N'Djamena, Chad!

We thought a good way to get this blog rolling would be to give an account of events since our departure from Brisbane on the 3rd of January 2011...(that's what a blog is right?)

 

[We have found that much to John's frustration the situation with photography in Chad is tricky. There is so much he would have loved to have captured so far, but he has to be very careful (if you get caught taking photos around town you could get in big trouble). He will do his best (he is motivated to find ways), but for now you'll have to use your imagination with prompting from a few of these images from within the SIL compound! The internet speed isn't exactly conducive to uploading photos either - again we'll do our best]
 
Monday 3 Jan 2011:
We left Toowoomba at around 8:30am to get to the airport in Brisbane by 11am. The night before, John had picked up that something wasn't quite right about our travel itinerary...unable to figure out the problem, it wasn't long after leaving that we realised we were going to have an overnight stopover in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) on our way to Chad! What a lovely thing to find out only hours from departure. We decided not to worry about, figuring we'd just work something out when we got there. This only seemed appropriate, and our African adventure had definitely begun!

After being farewelled by our parents + the newly wed Scotty & Emilia Braithwaite and Joshy Hamilton (loved the surprise guys!) at the Brisbane International Terminal we boarded our first flight, headed for Bangkok on Thai Airways. Throughout the 9.5 hour flight we didn't sleep like we had hoped but dined on tasty Thai curries and watched movies instead. Once we arrived at Bangkok airport, we found ourselves walking a ridiculously long way (seriously would have been a kilometre or 2!) just to get to the transfer desk to collect our boarding passes for our next leg. We waited at the unmanned transfer desk for a couple of hours until around midnight when check-in for our flight opened. Although we were very tired by this time, our attempts to get some sleep during the wait were thwarted by the hard plastic seats, noisy cleaners and bag watch duties. 
 
Tuesday 4 Jan 2011:
When check-in for Ethiopian Airlines finally opened, we collected our boarding passes and found we had to walk pretty much back to the other side of Thailand to board our next flight! We had another long wait before the flight left, so we made the most of the amenities (note for future transit in Thailand: be prepared to share the open-plan bathrooms with a friendly resident cleaners - not necessarily of the appropriate gender), freshened up a bit and tried to rest again, still while on bag watch. We were very tired by the time we boarded our next flight.
Apart from the obviously tired and therefore much grumpier Ethiopian Airlines flight attendants, our 9 hour flight to Ethiopia was also uneventful. We found it easier to sleep during this flight probably because we were so tired, messed up with the time changes and it was now night time. 
  
Ethiopia
A sunrise actually takes quite a while when you're running away from it at 845kph. Sleepily watching the sun light up the trailing edge of the aeroplane wing and slowly the ground far below as it tried to catch us was a nice sensation. We arrived in Addis Ababa in the grey, shapeless morning light just after sunrise (6:30am local time) without realising Addis was located in such mountainous country. Much to our surprise, but probably fair enough since we were actually at a reasonable altitude, we got off the plane at Addis Ababa to the welcome of police and military guards rugged up in full length overcoats, scarves and beanies! It was a bit chilly, but it was an amusing sight considering we were comfortable in our T-shirts.
 
After our Ethiopian stopover epiphany en-route to Brisbane nearly 30hrs prior, we decided we'd try to stick it out in the terminal at Addis Ababa. We had no idea where else to go, how much to pay and what the security situation was like in Addis, so after bumping into a young Pom who assured us that his (just completed) overnight stay in the terminal was fine, we thought we'd save our dollars and do the same. We only lasted a few hours before deciding it would be better to get checked into a hotel for sleep and sanity's sake without the bag minding (our friend had only flown in from Nairobi, Kenya and his bags had gone on ahead of him, so he only had only needed to look after his small backpack). 
 
