time to face the real world

After a meal of barbecued chicken, steamed vegetables, and roasted potatoes I think I can say I am safely home. I joined my family on Friday night at the Winnipeg airport to enjoy a weekend of family, friends, and great food. Many people have asked what I missed the most and it would have to be (after people of course) food. I have noticed North American's obsession with oversized vehicles but I have appreciated my few days behind the wheel as well.

I was expecting it to be much warmer but I had to laugh when I woke up the first morning to snow falling. The novelty has worn off though and I'm ready for the sun again. Besides dealing with the cold weather I am busy catching my breath and visiting different friends. In a few days I will force myself to face the real world and find a job. That will be my first big task to overcome back here in Manitoba. An idea that does anything but thrill me. After summer I'll be back at the University of Manitoba to pursue my real teaching degree, Isaac and Eroni were just my little guinea pigs.

Thanks again to everyone for joining me for the last 6 months. I'd love to see people now that I'm home, you can drop me an email vhthiessen@gmail.com.

Lots of love from Carlowrie (mom and dad's),
Vanessa

Amchu aafe! (go well)

brrr...

Through shivers and chattering teeth I asked for a train ticket to the suburbs of Paris last Thursday morning. I couldn't believe how cold I was, what kind of Manitoban am I? That was my first thought in entering Europe. Cold!

I then proceeded to take the train into the 'burbs', if you may, where I found myself somewhat stranded. I had been given a phone number to call for someone to pick me up only it seems that French phones don't like my credit card. So, there I was without a phone in a place I didn't know, with 2 gigantic suitcases and a large backpack, and to make matters worse I really had to go to the bathroom (I thought that that information would make my situation sound more desperate). I thought to myself, "All I need is a phone" which seemed like an easy task in France, afterall I was out of Chad by that point. I asked a pizza place for a phone, he wouldn't let me use his business phone and his cell phone had no credit. He did give me instructions to walk to the place I was to stay as I had the address. I started walking uphill with my baggage, quite a humourous sight I can imagine, and quickly decided that was ridiculous. I found another man who also gave me directions to walk and who wouldn't let me use his cell nor business phone. There was a gentleman in his shop who did offer to help me out saying, "Elle va suffrir!" (She will suffer). He went and got his car and I jumped in not thinking twice about getting into a strange man's car. I arrived safely and without cost, he wouldn't let me pay, at my planned destination.

I enjoyed 5 days between Paris and Holland. What a joy it was to see beautiful, green grass and of course colourful tulips in Holland. I had to pull myself out of the shower the first night because I wasn't used to such wonderful, warm water. Then to climb into a bed with springs! Not to mention all the food. Brown bread, cheese, cappucino, chicken, fresh vegetables, cantaloupe, apples...ahh. As you can imagine my welcome back to western life was a warm one. Honestly, seeing the Mona Lisa and Eiffel Tower could not compare with the shower and seeing green grass and water. Rivers, canals, and the ocean are all quite impressive after life in the desert.

I had a wonderful time in Europe especially with my Dutch friend up in Holland but I am happy to say I'm on Canadian soil. Everyone speaks English! I guess you already knew that but it was exciting to not struggle through Arabic or French when I went through the airport in Toronto yesterday. I'm spending a few days in Hamilton at the mission where I started back in October. I'm doing some debriefing; what did you learn? what are you excited about? what did you hate? etc. I'm thoroughly enjoying the high speed internet. It's like candy to a child!

I'm back to Winnipeg in a few days. I'll write my last blog after the weekend. I'm excited to see you all! I keep picturing the Blue Bombers coming down the escalator in the Winnipeg airport after a big win. Maybe it's not as exciting as the Bombers winning the Grey Cup, which they'll do this year, but I can't wait to come down that escalator!

God bless!

all my bags are packed...

