Tchad: 28 April 2000 –3 May 2000
Well, hello. Here we are! At last, our air-freighted items have arrived without anything missing….as far as we can tell thus far. I’ve finally got my computer back!! Never thought that I would ever say that about a computer (I am, after all, a computer-phobe.)
The trip here had its moments …. One problem with flying with two small children in business class is that one is paranoid that they may be disturbing the other BUSINESS CLASS passengers (would you want to sit next to a two year old if you had paid for a business class seat!??) They were in fact, very well behaved IN the aeroplane but both kids were totally hyperactive whilst I was trying to check in, clear customs etc (I forgot to fill out the departure forms etc but the airport staff were very forgiving). My hand luggage weighed ten tonnes and the handle broke on one of the bags!! Thank heavens Paul’s father was flying back to the UK that same evening and I was able to leave my luggage with him whilst I sorted out Lauren & Guy (or at least, tried to) He also organized for me to skip the boarding queue which greatly reduced my stress levels!! For this, I will be forever grateful.
Our connecting flight from Paris to N’Djamena was then delayed by 6 hours which meant another six hours of entertaining the children, this time in the business class lounge ( at least we had that facility available to us ) The airline gave us a meal at lunch time & we finally left Paris at 4pm, an hour after we were supposed to have landed in Chad.
Business Class on Air Afrique is a waste of money. We arrived in N’Djamena at 9pm and had been given no food during the flight. The amount of effort it took just to get some bread for the children to eat was enormous!! Anyway, we arrived in one piece which is really all that mattered, to temperatures of 35 degrees C ( at 9pm!!) It turns out that this was not typical for this time of night ….it was just our luck. (It’s normally about 31!!)
So, as I said, here we are!! Lauren is in the American school as the French one wouldn’t accept her … something about a quota system that they have i.e. They have to have a certain number of French children before they will accept one non-French child. The fact that she is not a citizen of one of the EU countries further reduces our chances of getting her in. The school is, however very interested in me as a part-time English teacher, if I improve my French (which I am doing with the help of a private Chadian tutor at a cost of R15 per hour!!)
I have also been offered a teaching post at the American School to teach all subjects to 8-10 year olds !! I would only have 3 – 4 children in the class ( there will only be 12 or so children at the school next (school) year. (I will probably take this job as it is more full time (mornings only) while the French job is 8 – 10 hours per week) The school is also far more enthusiastic about me working for them & I may well be sent to the USA for a one week conference / seminar.
The American school is opening a nursery school in September & so Guy will start then …. he cries every morning when Lauren goes to school as he wants to go to his school ….September can’t come soon enough. The new school year starts in September with only a 2 week break in December …. We may only return to SA for a holiday next July / August as the school holidays then carry on for 11 weeks!! Last Christmas, the MD’s of each African cellular service were flown to Amsterdam with their families for a Christmas party & if that happens this year, we will probably spend Christmas in Europe!! (Finally, a white Christmas)
Yes, it’s very hot here… but you get used to it … and you spend a lot of time inside where there is air-conditioning. (This year we are apparently having a cool year…temperatures are reaching only 42 – 43 degrees …normally it gets to 49 – 54 degrees. Apparently we have been lucky!!) The house we are in belongs to Shell and they have a very large generator which kicks in within seconds of a power failure. Since we have power failures every day and they often last for hours, we are very fortunate indeed!! The majority of the time they are not actually power failures … they turn off the electricity every evening at about 8pm to reduce the amount of fuel used ….. the electricity is generated with diesel. Apparently in the (very hot) summer of 1998 there was no electricity at all because the government couldn’t afford the diesel. (i.e. no air-con)
We are in a very pleasant four bedroomed house which, as yet has no curtains. You cannot buy curtain hooks, curtaining tape etc so I have to wait until Paul returns to SA so that he can purchase these things. There are a lot of very tall trees in the garden (with the river not far away, there is plenty of ground water) and some plants – cannas, elephant-ear, small frangipanis, banana trees and an array of waxy and furry ground covers all of which, need watering at least twice a day (early am and after the sun has gone down in the evening) Between the “flower beds” is dirt …. a rather clay – like soil.