Once organised, we found ourselves on a fascinating 15 minute journey through the hectic, polluted streets of Addis before arriving at our 4.5 star hotel on the outskirts (?) of town. We probably got ripped off, and it was definitely weird starting a mission trip with an overnight in such luxury compared to what we had just driven past, but we didn't know any better, so we tried to put this out of our minds and rest. By late morning, we were sleeping soundly. Our stay also included meals which was good, but we had to try and remember which foods were best to avoid, so we couldn't just get stuck in and eat our fill. Although it would have been great to get out and explore, there were like 4 or 5 security guards at the door of the hotel, so we were under the impression we shouldn't stray far without someone who knew the situation. We spent our whole stay at Hotel Riviera sleeping, resting and breathing in the cool, dry, dusty and truck-exhaust-filled air from our 'highway view' windows. John entertained himself watching life go by on the noisy, congested highway and parallel access roads. The constant traffic was punctuated by the odd donkey-drawn cart and spontaneous football (soccer) matches played on the recently threshed fields beyond (he counted up to five games played at one time).

Football (soccer) training Ethiopian style

Wednesday 5 Jan 2011
7.30am Ethiopian time. We roused ourselves from our restless sleeping and piled into the transfer bus to be driven back to the airport. Driving in Addis (and we're sure most of Africa) is a little crazy; left-sided too, so we were happy to be passengers! We passed a freshly rolled Toyota Hilux in travelling in the opposite direction on the way and there are people crossing the roads all over the place (even when the traffic is 3 lanes and moving at over 80kph), sometimes carrying massively heavy looking loads too. You definitely need to be switched on when driving. The smell of pollution would take a bit to getting used to as well as smoking indoors.
 
We arrived at the Ethiopian airport and after taking our bags back off an eager porter, we waited in line outside the terminal for 40 or 50 minutes to get to the first screening desk. Although a massive line quickly built up, we weren't actually that far back in the line: the delay was due to:

• The airport staff were only manning one scanning machine
• There were 4 or 5 people standing around, but every time the guy at the computer saw something of interest, he stopped the belt and got up to check the bags himself - the others stood and watched!
• Perhaps most infuriating was the fact that every time flight crew arrived, they walked straight to the front of the line, cut the queue and put their bags through before those that had already been waiting for what felt like hours (us!). This meant the queue was basically stationary.

People in line were starting to get very irate (africans included) and eventually some Americans blew up, caused a fuss and things started to get moving again. This was a nice introduction to African efficiency!
 
After eventually passing through and waiting inside our boarding gate, we were told that our flight to N'Djamena was delayed. At first it was for 45 minutes, then 2 hours and next thing we found ourselves in one of the restaurants being given lunch. John asked some questions and found out that the plane was at the airport, but it was having mechanical problems, so although it meant more delays, we were glad to hear that the problem was too hard to resolve and a replacement plane was being flown in. With an initial departure time of 10:30am, 6 hours later at about 4.30pm we were on our way to N'Djamena. All this waiting around in the terminal made us thankful that we did actually leave the airport and get some sleep the night before!
 
TChad
We were really looking forward to flying into Chad in the daylight hours so that we got an idea of what we flying into. 845kph isn't fast enough - this time the sun caught and overtook us while we were in the air. We arrived in total darkness (if you want to see spectacularly dense city lights at night, don't come to N'Djamena!) at around 6:30pm local time. 
 

Compared to the tedious processes in Addis, we raced through customs at N'Djamena's international airport in record time (and they only spoke French!) using our key phrase "la SIL" (say SIL how it's spelt i.e. no acronym) and piled into Uncle Dave's Hilux. Wow, it was great to see a familiar face after nearly 70hrs in transit! We drove through the streets of N'Djamena to the SIL compound via the presidential palace (en-route, not on invitation!). Apparently if you stop a vehicle anywhere along the road in front of these walls you are considered a security threat and likely to be shot at. 

 

The temperatures are not too different from Brisbane at the moment, but it is very dry and very dusty. Basically we are guaranteed that there will be no rain until March. It will stay dry and dusty while slowly heating up over the next few months. In March it starts to get very humid and keeps getting hotter. Apparently it will get to the point where it is so hot and humid that noone can stand it any more, and the rains will break. There will be some relief while it rains, but then the extreme heat will stay and the place will dry out again. We'll keep you posted on the climate as time goes on.
 
SIL
We are living in unit 5 in B block. Our unit is probably better than we expected and is bigger than the unit where we spent our first year of marriage in Brisbane! We are on the 2nd floor and pretty much opposite to Uncle Dave and Aunty Elly who are down the other end of the verandah. There are lots of trees in the compound. We can hardly see anything from our windows because of them buts that's not a bad thing. 

