Dry Season / Birthday Season

Taper candles + heat = extreme leaning

Time continues forward and we have settled back into our weekly routine. Morning chores, school, play, cleaning, etc. consume our days with not too much excitement occurring. The heat has increased so that it reaches about 100 degrees Fahrenheit each day and the night brings chilling temperatures of around 88 degrees. Even the candles are being affected by the heat, but we stay in doors, grateful that it is a dry heat with very little humidity. We just get used to the constant layer of sweat.



Dorm rooms being completed

Since my last update we have celebrated 2 birthdays and have enjoyed delicious cakes. We also enjoyed the special meals including homemade pizza (with cheese that we brought with us from Kenya). We also got the opportunity to take the kids out to the new base to see the construction. They were just getting the door and windows on one of the rooms so that the students could move in soon. The DTS seems to be starting well, although there seems to be quite a bit of sickness among staff members and students. I have been informed that rainy season is malaria season and dry season brings respiratory sickness and typhoid.

Grass for roof thatching or weaving of mats and walls

We have been enjoying the use of a truck and got to drive to church Sunday. On the way home we took the scenic route along the river and saw a hippo enjoying the coolness of the water. All in a days drive! The only thing out of the ordinary recently was spending all day Saturday removing braids out of little girls' hair. There were about 300 braids total to undo. So we had a little girl sitting in a tub of water in her swimming suit on the front porch and a few of us sat behind unbraiding. It was quite the task! I think it will be a while before i will encourage additions again, but I must say, the girls look really cute with their new hair cuts and hopefully they will be cooler.

 

New Experiences

Fan dust

Chapsticks

Hello from the dry and dusty lands of Chad. It amazes me how quickly the dust accumulates. Less than a week after washing my mosquito net, there is a nice ring of dust where my fan has blown it in a perfect circle, that is just the dust that gets trapped with-in the net. I must say though that this is the place to get into the habit of making one's bed. When I first arrived I learned quickly that one tucks in the mosquito net at all times, whether the bed is occupied or not. Now I have learned that the top sheet is not because it is cold, but it is there to preserve the sheet and pillow underneath. The top sheet collects dust all day long and then I just roll it up off to the side for the night. I am also getting into the habit of applying lotion at least once a day; twice a day is usually needed. I am also trying very hard to keep my lips moisturized. I hadn't realized how much Chap Stick I had brought with me, but I am using it quickly. I never realized how many different flavors of Burt's' Bees Chap Stick I had but I am enjoying their effects. Well, enough about dust and dryness. Here is a little more about new experiences and life here in Chad.

First, we have started school again. I have taken charge of the boys schooling and science for the girls. I am enjoying the switch but it requires a bit more planning on my behalf. The kids did really well getting back into their routine. We have also changed things a bit and are doing read-alouds in the afternoon after lunch so that the kids stay inside during the hottest part of the day. It has worked well, but man is it difficult to read when all I want to do is enjoy a siesta. It is good to stay inside however.

Brick furnace

This Saturday I had the opportunity to leave the compound and go help out at the new YWAM school. They are starting a discipleship training school this week and so people have been arriving. The bad news is that the buildings they were hoping to have finished are not yet complete so they are staying elsewhere until their dorm rooms are ready. A temporary classroom/dining hall has also been constructed. So this Saturday we were supposed to be moving bricks that had recently been baked, but soon realized that there were plenty of people to help and not that many where needed on brick moving, instead a group of us ladies went and cleaned the houses where the women and men will be staying (hopefully only for a week). I personally didn't actually go to the men's place but stayed and helped clear around the classroom structure. We cleared out the grass because the further the grass is, the further the snakes are. It was great to see the property that I have been hearing so much about as well as do some physical type activities. I have a great respect for those people who work in this kind of heat and sun all day everyday. My liter bottle of water was no where near enough to quench my thirst and by the time we were leaving I probably could have brewed a cup of tea with it.



