Floods

Last week I joked on Facebook that I had experienced 'a flood' when the water heater in the apartment above me malfunctioned. The water was several centimetres deep upstairs and was starting to come through my ceiling.

Whilst I went through this minor inconvenience that, with the help of three colleagues, took about an hour to sort out many other residents of N'Djamena have not been so fortunate. Following the rains further south the Chari river that runs through the city has broken its banks and flooded large areas. Estimates suggest that over 25,000 people have been displaced as a result and included in this number are two of our guards.

Zam and Jean are related in some way that no one seems able to explain and lived in the same neighbourhood until their homes were flooded last week. Along with their immediate families they are now living with other relatives. As the waters start to recede they are planning to return to where their homes once stood to rebuild and start again. As I talk to them with my limited French I am struck by their different responses. Zam who is older seems accepting of the situation and determined to rebuild his home, whereas Jean who is younger and recently married has lost much of his usual 'sparkle'. He has a great smile that lights up his whole face but I haven't seen that for a while now.

It is apparently not an unusual occurrence for the river to flood, although this year it has been particularly bad. Each time it happens the President says that the people must move away from the river but a permanent solution has not yet been found. Zam, Jean and the majority of those affected by the floods have lived in this area all their lives and as much as they don't want to live somewhere that is so susceptible to flooding being forcibly relocated to another part of the city is not what they want either.

Footnote: The French word for flood is 'inondation' - Zam and Jean certainly know what it is like to be inundated by water.

Travel Agent

The last part of my journey to work each day involves turning right at the terminal building of the international airport here in N'Djamena and driving for about 200 metres along a dirt road to reach the MAF hangar. On one side of this road there are a series of buildings, which are occupied by different logistics companies involved in importing and exporting goods via airfreight. Normally when I arrive for work this area is very quiet - there are a few cars about and the guards sit around looking bored - but for the last two weeks it has been pretty chaotic.

On my first day back in Chad after my time in the UK I went into the office slightly later than normal. About half way along the dirt road I came across a huge number of cars parked seemingly totally at random around an area fenced off with large metal barriers. Inside this fenced off area tents with sides that came about half way down to the ground had been erected and inside them, sitting on mats, were large numbers of people. As I negotiated my way around the parked cars I noticed several signs advertising what can only be described as a 'package holiday' or rather I should say a 'package pilgrimage'.

If you were in possession of a passport that was dated before 30th September 2012 and were willing to spend 1,645,000 Chadian francs (about £2,000) you would be able to buy a return air ticket (including accommodation) to Saudi Arabia to participate in The Hajj - the annual pilgrimage to Mecca that all Muslims are supposed to undertake at least once in their lifetime.

As I drove past this temporary travel agent each day I soon realised that this area of waste ground was quickly becoming a mini village - there were people selling food, water was available in large earthenware jars (presumably for drinking and for ritual washing before prayer times) and latrines had been put up (although there still seemed to be a fair amount of open defecation going on...).

Each day this week the crowds seemed bigger than normal as people arrived for the flights to Saudi Arabia. It seemed as if every person travelling also brought along various family members to see them off and there were police around to control the crowds.

And then this morning the tents and all the people were gone. Apart from the metal barriers, the latrines and a lot of rubbish very little remained to show that this had been such a busy place for the last two weeks.

The Hajj takes place next week and I am just wondering if it will be as busy at the airport when everyone returns...

Finally Flying

Today was a very exciting day for Mission Aviation Fellowship in Chad. We had our first operational flight for our new airplane - the Cessna 182.

The plane arrived in Chad in March and it has been a long-journey for the whole team to get to this point. Registration, modifications, approvals, training and seemingly never-ending paperwork have all had to be painstakingly worked through in order to get the plane operational.

It is a journey that seemed well worth the effort today as we flew Dr Ann and her Chadian colleague Doumi to Ba Illi (a village about 150 miles to the south-east of N'Djamena) where they were to spend the day treating patients who otherwise would not get the chance to see a doctor. Tomorrow we will fly them on to another village where they will treat more people.

At the moment these villages are unreachable by road due to the recent heavy rains that have caused extensive flooding in the south of Chad. This type of flying is at the heart of what MAF does - enabling others to reach isolated people with help and hope.

Doumi and Dr Ann with the C182 at Ba Illi

Back in Chad

I returned last Tuesday evening to Chad after just over two weeks in the UK. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, which didn't give much time for blogging or any other form of social networking.

I spent four days travelling (either by plane to and from the UK or by car from the north to the south of England), nine days in Carlisle, three days with my mother and five days in meetings. I slept in four different beds, went to the hairdresser, the dentist and the optician, enjoyed meeting up with friends and reconnecting with my church and did a lot of shopping for things to bring back to Chad.

On Tuesday morning I was in Cumbria scrapping ice off the car before heading to the airport. On Tuesday evening I was standing in the crowded arrivals area of N'Djamena airport sweating profusely as I waited in line to get through immigration. The relative coolness that the rains brought during August and into September have been replaced by daytime temperatures around 40C and high humidity. Even the Chadians are saying it is hot and it is quite a contrast to the autumnal weather of the UK.

