Three new activities this week

Water- In Chad, women carry many things on their head- from water to flour to fruit to wood.  Carrying objects on your head is for Chadians the most practical way to transport objects. I've always admired these strong women and frankly I have been a bit scared to try it myself because I have poor balance and I did not what to drop the object. This past week I watched my ten year old sister skillfully carry a bucket on her head as she transported water from the tap to a container in the kitchen. I decided that I wanted to give it a try, so I picked up a bucket (about half the size of my sister's) and successfully transported the water with only a few little spills!

Veillé- My compound is connected with our neighbours' compound (which has a number of families living together). Last week, one of my neighbours held a veillé at her place with members from her church. This meant that sometime in the evening people started coming over to sing, dance, pray and eat. I ended up going over around 11 p.m. and decided to stay until close to 1 a.m. There was singing from a choir who played the drums and I danced with the women. It was really fun, and when I went to bed I continued to hear the music throughout the night!

Bouillie- Yesterday I had the priviledge of making bouillie which is the porridge like drink that many Chadians drink for breakfast and dinner. But preparing bouillie is not as simple as making porridge. You begin by lighting up the charcoal with kindling and a match. Then you put a little water in a pot to boil. Next you take some peanut butter and slowly mix it with water, mixing with your hands. The peanut butter water gets drained into the boiled water (with the excess peanut butter shifted out and the process is done a second time.)

Then half a cup of rice is washed 3 times and put in the pot to cook. While cooking, other rice is put in a mortar in order to make rice flour. This is then ground and sifted to produce the flour. Once the rice in the pot is cooked, the rice flour is slowly added to the mixture. Next some lemon juice is added, and finally sugar is added to the whole mixture. Then it is time to grab a cup, and drink up!