Cashew fruit

Here are some firsts that I experienced. Eating a fruit from the cashew tree. The fruit is on top and attached to the branch and the cashew curls up on the bottom. It is amazing that the nut casing is the same shape as we see the nuts. The fruit was very sweet although it did remind me of rose apples that we had in Congo. The cashew fruit was sweater but it still had that feeling of the moisture being sucked from your mouth (at least the first couple bites). Unfortunately they do not go through the difficult process to make the nuts edible. They do in Kenya, but here they simply eat the fruits. I also learned that ants live in the trees and they bite! Silly nasara (meaning foreigner, the spelling might be wrong) that I am, I held a branch near by one such nest but luckily only got one bite and another lady helped me get it off quickly. I got to ride through town on a trailer pulled by a tractor. I am sure we were the talk of the town, 3 white women riding atop a pile of household items. Oh yes the 3^rd woman is a German lady named Rachel. It has been very nice having her here in Sarh. The bonus is she speaks English, is new to the country like myself, and is pretty much the same age as me. She has been having her meals here at the Kariuki house and I have greatly enjoyed getting to know her. On the return trip (since I do not have the endurance of true Chadian workers) we did not ride the tractor back because they were still using it. Instead we walked a ways and found a man with a pirogue. This was like a dug out canoe with a man using a pole to push it across the river. At that point I was so dirty and hot that a dip in the river sounded pretty nice, but we made it without really getting wet. Then we walked for a bit until we found some people with motorcycles to bring us home. Upon returning I drank about 3 glasses of water to try and quench my thirst. It is truly a beautiful area. It almost looks like a prairie with giant mango trees and gardens along the river. It was a great experience and I did enjoy a bit of time without children and with people my own age.

 

View of the river

 

 

 

Return to the Desert

The grapevine is correct if it is reporting that I have returned to the small town of Sarh.  Return has brought the realization that we do indeed live in a country of desert. First let me tell you about our travels…

Sunrise from the plane window

In Nairobi, our ticket reservations said our flight left around 3:00am. So we woke the children and headed out the door around 12:30am. Upon our arrival we found out our flight was not until 5:00am and the ticket counter would not even be opening until 2:30am at the earliest. So we hunkered down and waited with our trolleys of luggage (remember how we did shopping for things like beans, coffee, tea, etc.) holding our place in line. Eventually we got our tickets and made our way to the gate with a brief stop for some water. We got on our flight, made it to Ethiopia, caught our next flight, and arrived in N'Djamena with all of us a bit sluggish but our entire luggage collection arrived (only 10 checked bags and a few carry-ons). We piled in a van and a car (courtesy of a friend) and arrived at the SIL guesthouse. Unfortunately when we had made our reservation two months earlier, something went wrong and our request had not been recorded. Fortunately the kind people there worked hard, cleaned an apartment for us, and settled us into a 3-bedroom apartment. We arrived Saturday afternoon and stayed through Tuesday morning. This allowed us a little time to catch our breath, meet with friends, and sleep before our bus ride.

Upon making our bus reservations, we were informed that we should be at the station at 5:00am Tuesday morning. We wanted to ensure that we were on time so we could pick out good seats (the back is a bit rough and we needed to be together) as well as have a place for all our luggage. We got everything loaded up and seats picked out, but no other passengers arrived for at least an hour. So from 4:30am until 8:30am we sat and waited on the bus, without it actually moving.   (It turns out that the bus driver had just driven from Sarh to N'Djamena the day before and needed some rest before making the return trip.)  Not only did the bus leave late, but also we made frequent stops that took quite a while. We finally arrived in Sarh around 10:30pm. Our guard came with his push-push (a wooden cart with 2 wheels and a handle), loaded it high with luggage and we returned to the house. A friend in town had come earlier in the day, filtered some water for us, and fixed us dinner. We ate our food and went to bed.

Ever since we returned, the washing machine has been running pretty much non-stop. All the sheets and mosquito nets needed to be washed. All the towels, sheets, blankets that were used for covering things had to be washed. We also came with dirty clothes. I swept my little room twice and got big piles of dirt (along with a few dead cockroaches). The dry season has commenced (though luckily not the hot part quite yet). My poor nose has never worked so hard to filter the dry air. Dust is pretty much everywhere and impossible to stop. Putting lotion on twice a day is not enough to keep skin moisturized and my heels have started to crack (not painfully yet). Fortunately the nights are still cool. I did make the purchase of a pop up mosquito net (sort of like a tent) so that when it starts to be really hot, I can sleep outside (although the bugs will be minimal around then). Cleaning and school prep have consumed most of my time, but have no fear, I found a moment to hang my hammock and read a book or two. It is truly amazing how heat simply exhausts the human body. Last night the neighbors were having a party (wedding celebration we think) and today the President is in town celebrating the completion of the road into town (for which we are thankful). Life in the desert has begun again!