Goodbyes and Hellos

On Monday June 29th, CENTRAM celebrated its term end celebration. I worked throughout the day with many students preparing food and decorating the room. We ended up having songs and poems, along with a few English speeches from teachers. Then we all shared in the good food. It was a treat to celebrate with the students who worked so hard throughout the term.

Here I am grinding beef for the sandwiches.

On July 1st, I celebrated Canada Day with my host familiy by giving them stickers that said 'Canada'/had maple leaves. 

Here I am in my room for one last goodbye photo before heading to N'Djamena. It was a pleasure to have such fun and caring family and neighbours to learn from and laugh with.

I'm coming home, coming home, tell the world that I'm coming home!

This past week I have been in Akron, PA doing a re-entry with all the other SALTers. It has been a good week. Lots of reflecting (and still lots more to do when I get home). I'm excited to see you all in the coming days and weeks, but I have a challenge for you. I have many stories and events that have happened in my year abroad, but it is hard for me to come up with them on the spot. So if you are able to come up with specific questions (For example instead of 'How was Chad?', ask about my host family, my vacation, food, clothes, weddings, church etc.) this will help me to tell you interesting questions about all the unique experiences I've had.

Lasts

As my SALT term is coming to an end, there are many lasts that have been happening, (last church service, last peace club, last visit with friends etc.) and others are still yet to come. It is sad to be leaving but I’m reminded of the verse about time from Ecclesiastes (the following is an edited version):

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

 A time to be born, and a time to die;

A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

 A time to weep, and a time to laugh;

A time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to be in Chad, and a time to be in Canada,

A time to eat boule and a time to eat pizza,

A time to teach English and a time to teach French,

A time to wear handmade clothes and a time to wear teacher clothes

A time to sweat and a time to freeze

A time to prepare slime sauce and a time to prepare fresh fruit salad

A time for bucket showers and a time for energy efficient showers

A time for early morning visits and a time for late night visits

A time to have braided hair and a time to have straight hair

A time to say goodbye and a time to greet familiar faces

And always there is time to learn and grow.

While my time in Chad has come to an end, new adventures await once I return to Canada. Goodbyes can be difficult, but I am so thankful for the opportunity that I have had this year in be in Chad and will enjoy my last few days here.

Once Upon a Chadian Time

Moving from my life in Canada, where:

Things are measured to the second

Time can not be wasted,

We are always in a hurry,

and rushing to get everything done.

This past year in Chad has been a welcome change. Before arriving I was a little nervous, because I had quite liked the culture of planning a million things into my day so that I was always on the verge of being stressed.

Being On time/Late

But time in Chad is different. While things may have a start time, it is unlikely that they will actually start at that time, or if they do, few people will be present at the start. Concerts will advertise that they begin at 3pm, but they will actually start at least a half hour late, and the majority of people will show up an hour late. Even church which starts at 8:15 often has a mere 30 people at the start and by the end there are over 800 people in the pews.

While I do enjoy being on time, this year has taught me not to be anxious if I am late, as even if I arrive 15 minutes late, I very well may be the first person at a meeting or event. It can be frustrating for planning purposes but time is more fluid here and people arrive when they can.

Chadians often joke that they may be saying that ‘they are arriving’ when in reality they are at home, and still have to prepare a meal, shower and get ready. Well, just to prove that I have become a real Chadian, I needed to keep time like a Chadian. One day, I texted a student at ISETAER (the agriculture school that uses the same building as CENTRAM) to tell her I would be at school from 8:30-10:30 if she wanted to take my memory stick to print pictures. So I showered and was starting to get ready when the power came on at home. I decided to do a little marking of my midterms when suddenly at 8:38am I got a phone call asking where I was. Well I told her, “Je suis en route.” I am already on my way! Well in reality I had to get dressed, brush my hair, back my bag, and bike the 12 minutes to CENTRAM. I arrived and was informed that I was indeed following Chadian time!

Visits

In Canada we expect that if people are coming over to our house, they will tell us a few days before hand or at the very least call, or text to inform us they are stopping by. In Chad this is not the case. You are free to stop by at any time to visit and if there is food or tea ready, it will be offered to you. My favourite time for visitors is at 6am! I get up around 6:15am and sometimes there is someone outside to greet as I make my way to the bathroom. Would you welcome someone with a smile if they showed up at your house unannounced at 6am?!

Pizza Party!

Over the last couple days I have been gathering ingredients to make mini-pizzas. Cheese was the most difficult ingredient as it is very expensive and is only sometimes available at one store in town. But luckily I successfully purchased Gouda cheese (they only had 2 types available). I picked up fresh buns, garlic, onions, peppers and tomato paste, and soon we were ready to start assembling pizzas.

I had three great helpers who cut ingredients, prepared the charcoal and of course helped me assemble the pizzas. We made 20 mini-pizzas but they quickly disappeared, as they were a big hit. 

Singing, Stumbling and Stirring

A week ago, Maddie excitely told me that Ghislain (one of the co-directors of ENVODEV) was inviting us to sing two songs in his family band- one in French (that he wrote) and a popular Laka hymn. (Laka is similar to Ngambai but from a slightly different region of the country.) So this past week we have been practicing and on Saturday we had our first recording session!

I recently stumbled upon a delicious meat place that serves beef cooked in a delicious salty sauce. So I decided that I wanted to get some. I hopped on my bike and got the meat. Afterwards, a woman greeted me, and while I headed towards here to shake her hand, I fell into the disgusting sewage water/garbage sewer that is along most roads. I was not very hurt - a scrape on my arm, a bruise on my thigh and my big toe stubbed. After climbing out of the gutter, I went home and showered, twice!

Today after our 3 hour church service (where I sang in the choir), I had the opportunity to help make boule. I sifted the flour, added water, turned it (Adeline helped some because the pot was overflowing) and then I served it into the calabashes. Often I take pictures of my family when they don’t ask, but this time, Mila asked me where my camera was- so I pulled it out and here is a picture of us (she is eating the fruit from a palm tree).