No red hearts, no chocolate, no cards, no gushy commercials or pressure to do anything really. Valentines Day as an event was not at all on the radar for most residents of Goz Bëida, however our staff were sure not to let it go unnoticed. A few weeks ago when I proposed we do a staff day of fun to bond as a team they picked the date- February 14th! One of the guys mentioned it was Valentine’s Day some American holiday he had heard about. I took the time to briefly explain what it was about and said it was a great idea, we would have our own Day Of Love – a day to just be 
together outside the office, playing games, enjoying music, eating a meal and just lovin’ on each other. So, our Day of Love finally came and it was a great day!
Around lunch time people started showing up. First the committee that was in charge of the day and then the rest of the staff. A few of us were playing UNO, a favorite
card game of mine from my youth, and college, and Narok…. Little did I know that the game of UNO would become the centerpiece of the whole day. Did you know you could have 10 people playing at once? Just about everyone joined in at some point and they caught on pretty quick, dishing out bombs like the Draw 4 Wild card and dishing them the Skip card at just the right time making sure someone didn’t win in that round, etc. There was a lot of laughter and tons of fun. Other games were being played; some were dancing, talking, playing with baby Octav and just enjoying the music. Chad actually has some great music, it must be the West/Central African influence, I will try to get some of my own.
Around 4:30 the main course was ready- BBQ! We had a large sheep purchased and prepared in a traditional way which means it is roasted with couscous, onions, potatoes and all the spices inside- kind of how we do traditional turkey with stuffing in it- but this was a sheep and so tasty! We all enjoyed the traditional dish and all that went with it.
Now, to add in the President’s Day part you need to know the President of Chad doesn’t come to places like Goz Bëida very often- our staff seem to remember him coming only once before so the fact that he was coming through and spending the night was a big deal and people were coming out of the wood work- in fact, it wasn’t just the people but the ‘equipment’ that was also coming out of no where, passing right by our gate as we are on one of the main roads. Loaded pick up trucks, army, armored vehicles, tanks and more bazookas and automatic weapons than I have ever seen in person. The ‘parade’ passed by for hours so we found sneaky ways to capture bits on film.
Greg climbed up our wall and peaked over and Derreck and I peeked through the little holes in our gate and I found that my little camera would actually capture pretty good images through there while remaining undetected. We saw too many ‘loaded’ pick ups to count and with each one passing the people would cheer and wave their flags. All very interesting and so extremely different from what a Kenyan 
or US Presidential convoy looks like and I have seen both. Needless to say with all the additional ‘activity’ in town we decided to cut our day short to make sure our staff left the house before dark but no one seemed to mind, it had been a GREAT day and all had experienced a bit more love thanks to the festivities we had enjoyed together.
I hope your Valentine’s Day was special!
together outside the office, playing games, enjoying music, eating a meal and just lovin’ on each other. So, our Day of Love finally came and it was a great day!Around lunch time people started showing up. First the committee that was in charge of the day and then the rest of the staff. A few of us were playing UNO, a favorite
card game of mine from my youth, and college, and Narok…. Little did I know that the game of UNO would become the centerpiece of the whole day. Did you know you could have 10 people playing at once? Just about everyone joined in at some point and they caught on pretty quick, dishing out bombs like the Draw 4 Wild card and dishing them the Skip card at just the right time making sure someone didn’t win in that round, etc. There was a lot of laughter and tons of fun. Other games were being played; some were dancing, talking, playing with baby Octav and just enjoying the music. Chad actually has some great music, it must be the West/Central African influence, I will try to get some of my own.
Around 4:30 the main course was ready- BBQ! We had a large sheep purchased and prepared in a traditional way which means it is roasted with couscous, onions, potatoes and all the spices inside- kind of how we do traditional turkey with stuffing in it- but this was a sheep and so tasty! We all enjoyed the traditional dish and all that went with it.
Now, to add in the President’s Day part you need to know the President of Chad doesn’t come to places like Goz Bëida very often- our staff seem to remember him coming only once before so the fact that he was coming through and spending the night was a big deal and people were coming out of the wood work- in fact, it wasn’t just the people but the ‘equipment’ that was also coming out of no where, passing right by our gate as we are on one of the main roads. Loaded pick up trucks, army, armored vehicles, tanks and more bazookas and automatic weapons than I have ever seen in person. The ‘parade’ passed by for hours so we found sneaky ways to capture bits on film.
Greg climbed up our wall and peaked over and Derreck and I peeked through the little holes in our gate and I found that my little camera would actually capture pretty good images through there while remaining undetected. We saw too many ‘loaded’ pick ups to count and with each one passing the people would cheer and wave their flags. All very interesting and so extremely different from what a Kenyan 
or US Presidential convoy looks like and I have seen both. Needless to say with all the additional ‘activity’ in town we decided to cut our day short to make sure our staff left the house before dark but no one seemed to mind, it had been a GREAT day and all had experienced a bit more love thanks to the festivities we had enjoyed together.I hope your Valentine’s Day was special!
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