Since getting back I have been catching up with my colleagues; finding out what has been happening whilst I was away, trying to get on top of the backlog of work and attempting to remember the French I had learnt. Thankfully it has not all been forgotten but communicating with the Chadians remains my biggest challenge. C'est la vie!

Ripple effect

Someone makes a film in America and uploads it to the internet.

Protests against the film erupt in Egypt.

The American consulate is attacked in Libya and the US Ambassador and three others are killed.

Protests spread to Yemen and a few other countries.

At 06:12 a.m. this morning I am forwarded a text suggesting that there will be demonstrations in N'Djamena later today.

At 06:33 a.m. I am having a conversation about whether the children who live on the compound will go to the American-run school they attend today.

At 06:45 a.m. I leave for work - everything appears 'normal' as I drive across the city to the airport.

On arriving at the hangar I ask the staff if they have heard anything about possible problems today. They seem more concerned about demonstrations that have been talked about for several weeks in relation to a Government workers strike over a dispute about salaries.

The general feeling is that it could be 'un probleme pour les blancs'  so I decide that we will close the office at 12:00 noon in order that everyone can get home before any possible demonstrations might take place.

Everyone seems very happy that we are finishing 2 hours earlier than we normally do on a Friday...

At 12:15 p.m. I drive back across the city. A colleague left an hour earlier saying he would phone if he thought there were any problems. As I haven't heard from him I take my usual route, which goes past the US Embassy. It is probably the most heavily fortified complex in the city, even more so than the Presidential Palace (if you don't include the armed soldiers). There are a few more security guards outside the Embassy but other than that everything still appears 'normal'.

I spend the afternoon working at home and get so much more done than I would have done at the office.

The neighbourhood is quiet as evening approaches. The ripples may not have reached N'Djamena but they still had an effect.

Flights

This week we had a full week of flights to the south and east of Chad for a variety of different reasons. The south of Chad is currently inaccessible by road as the recent rains have caused quite extensive flooding and a journey by road to the east of the country can take a couple of days.

  

• On Sunday we flew a group from a Chadian sugar company to Banda (south of Sarh). The pilot waited at the airport while they had meetings and then brought them back the same day. We would not normally fly on a Sunday and we do a limited number of these 'commercial' flights but Jakob (who is currently here as our relief pilot) was happy to do the flight and after a relatively quiet month of flying in August we were very pleased to get the booking.
• On Monday we flew a missionary family to Am Timan, after they had spent nearly two weeks having a break in N'Djamena. They had taken the opportunity of being in the capital city to stock-up on supplies for the next few months so we also had over 200 kgs of freight. In Am Timan we picked up three Americans who had been in Chad on a short-term trip, helping to install solar and battery power at the compound of another mission organisation.
• On Tuesday we flew a group of five leaders from the Chadian church to Moundou for meetings with local church groups. The meetings were scheduled to take all afternoon and evening so the pilot stayed overnight and flew the group back to N'Djamena on Wednesday.
• On Thursday we flew to Guereda (east of Abeche) to collect a missionary family who are having to leave Chad at quite short notice because one of them is sick and cannot get the treatment they need here.
• On Friday we flew to Banda again so more employees of the sugar company could have more meetings.

It was a busy but satisfying week...



Preparing the plane for a flight on a stormy Sunday morning



Banking

Getting cash from the bank to pay for our programme expenses is a task that is normally handled by Tresor, our Finance Officer. It is something I have done in other countries I have worked in although it is not one of my favourite tasks. I am usually the only white female in the bank and so I feel quite conspicuous and vulnerable walking out with, what to most people in there is, a substantial amount of cash. But today Tresor is sick and we needed cash.

To cash a cheque requires the individual to present their Identity Card so it is something that can only be done by a Chadian. The only person in the office who was available and also had their Identity Card with them was Justine, the Office Administrator. But she doesn't drive and I was the only person available to drive her. (Are you starting to get a picture of the sort of day it was...?).

On arrival at the bank Justine walked confidently up to one of the bank tellers and handed over the cheque and her ID card. The person behind the window looked something up on his computer and started writing something on the back of the cheque. I was just thinking 'this is going to be quick' when the cheque and ID card were handed back to Justine and she walked across to another line of 5 cashier booths on the other side of the bank. There were groups of 4 or 5 men crowded around two of the windows, with the other positions being unoccupied.

I gradually figured out the 'system' for getting your cheque cashed. You stand around until the moment that you decide the group around a particular cashier is not too large and then you push your way to the front and place your cheque and ID card on the counter. You then stand around for a bit longer, but a bit closer, until the cashier picks up your cheque and ID card and at that point you can move forward to be served. Once you are handed your money you then have to count it without moving away from the counter but whilst the next customer is served. When you have counted the money and nodded to the cashier you are handed your receipt and can leave.

From arriving at the bank to leaving again took nearly an hour so at least I now understand why Tresor is away from the office for so long when he goes to get cash.

Of course, as a British person, I couldn't help thinking that the whole process could be speeded up by having a few more cashiers and insisting that everyone forms a queue and waits their turn to be served...