All in a Day

Our first photo-less blog, sorry!

[Reminder: If you're catching up with us, remember to check below for other new entries posted earlier than this one!]

More Orientation

Today we met with SIL’s employee and public relations person for our orientation meeting. He is a Chadian man who has studied abroad, so with his understanding of both western and local cultures (including his great English skills and understanding of cross cultural issues and concerns) it was great to receive further insight into churches and general living in Chad.

We learnt that there are two main church groups in Chad: Catholics and Protestants. The Catholic Church dates back to French colonization and the Protestants are made up of a number of different denominations but have a union which represents them as a group. This is not only for practical reasons such as meeting with the Government but also to demonstrate unity across the Christian faith (very important in a majority Islamic nation).

Like in Australia, the church denominations vary on issues such as the role of women, the consumption of alcohol, memberships and western visitors. One note worth pointing out is that memberships are considered quite important here in Chadian churches. If someone wants to change to another church, they require a written reference from their Pastor before they are accepted at their new church. This prevents people causing problems in a church and simply moving on to other churches, where unresolved issues often resurface. The same procedures also applied to westerners in the past, however, there is not as much emphasis on this nowadays as it is recognised that this does not happen often in the west.

We were also given some more information regarding the establishment of relationships with locals. One of the main points was that when visiting a Chadian, we won’t be asked if we want something to eat or drink, it will just be given. It could be considered rude to question this, so it is best to be polite and accept. Chadian culture is to share what you have with others and especially if a westerner turns down their hospitality, the locals can be given the impression that they are perceived as unclean and that they live unhygienically.

An amusing demonstration of this scenario was when an SIL lady went to visit a Chadian family. Upon arrival she was given a cup of tea with one 'sugar.' Instead of sugar, the Chadean lady had unknowingly put in a healthy dose of salt! So as not to cause offense, the SIL lady just drank the tea, without comment.

Similarly, when locals visit us we are to just give them a drink rather than asking. If asked, they will most likely refuse because the implication of our question would be that we don’t really want to give them the drink at all!

We also discussed photography, which helped shed light on when and where it is appropriate to take and use the camera. We learnt that it is illegal to take photos of public and Government buildings and also Government officials such as politicians, police and soldiers. It is ok to take the camera when in town but permission from anyone who will be the subject of a photo needs to be attained before taking any. It is also a good idea to show your subject the photo afterwards for their approval. Simply snapping away can cause very difficult situations. 

Service Problems

The centre’s water pump which supplies water to the entire centre failed today and with no one able to fix it, we were without water in the centre. With no redundancy plan in place, ‘waterboys’ were hired to fill plastic drums of water that were placed around the compound for us to retrieve water from. This water is unfiltered, so we also had to buy bottles of water to drink. It didn't take long to realise how much we take for granted the convenience of running tap water and flushing toilets! Most people on the centre are used to living without running water from their time in the villages, so we are all managing fine. We're just getting a better taste of the real Chad!

As it soon became apparent that there was no-one on the centre who could solve the water problems, John has had to stop working so hard at the construction site and divert his energies into trying to deal with the water supply issue as a matter of urgency. The construction has also almost ground to a halt as water is needed to continue the work. We will post an update on the sequence of events as soon as we can!

In addition to the water crisis, we have now been without town power for over a week. Our generator has been working overtime and while one would normally assume this is due to town power issues, it turns out the rest of N'Djamena has power (most of the time). The power box for the SIL centre - which is directly in front of the compound on the street - has been the culprit. Apparently last time this happened it took the town electricity dudes a couple of weeks to even look at the box. When they finally did, all they found was a dead bird shorting out the circuit! Whatever the issue is this time, while the problem is ‘being fixed,’ 1 week of diesel for the generator is costing us as much as 1 month of normal town power usage!