Petit à petit

Petit à Petit l’oiseau fait son nid.

Little by little the bird makes its nest (an English equivalent: Slow and Steady wins the race)

I was first introduced to this proverb at orientation by Mbaidiro (a Chadian who came to work in the US). It is also an expression that many Chadians have said to me since I have arrived. You will do/learn things little by little. This encouragement has really helped me as I slowly adjust to my life in Chad. Each day if I learn a little I feel as though I have had a good day. Here are some of things that I am learning to do little by little.

1) Learn Ngambai-(pronounced Gum- bye) This is definitely the biggest challenge so far as my host family speaks almost completely in Ngambai unless addressing me. The little children only speak Ngambai and learn French once they begin to go to school. Little by little I am picking up phrases and things to say. So far I can say: Hello, How are you?, I’m good., It’s hot out., My name is Ruth, What’s your name?, Good bye, Come, I drink water, Thank you.

It’s a start, and each day I learn a little more, however I’ve got an awfully long way to go if I want to have regular conversations in Ngambai. I’m hoping to get a tutor for a few weeks to help me with some basic Ngambai learning.

2) Cooking- So far I have peeled a few potatoes, ground grain with a mortar and pestle, and used a strainer to sift the fine flour from the not so fine flour. So little by little I’m beginning to help out with the cooking. By the end of my time, I hope to be able to cook many of the dishes that I eat.

3) Eating- My host family has been very kind and has cooked me very great meals. They are slowly easing me into eating boule (which is flour and water). I have had it 2-3 times but Chadians really like it and eat it every day. It is a very filling food, but without much nutrients. So little by little I’m eating more boule.

4) Turning the lamp- In Chad electricity is not consistent. At times it is on, and at other times it is not. My family has a generator that they use on occasion if the electricity is not working. But at other times we use flashlights and lamps when it gets dark. (In Chad it gets dark at 6:30pm.) One evening I brought out my solar lamp (given to me by my MCC reps) into the living room. Unfortunately I had not charged it much that day, and after about half an hour it died. My solar lamp has the ability to charge by turning a knob round and round. My host sister, Ornella, as well as a few cousins would take turns turning the knob little by little, then we would have light for a few minutes. We would do this again. I am learning to be very grateful for electricity.

As I learn little by little, remember that my time in Chad is only one story and one view of Chad. While I hope to provide you information to broaden your view of Chad, I am also aware of the danger of a single story, and perspective. Please feel free to check out the blogs of my fellow SALTers to learn about how they

Maddie Ruth maddieinchad.blogspot.ca

Mark Tymm peacepaixshalomsalaam.wordpress.com 

Laura Marcus http://unlikelycorners.weebly.com/blog

In their blogs:

Maddie's ‘I Spy’ gives a good sense of what happened during our drive in N’Djamena

Mark's ‘Maman and Papa Chad’ gives a very good overview of the work happening in Chad with MCC
Laura's 'Baby Steps' has some pictures of us and explains what we did during our in-country orientation.