“I PASSED OUT AT 4 A.M.”: A CHOLERA SURVIVOR'S ACCOUNT

In the courtyard of her home, a young woman from Kousséri gazes tenderly at her baby whilst breastfeeding him. Just a few days ago, the shadow of death hung over her household. Now out of danger, she recalls with frightening clarity the moment when she nearly lost her life. 

The night everything changed

On her return from a trip to Ndjamena, the young mother, a market trader in Kousséri, suddenly began to experience stomach pains. In the space of just a few hours, the illness raged with unprecedented ferocity: 

“I started having severe diarrhoea. The next day, from two o’clock in the morning, the diarrhoea became more severe and was accompanied by vomiting. At 4.00 am, I rang my husband. By the time we arrived at the hospital, I had already lost consciousness.”

What followed were three gruelling days in hospital, far from her baby, undergoing intensive rehydration treatment, whilst her loved ones were left in a state of uncertainty. When she woke up, she discovered the cause of her illness on her medical report: cholera.

“ When I insisted on seeing my baby, the medical staff refused. They thought I was still too weak to breastfeed. It wasn’t until the third day that I was allowed to see and hold my baby ”, she recalls.

Turning fear into a bastion of hygiene

A near-tragedy turned this mother into a champion of prevention. After leaving hospital with her arms full of disinfectants, bleach and advice from the healthcare team, she reorganised her entire household to turn her home into an inviolable sanctuary: 

“ I now clean the drinking water jars with bleach. I make sure they are properly covered. I insist that my children wash their hands regularly with drinking water treated with bleach. ”

The young mother warns the sceptics. Cholera is a dangerous disease.

“ To those who still doubt the existence of this disease, I say that cholera is a disease that can lead to death. I urge those who enter my home to keep their own homes clean. Dirt is the enemy we must fight ”, she explains.

Every day, she makes sure that the toilets in her house are spotlessly clean.

Standing up to the invisible monster

In Kousséri, cholera demonstrated just how devastating it can be, wiping out families in a single night. But in the face of the disease, this survivor’s story and the awareness-raising efforts on the ground prove that cholera is not an inevitable fate. Through simple hygiene practices and a spirit of solidarity, communities are getting back on their feet, determined to protect every child’s smile and future.