This is a colonial life … we have Martin who cleans, irons and prepares veges etc but does not cook; Justine who comes in every day to look after Guy so that I can do my thing and who also babysits in the evenings when necessary and we have a 24 hour guard service which doubles up as a gardening service. When we get home, we hoot at the gate and the guard lets us in!! I’m not sure that I am at all comfortable with these arrangements but it isn’t forever and it certainly makes life easier.
Paul is off to Amsterdam next week and then to Johannesburg the following week so I shall be holding the fort. I am hoping that the next time Paul goes to Amsterdam, the kids & I can go with him …. There have to be some benefits to living in this place. Paul will be provided with a shopping list for each trip!!!!!
Things are really expensive here …… about three times the price of things in SA. I guess that it costs a fortune getting stuff here … they also seem to have mastered the art of damaging everything in transit. Paul bought a dented washing machine, a damaged gas stove (both were in pretty good condition compared to the others that were available) and I have yet to see a box of Corn Flakes which hasn’t been squashed!! I’m sure that they jump on the ones which manage to reach the shops in good condition in order to maintain the same standards of quality. (Fortunately, the cornflakes tend not to get crushed)
This is not a good place for a dietitian …. You cannot find wholewheat or even brown bread, there is no All Bran Flakes, no brown rice etc etc. You can buy some of the fancy children’s cereals (chocos, rice crispies etc ) in the French shop for about R50 per box (we bought a box but it stays under lock & key and only comes out on Sundays) The vegetables are really good (they grow them on the river-bank) but, because of the heat, they don’t last very long. We also live on (white) baguettes (French bread!)
Fillet steak is cheaper than chicken!!!! In fact, fillet (R20 per kilo) is cheaper than mince meat (imported from France at R85 per kilo) and stewing meat (available locally at about R25 per kilo). SO …. With GREAT DIFFICULTY, we have had to get used to eating fillet !!!! In fact, we may buy a mincer and then we can mince the fillet for mince meat and we have also made stews out of the fillet !! Chad does have its’ up side, after all! My biggest concern is that when we return to “civilization”, the kids are going to refuse to eat “normal” meat and are going to insist on fillet!! They may have no choice but to become vegetarians (at least I will be able to cope with this).
The driving! I’m convinced that the local driving school (if there is one) was trained by a consortium of Johannesburg taxi drivers …….. and they have gone one better …. The drivers here (all of them) are worse than your worst Jhb taxi operator!! There has been no problem for Paul to adjust to driving on the right hand side of the road ….. no-one does …. People drive where-ever there is a gap! One also has to contend with the motorcycles (“any colour as long as it’s blue”), bicycles and pedestrians, all of whom veer into the road, cross the road, go down the middle of the road etc etc etc without looking first to see whether it is, in fact, safe to do so! There is a law which may contribute to this lack of concern for their own safety: if you kill someone on the road then , no matter who’s fault it is, the surviving person (you!) have to pay the deceased’s family US$ 60 000 (or a number similar …. I may be out by a dollar or two) IF you are a European, then that number seems to increase exponentially!!
The effect that this has on me ? Well, as yet, I have not driven in N’Djamena. Most of the time this is not a problem as I have the use of Justin, Celtel’s driver (chauffeur!?) However, it can be very frustrating when I end up being late for my French classes!! Of course, we only have one car available to us so I have little choice in the matter. We could look at buying a second-hand car here ( read fifth or sixth hand) but it wouldn’t come with air-conditioning & so …..
The above is a basic account of what our lives are like here. We have actually settled in well and are meeting people & making friends with other people who speak English. There are a number of small children amongst the local American community. We are waiting to hear whether we have been accepted into the American Club (their security is very strict) and if this happens then we will have a regular Friday evening get together at the club-house. I don’t see how they can refuse us membership with my being employed at the American School (in fact, by the Embassy) I will probably be teaching the Head of Security’s son!!
That’s all for now, we would love to hear from you all!!
Hotly yours
Paul, Fiona, Lauren & Guy
