Bakourou

What is  Bakourou?

Bakourou is hard peanut butter sticks, that are very yummy and are eaten by people in Chad.

How is it made?

Mila (one of the ladies who lives with us and cooks food) has a Bakourou operation. There are many steps needed to make Bakourou:

1) Get peanuts

2) Peel all the peanuts (or make sure the shells are already off)

3) Put them in the sun for 2-3 days (or 1 day if it’s sunny the whole day)

4) Cook them over a hot fire with some sand for 5-6 minutes

5) Take off the red skin of the peanuts

6) Bring it to the mill

7) Add salt and water and turn for about 20-30 minutes

8) It becomes a paste

9) There is a separation of peanut oil and paste

10 Roll the paste into 15-20 cm snakes (1-2 cm in diameter)

11) Fry them in oil

12) Sell them at the market or in the home 50 CFA per bag

How is it eaten?

This may seem like a simple question, however Bakourou is very hard. Therefore if you are eating it by itself, you should use your back teeth. I have seen one of my cousins soak it in water to make it easier to eat. Another option is to buy some sugar and to crush the Bakourou with the sugar, creating a powder mixture that is delicious and much less difficult on the teeth.

Term End Picnic at CENTRAM

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of participating in the Term End Picnic. It began around 3:30pm and by 4pm, teachers, and honoured guests were eating a lovely meal of couscous, chicken, and vegetables. We then moved into a room full of benches and chairs where the ‘talent portion’ of the picnic began.

The talent portion involved students who shared poems and discussions about a variety of topics including AIDS, trees, English training, and piano lessons.

It was great to see students who worked hard to memorize and perform different acts in English. It made me realize that students are learning English well and are proud to share that.

Then there were a few speakers who talked about how to improve English and its importance. I also gave a small talk about some of the differences between American English and British English.

One of my favourite parts of the picnic was having the opportunity to lead some singers in 3 songs. (Before the picnic, we had a few practices.) We sang ‘Come all you people’, ‘This is the Day’, ‘When the Saints/This train is bound for glory.’  What a fun moment to be able to sing with Chadians in English. I hope to be able to teach other English songs throughout the year! (I have posted a short video of this on Facebook- unfortunately it would not load on my blog, so please check it out!)

Overall it was a great celebration of food, discussion and sharing and I was happy that I was able to be a part of it. I’m looking forward to the next picnic, which will happen at the end of the next term.

CENTRAM

This year I’m working at the Center of American English (CENTRAM). CENTRAM was founded in 2008 by Sem Beashel, and currently there are 8 levels: Beginner 1 & 2, Intermediate Low 1 & 2, Intermediate High 1 & 2, Advanced 1 & 2. Classes are held from 4-6pm Monday to Friday for adult students.

CENTRAM has four 3-month sessions a year. When I first arrived, they were in the middle of the summer session (which ended at the end of September). Therefore I was planning on arriving, meeting teachers, learning curriculum, and possibly helping out in classes before beginning to teach the next session.

The first time I arrived at CENTRAM I was excited to meet the teachers and students. Sem picked me up at my house and we went to school. I arrived to find out that one of the teachers would be late. I was therefore thrown into a beginner class and told to introduce myself, ask their names and begin teaching. I was a little in shock and felt a bit like a substitute teacher, but with no lesson plans, no preparations and no prior knowledge. Also I wanted to speak English with them, however their English as a beginner class was very limited. It was difficult to understand how they were used to being instructed and what the structure of the class was.

This same situation happened a number of times in the coming weeks, and for the first few times, I felt a little lost, confused and not too helpful. I tried to teach them using their textbook, but I was not used to their teachers’ style. Little by little I was able to learn about the teacher’s style and combine it with my own. I taught some English songs, I made the class more interactive, and allowed students to participate orally as much as possible. I felt like I was able to teach English in a manner that the students were learning, asking questions and participating. It was a positive time.

Starting o Monday, October 6, 2014, I will begin teaching my own class (level Intermediate High 1 & 2). I am looking forward to planning, preparing, and teaching my own class. I hope to help students feel more comfortable speaking, listening, reading and writing in English.

Home sweet home in Chad

Some of you may be interested in learning a bit more about my house. I stay in a compound (see previous blog to learn what that is) with a fluctuating number of people. There is family from different villages and cities that come and go from my home. But I have learned a bit about who lives at my home permanently.

There is Maman (whose husband has passed away). She has 5 children, 3 of them live at home (2 others are studying abroad): Herman (17) , Ornella (10) and Junior (5). Mila is a woman in her thirties who is a cousin and who has lived with the family for many years. Felix (16) is another cousin who lives permanently with the family and studies at Village Altonidji (where Maddie works). There is Salomé whose father was brothers with Maman’s husband. She is 20 years old and has helped me out a lot these past weeks. Finally, there is Cherubin who is studying  medicine. Along with these people there are many neighbours in the compound connected to ours and many many others who are friends and relatives. I must say it is very hard to keep everyone straight. I think I might make a family tree to try to place people (as this seems to help me remember them).

Take a look at the diagram to orient yourself (if you click on the image it will enlarge) Entering the door ie. gate, on your left you will see a porch with a door opening to the living room. It is here where I eat most of my meals and here where there is a TV, so when the electricity works (which is for a few hours every few days) or if use the generator, the television is on and I hang out in the living room and watch TV. It is nice because the stations are in French so I’m able to understand the shows. Attached to the living room are Maman’s room- which also serves as a room to store food, clothes, place mats and many other things, and Ornella’s room.

