Adventures in Life

This past week I was so proud as our staff facilitated a couple of project fairs which are part of our Cash for Work and Food for Work Programs. This is something I have heard a lot about while in Kenya but I’d never actually attended one. My staff did a great job! They are seasoned veterans at this as we have done many. Let me explain (and show you through the pics which run in order of the process) how it works and why I love it so much. To begin, together with the chiefs and community committee we identify those beneficiaries that will participate in the program. Most of the beneficiaries will then work in a variety of projects we select around their camp. Projects include digging water pans to collect rain water which is needed in such an arid area; planting trees and caring for them as part of our reforestation program; digging demi lunes or building contour lines which helps slow rain run off and thus slows erosion and environmental degradation. As workers clock a certain amount...

It has been an interesting weekend and I mean that in all sincerity. I have been in Goz Bëida one month and so far and other than the party we hosted for our staff last weekend there has been very little ‘spontaneity’ and though I find many ‘creative’ ways to entertain and enjoy myself there is not a lot of what we would call traditional FUN. Considering where we are it makes sense and to be honest I never had any grand expectations when coming here. That is not why I am here. However, this weekend things changed a bit and now a whole new world is opening up to me in little Goz Bëida. First, on Friday at the weekly coordination meeting we (our expat crew) were invited to a party. It seems each of the NGO’s and UN bodies take turns throwing a bash and all are invited. This is the first one I have heard of since arriving but it seems they can be pretty frequent. As sun was setting we set off for the party hosted by Oxfam. Once the party got going there were about 30 or so people havin...

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...

6:00 Wake up, it’s still a bit dark, there is no power so I turn on my headlamp for light 6:05 Go check to see if the ‘city’ water is on yet- not yet- 6:10 Go boil water for morning tea for me and the guys 6:15 Check again to see if water is on – not yet…. 6:15 Breakfast! Tea + bread and jam or cereal with powdered milk or perhaps an omelet! 6:25 Read My Upmost for His Highest my favorite devotional book and from Bible 6:40 Water is on! Wash up and get ready for the day 6:55 Pack up and leave for the office in one of the land cruisers, 2 blocks away 7:05 Arrive at office hearing the sound of our staff singing French choruses for devotions 7:35 Devotions end and short staff meeting starts 8:00 Meeting ends, greet staff with my poor French, they laugh and I keep trying 8:05 The generator goes on, office is buzzing as field staff prep to go to the field 9:00 Field staff leaves, office gets a bit quiet, managers and admin remain at office 9-12 Work on reports, reply to emails (offline), re...

I left Nairobi exactly a week ago and today I had the honor of going to church for the first time in Chad. My options were few as there is only one Protestant and one Catholic church in Goz Beida -but in some ways that is already more than I expected. I went to the Protestant service which was to start at 8 and there was an added perk in that my colleague was to be the speaker. Due to this he went on before me. I was dropped by our driver just after 8 and saw that no one was going in the building so I just waiting for the appropriate cues to know when to enter (as I don’t speak French and couldn’t ask what was going on). As the service started there were only about 10 or 15 of us but it didn’t take long for the church to fill up. By the time we finished 2 hours later more than 200 people had come to worship. Though I didn’t understand the words I was able to follow much of the service as it was familiar enough. I could read from my neighbors’ hymn book and struggle through the French p...

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 ...

Around 3:30 in the afternoon on Sunday the 18th a taxi came to pick me up to begin my long journey to Goz Beida, Tchad- my home for the next 2 months. My first flight was to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where I had a brief layover and then continued to the capital city of N’djamena. Two things to note from my time in the Addis airport- first, I have never seen such a rush for the Duty Free zone- people were excited and literally buying out the place. These shoppers were skilled and strategic and they meant business! Second, there was a strange behavior among those that were on my flight to Chad. There was a noticeable difference in how they responded to the airline staff and to each other. Chaos is the only way to explain it. People were in a frenzy and not really following any rules but somehow it worked. With the two flights, the layover and crossing a few time zones I finally arrived just after 1am on the 19th of January- which happened to be my birthday. I was pretty beat but was all a...