My alarm went off after just a few hours sleep and I found my way around my bags and managed to get ready for my meeting. We (John, a consultant hired by WC and I) met with the Project’s Supervisor for French Development in Tchad as well as a representative of the local government’s Agriculture Department. The meeting was all in French and lasted about 2 hours. It went well and we gained a much better idea of what would be expected of us if we collaborated in future projects. As we left the office building John offered to take me out for breakfast, an offer that was sweeter than usual since I had not been organized enough in the morning to get breakfast and had since worked up a big appetite. He took me to a little café where I enjoyed a pot of tea, fresh juice, some fresh yoghurt and my favorite - a nice French croissant.
While there I had the chance to see something I had heard about in Kenya- the French military. What makes them interesting is what they wear or don’t wear. Part of their standard uniform is a pair of extremely short shorts. So, they tend to stand out as they are white in a mostly African context and are exposing significant amounts of skin in a heavily Muslim, conservative context. Not quite sure what they were thinking when designing the uniforms but they seem perfectly happy running around the city in their little short shorts.
Breakfast was great and I took a sandwich from the café to enjoy later for lunch. The bread is so nice. The day itself was pretty quiet. I just rested and lounged around the guest house and tried to stay hydrated as the heat was pretty intense. Around 7 we headed to a restaurant to celebrate my birthday which was a nice surprise. (see previous blog) One notable difference here is the lizards. I am not sure why but they seem to be climbing all the walls and they are pretty big. My guess is they are pretty welcome as they eat bugs so I don’t mind but it takes a bit to get used to them. The next day was a day in waiting as I just needed to get permission to travel out of the capital and then get booked on a UN flight to Abéché and then later to Goz Beida. While waiting I read up on some of the reports I had brought, spent some time with our staff and just sorted my luggage as there is a strict weight allowance on the UN flights of 15 kg. I had about 35 kg from Nairobi so I had some decision making about what I would actually carry to Goz Beida, what could stay in the capital and what I would hope to get later via a cargo flight. However, that night we got to take part in or at least witness a global event- the inauguration of President Obama! (again, see previous blog for details)
Wednesday morning the alarm woke me early. I needed to be at the airport by 6am so a taxi was coming around 5:45. I had put a lot of thought into what I was taking on the plane and when my stuff was weighed they allowed me to proceed. However, my colleague who had just spent 2 months in the capital and was now returning home was unlucky. He had to ‘lighten his load’ three different times, taking out 3 pairs of shoes, a thermos, 2 French to English dictionaries, etc before finally being allowed on.
Once we were past security it was clear the environment had changed. We were no longer in Chad proper but in Chad the humanitarian zone. All of the sudden there were more white faces and internationals than Chadians. I was now part of the group where each person wears an ID around their necks showing our affiliation with the UN or some other agency doing humanitarian work in Chad. From now on the dynamics will be different.
In order to get going on our flight we were asked to get on a bus which literally took us less than 75 meters so we could board the flight – a Beech 1900 Raythen which had capacity for 19 passengers. We each identified our bag, it was tossed in the back of the plane and off we went. Minutes after taking off I was able to see from the air the extent of the capital city. It really is more of a large town than a city. You could count on one hand the number of paved roads that were visible just minutes after takeoff. The infrastructure was very basic and just got leaner as we moved away from town. Finally I was on my way to the field and would be one step closer, about half way, in just 1.5 hours.
(sorry for the lack of interesting photos- there is a pretty strong sense that photography is not very welcome so I was lean on picture taking)
Comments