I'm ready to go! In actual fact as I write this my bags are already at the airport. They take them early here. Take off is in a little less than eleven hours.
This last week was school as usual until last Friday. Eroni had lots of work to do and so only finished his tests yesterday. Isaac got to take a break from the usual and got to write a story, and do some extra time on his spelling and math. Both are very happy to be on holidays now as they will also leave tomorrow for Fiji for a few month break. Besides school we spent some time doing the last shopping, Lavenia and I had our hair braided, we went to the pool, and went to a restaurant I didn't know could exist in Chad! I even got to spend a day at the pool by myself, that was nice. There are a few hotels in town that have pools and so along with my day at the pool I had their buffet lunch- lamb, chicken, roast beef that I didn't have to chew through for half an hour. Nothing brings a smile to a farm girl's face like a good piece of meat.

Now, how to sum up my African experience? When I set off I had goals of gaining international experience, a view into missionary life, and time in general somewhere other than North America. It has been exactly that! Not to mention a look into a country dealing with another country's crisis while working through their own problems. I have met many amazing people and have learned a lot through the process. I am grateful for the time I've had but would be lying if I said I wasn't ridiculously excited about coming home.

Thank you to everyone for your emails and prayers. Emails were so precious to me here where you often feel so disconnected. I guess I'm a child of the 21st century because I'm not sure what I'd do without the internet especially out here where phone calls are expensive and snail mail can be unreliable. Even this morning I received a bunch of emails that brought huge smiles to my face. I'm sorry if people don't get replies to emails they've sent in the last week.

I also know that prayer has made all the difference. Little details have come together that I didn't expect to, my homesickness was basically reserved for days I was really sick, and I had great joy in my work and time with the people that I know only comes from Him. Thank you for reading my blogs too, it's nice to know someone's reading what you write. I'll write one or two more times to give an update on the homecoming which I'm sure will involve much less sweat than my leaving here, the hot season is definitely in full force here. God Bless!

9 days and counting

The next time I write to you it may be from Chad or could very well be from France, Holland, or our very own Land of the Maple Leaf and Hockey Puck depending on my procrastination skills in the next week or two (No, I'm not sure why Hockey Puck deserves capitalization except that I thought it deserved distinction). I leave Chad in 9 days now. We've started our last week of school with Friday being the last day. Poor boys won't know what to do without their no fuss teacher. They've recently heard me sing the endearing song, "Do Everything Without Complaining" on a regular basis. Isaac seems to enjoy singing it to his little brother now who is definitely less amused.

This past week was rather eventless with little to report. Although it did rain last week, in some parts of town. We were out on the Eastern side of the city when the rain came down hard, well sort of hard, for about 5-15 minutes. How refreshing! It turns out we were some of few who experienced it. The next morning the whole city received some drizzle though, enough to keep the dust down for a few minutes. Apparently they call these the mango rains. The very unexpected sprinkles that taunt the population at this time of year which happens to be mango season. Yeah, I eat one or two mangos a day. Mmmmm!

I also had a visit from dear friends of mine this week, the parasites. They just can't get enough of me! I'm never sure whether it's Giardia or some Amoebas but we treat them just the same. Turns out my Invertebrate Zoology class is now taking place in my stomach. In university they always made it sound like you would die if you got a parasite. I'm happy to report they're not quite that bad they just very much make their presence known in your stomach.

Well, that's enough about bugs. I'm sure you're all thoroughly disgusted now so I should let you go. For my university friends I'm thinking of you as you write exams, can't say I wish I were you. For those of you who can no longer remember your university days have a great week and enjoy the warmer weather. God bless!

life in the big city

So, I have left Abeche now and am now soaking in the hot and slightly more humid climate of the capital city, N’djamena. We had a great trip down with seeing gazelles and some crazy birds and of course hitting paved road. Pavement had been somewhat of a lost idea to me in the last 5 months. It was also interesting to see a small amount of the damage from the war of a month and a half ago. Outside the city we saw burnt vehicles and the digging of a trench around the city as a result of the rebel activity. We also visited the large market on Sunday where much of it was burnt or destroyed because of the rebels hiding in there. Otherwise there’s not a lot of evidence of the war. Especially since I didn’t know the city before although those who did would say the same.