"B Block" - All of the windows you see to the right of the verandah on level 2 in the photo below belong to our unit

Loungeroom (L - from front door; R - looking back to front door)

Bath and throne rooms

Bedrooms (T - main bedroom; B - 2nd bedroom)

We are quite at home with running cold water (no hot, so we have to boil water to get that), filtered tap for drinking water, flushing toilet and shower (also only cold - we've been showering camping/Indo style...boiled water mixed with cold in a bucket and scooped over after lathering up with soap). The electricity cuts in and out quite frequently, but usually a generator kicks in before too long while the town power is out which is quite a luxury.


We had a housemate for a few days after our arrival. He was a bit greedy though and he ate way too much of the few basic supplies we were given to start our stay. As rude as we may have been considered as new guests, it didn't take long for us to get sick of him and we decided we should come up with a new living arrangement.


By deduction, we figured out he was living in the portable evaporative cooler that was in our bedroom. We moved the cooler to the spare room and that seemed to limit the disturbances, but we were still going through too much food. Another cooler relocation, this time to outside our unit, proved unsuccessful as our company seemed to like the comfort of the spare room! Currently we have decided to be polite and leave him in peace. We'll figure something out soon...

These little fellas
are everywhere!

As well as our housemate, the SIL compound hosts many other more friendly folk - a lot of whom we have met already (and not necessarily remembered their names!). There are Chadian guards at the front and back gates, as well one positioned about halfway through the compound. We also reside with a few mozzies (not too many yet), pigeons who screech around the roof and lizards who climb the outside walls. Pet cats are also in the compound but no resident dogs, they are outside the compound and bark at all hours of the night/early morning.




Together with Uncle Dave and Aunty Elly, we'll be hiring a cook to make our main meal (lunch) and househelp to do the cleaning and washing. While we would normally think it unnecessary to hire help and it is such a foreign concept to us, in Chad it is providing an income for a couple of local Chadians who would otherwise have no means to work. It should also be a great opportunity to practice our French skills!

The weather is quite nice for us at the moment, but for the locals it is cold. It is going to take some time getting used to the dry air which sucks any moisture from your skin and the dust which, we've been told on a windy day renders visibility across the compound to virtually none. 
 
Sunday 9 Jan 2011
While still recovering from jet-lag, we have found that we improve slightly each day. Apparently with the time difference combined with strange food and water, it usually takes about a week to find your feet again. We slept through properly for the first time on Friday night which was good. We start 'working' tomorrow (with orientation for the first few days) or later if we feel we need the time. John had a tour of the compound on Friday and is already getting involved in the oversight of the construction of the new library building.
 
Things seem pretty chilled and everyone quite friendly.  We've already been getting to know others in the compound. People signed up to feed us for the first 4 days which has been a great opportunity to learn who we are serving with here. We also went into town for breakfast at a local patisserie yesterday morning - croissants and hot chocolates were so good, followed by a trip to the shops for basic supplies. There is a street with more western shops in it, so we found some familiar supplies like Kellogg's cornflakes, Nivea cream and Palmolive shampoo. We had fun practicing our limited French with a lot of help/ translation from U. Dave and the accompanying SIL ladies.
 
Next week there are big celebrations in town for Chad's 50th year of Independence so the streets are being cleaned and new flags being put up everywhere. Apparently dignitaries from other countries are arriving for the event, the airport is being closed and there will be parades and air shows. There will be so many people in the streets that we are told it will be virtually impossible to get anywhere. We have been told that it is probably better that we don't venture out as it is a bit unknown what the situation on the streets will be like. John is busily trying to figure out how we (or he) might be able to get out to see some of the events!
 
God is good and continues to show us His way daily. We hope you have had good New Years and are ready as you head into another year with everything that is ahead. May you find freedom as you seek Him in your lives.

An update on the housemate - if you hadn't figured it out, we were welcomed by quite a large resident rat! John set about constructing a rat trap yesterday (your prediction was correct Dad [Graham]!), but Uncle Dave popped by and suggested that we try Mukulu (the Chadean village they lived in for years) style. They just trapped it in the spare bedroom and rattled it out of hiding from the cupboard. Uncle Dave had a big stick, so let's just say it will no longer be a problem!