There is a separate building for the toilet room and shower room. The toilet consists of a hole in the ground, while the shower room consisted until recently of a bucket. But last week, we had a real shower installed which means that when there is water (which happens sometimes) we can shower with cold water coming out of a shower head just like back home. When there is not, I take a bucket shower (with hot water.) I’m not sure which I like better, the use of a showerhead with cold water or a warm water bucket shower.

Next, my room which is attached to the kitchen. The kitchen is more like a pantry where all the cooking utensils are kept as well as some food is stored. There is also a gas stove, but I have not really seen it used. Coal is the main stove here and it is used outside. Sometimes however, when they want a very hot fire, they use long branches of wood (kir, in Ngambai) which burn nice and hot but produce a lot more smoke.

My room, is small but cosy. I have a single bed with a mosquito net, there is a desk and a chair for me to work at, and a shelving unit for my clothes and things. I also have the luxury of a fan which helps to cool down the room a bit (at least when the electricity works), and I have a water.

Then the next building is a ‘girls room’ and a ‘boys room’. Which means that if there are younger guests staying over they are likely to stay in the room of their sex. Mila and Salome are permanently in one room, and Félix and Herman are in the other. There is also a storage room attached to the boys room where many things are stored, from peanuts to chairs to dried foods.

I hope you enjoyed the tour and were able to get a bit of a better sense of where I live everyday!

 The pictures are of our ‘kitchen’ with Salomé, and of our clothes line and over hang.

Dance Party!

One day this past week when I came home from my work at Centram (teaching English to adults), I decided to go sit for a while on a mat outside at our neighbours (we own both compounds and rent out the neighbouring compound to a number of families.) I arrived home around 6pm and it is dark by 6:30pm.

Suddenly music was started on someone’s cell phone radio and I was summoned to begin dancing. We began with me feebly trying to dance as Chadians do (shoulders bouncing, arms moving out front, feet stepping forward and back) but soon Ornella (my 10 year old host sister) and Vivianna (a 14 year old girl who lives next door) were asking me to show them some dance moves that I know. Now I’ll admit, that I like to dance, but I am not the best dancer in the world. However, there I was showing them the sprinkler, the shopping cart, the funky chicken. By this point the children (ages 1-6) had surrounded us, and were also following my every move. We continued dancing with moves like the can-can, hands on your knees, underwater, but still they wanted more. So eventually I started twirling and doing leaps like ballerinas! Fun was had by all.

Other stories about some of the children who live with me/the neighbours:

Name: Gloire

He is about 4 years old and plays a lot with Junior. A few times now I have seen him carrying a stick around chanting Alleluia, Alleluia.

Name: Ma Joie

I have played peak-a-boo with this 3 year old some and it has been fun.

Name: Aline

Aline is 4 and she was the first of the children to warm up to me. I walked 45 minutes to the market with her and she held my hand. We did this ‘game’ where we would put our heads together, growl and then laugh. She was always laughing. (This is in the past tense because she left about a week ago to go back to N’Djamena with her mother. She was only visiting our home, but I was sad to see her go.)

Name: Junior

Junior is Maman’s youngest child and he is a little trouble maker. At 5 years old, he loves playing games with the others and loves testing boundaries. He is starting to speak French and he tries to communicate with me some in French/Ngambai mix (Remember that none of the other children speak French because they start learning French at school). Junior knows that I’m not a fan of dead mice, because he picked one up and was chasing Ma Joie around with it. I hid in my room. Sometimes he will now pretends his fingers are a mouse on my neck!

Name: Ornella

She is the next youngest daughter of Maman (10 years old) She has really helped me and has answered my questions. I brought out cards the other day and taught her war, and go fish.

Here is a picture of the dancers!

Celebrity Nasara

Nasara is the word for white person. It is not used negatively, but as a way to greet you (as a white person- almost like hello).

When I first arrived in Chad, I was told about the word ‘Nasara’. And I was afraid of it. This was a word that meant ‘white person’ - making me stand out and feel noticed, overly important and even slightly offended. I’m not used to being noticed, looked at, and stared at by total strangers. In fact, in Canada, I’m used to being invisible in the streets, with no one even taking a second glance.

I learned that when walking down the street, everybody that you meet (Side note: the Arthur theme song just came into my head because of this.) that says hello, you should greet. In fact if someone greets you it is very rude to not reply. They may say Bonjour, Hello, Laphia (hello in Ngambai) or even just say Nasara. At the beginning, I was nervous that I would be greeted with ‘Nasara’ and not realize it and then offend someone. During our first visit to the market, I was very aware of what was said and tried to listen for that ‘Nasara’ phrase which had almost become a new name.

Now in Moundou, when I walk to Maddie or Gene’s house (each about 5-10 minutes away from mine), I am slowed down mostly by children shouting ‘Nasara’ with big smiles on their faces. They wave at me, and sometimes we shake hands. Generally, it is fun and I do like interacting with children, however at times I feel a little bit like a celebrity in Chad- every child wants to greet me, and shake my hand. While this is great, I really am no one special. Yet I am in the spot light and am beginning to understand both the joys and the struggles this brings (For example sometimes I almost fall in a puddle- when I look up there is almost always someone watching me and we laugh.

I must admit the word ‘Nasara’ has lost its scariness. I now will respond to it without fear, and that even though at times I get tired of all the attention and stares, I do enjoy waving at excited children.