’ve forgotten to mention an important fact. I did see the doctor a week beforehand for fatigue and allergies. Could the fatigue have been caused by my body fighting off the E. Coli? Possibly. The anti-malarial drug I take is in essence, an anti-biotic. Taken daily, the E.Coli could have become resistant to it and thus me coming down with a fever. I’m not a doctor, but this hypothesis is quite possible.
So when in Africa don’t take signs of sickness lightly, become a hypochondriac and see the doctor!
Next week, I’m off work to rest and hopefully rid myself of these local friends. Wish me luck!

Posted in Thoughts, Food, General | 3 Comments »

7. October 2007 by admin.

A list of what normally occurs with/to me on a daily basis:

- Peeling myself from the bed
- Spraying my new fragrance, called “Deet”
- Slight indigestion and what follows afterwards…
- Children wanting to shake my hand
- People saying hello
- Being called Chinese, Nasara (White in Moré), Korean, Thai, Tai Chi Master, Kung fu, Karate something, etc.
- Stared at
- Popping blue pills
- Drinking bags of water
- Riding scooters to and from
- Getting bitten by mosquitos
- Washing my hair everyday
- Inhaling exhaust fumes and dust
- Power outages
- Seeing animals in the street such as: chickens, roosters, sheep, dogs, cats, vultures and donkeys, geckos
- Being invited somewhere for something

Posted in Thoughts, General | 2 Comments »

5. October 2007 by admin.

It rained the other day, the second time since my arrival last Wednesday. While I was in a meeting with Suzanne from the DED (German Development), the trees began to sway and doors slammed as the wind blew vigurously.
The temperature hits almost 40˚ celsius on a clear day. giving the sun full access to us until about 6pm when the sun begins to set. Jonathan and I were suprised with the humidity that hit us when we debarked the plane last week. The rainy season generally ends sometime in September and we thought dry, hot weather was in store for us. It isn’t as bad as in Asia, but it adds to my feeling of melting. So everyday, I hope it’ll be cloudy and a bit windy like it is today for fresh air…Or in Ouaga’s case, dusty air.
The only paved roads are the main ones. Everything else is dirt. A brown-red dirt that kicks up whenever a vehicle passes, gets into your shoes and rests on everything. Often things are left in their packages here, covered or dusted daily. For example, the surface of the computers here at the office are wiped daily, leaving the once-white towel rust-coloured. And the box of tissues I bought at the grocery store was left in it’s plastic wrap until it is sold.
The bad air is compounded by the emissions from the numerous “mobylettes”, cars and especially trucks! The public transporation exists here, like local buses, however they’re not on time and usually packed. The taxis can be hailed on larger roads and a fare will bring you straight down the route that it’s already taking. Negotiations are needed if you want door-to-door service. Cyclists are common, but share the same lanes as motorcycles. So without contributing to the emissions they are breathing them in direct from the source.
My first impressions were that Burkina reminded me of Southeast Asia with the weather, activity, transportation, haggling, etc…But there are some differences. Even though Ouaga is the capital, they have ways to go before escalating it to the pockets of wealth and relative comfort of the poorer Southeast Asian larger cities have.
All in all, I want to do rest! It’s been non-stop since I arrived with training, meetings, socializing, working, etc. My only day off was this past Sunday, when I settled into my new home. My things are still in my luggage since I don’t have a armoir. Hopefully the carpenter will finish and install it soon.
Tomorrow, a couple of my co-workers are taking me to the Arts & Crafts village and it’s dinner with some a mix of Italians and Germans.

Posted in Thoughts, Ouagadougou | 1 Comment »