Since arriving we’ve taken in a bit of city life. Ice cream (twice!), swimming at one of the hotels which is definitely stepping outside of Chad for a few hours, and I found my beloved diet Coke. It’s true I drink much of the aspartame ridden beverage in my homeland and have not seen it since leaving the airport in France. So, you can imagine my excitement when finding it in the grocery store the other day. Yes, I did say grocery store. There’s also one of those here, not a market for buying “packets of salt and sugar.”

As for the next two weeks I will try to not become anxious about going home and continue my job as a teacher. I’m enjoying quiet afternoons of reading and playing with the boys and my own room and bathroom. I’ve never had that in my life- my own bathroom that is. Nights are hot though in our well walled concession. At least the electricity has come back which means fans work, they also help to keep the mosquitoes at bay.

That’s it for this week. I contemplated trying to fool you with a cruel April Fools joke but I was neither witty nor brave enough to do so. Hope you all have a great week.

I’m bringing home an African baby.

saying goodbye part 1

Well, this week went by quickly with much packing (okay not that much) more saying goodbye. I write this before I actually say goodbye to the rest of our team and my housemates but having said goodbye to Chadian friends.
I spent one last night with my good friends Jamila, Noora, Zanuba, and their adorable mother yesterday. They were probably the hardest of Chadian friends to say goodbye to. Other goodbyes include my neighbours, my Coke supplier and friend Saleh, my Arabic class and our teacher, my English class, our house helper Yakhuta, and the UN guards who so graciously let me in so that I can send this each week. Not to mention my 2 American students who I’m not sure I’ve ever even told you about. I’ve been splitting my time for the last month and a half between the Drodrolagi’s (the family I’ve been with the whole time) and the Donoghue’s (an American family who arrived in late January).
Don’t expect me home next week though as my adventures in Chad continue for 3 more weeks in N’djamena. Then a little of this and that before I actually hit Winnipeg soil, which I’m hoping will not still be frozen at that point. I am glad that I have a few weeks left with my Fijian family before saying goodbye to all those big brown eyes. Eroni was talking about us leaving the other day, as they are going on holidays for 3 months, and said, “We’ll go to Fiji, you’ll go to Canada and then we’ll all come back.” Tears came to both of our eyes when I informed him that I wasn’t coming back.
So, I’ll leave it at that for this week. I’m almost finished packing for the big city. I’m looking forward to the French pastry shop and swimming pool out there that I’ve heard so much about and Coke for half the price! Happy Easter to all, I hope you’ve all had a good time with family and have peace and hope knowing Christ our Saviour died and lives for us all. Amen!
*Disclaimer on last week’s blog: I don’t know if I actually was on CNN (I highly doubt it but I think our director was and our car) and we had no real part in bringing the kids back we merely needed a convoy for safety reasons to drive that road and that was convoy of convoys. Also it only took us 4 hours to drive back with no broken radiator and a stop to buy 50 mangoes for $6-7 CDN mmmmm.

CNN live

I got to experience a special delivery this week, not of a baby but of children. Back in November I wrote about the organization that stole 103 children who have been kept at the orphanage for the last 4 months. Our good friends there have worked tirelessly and with little help from outside organizations including the well advertised and funded UNICEF (although they were “in charge” of taking them home). So, if you were watching CNN this weekend and didn’t hear the names Annemarie, Annalina, Phillipe, Saleh Idriss, or Carmen or those of the Chadians who prepared their every meal and kept them clean then you can know that these were the amazing people who took care of them all this time. I guess I just wanted to make sure credit was given where it was due. I have no idea what the media said though.

All that to say I was in the convoy that headed to the Eastern border of Chad to return these children. We went to Adre to do some repairs on the WEC property out there but it’s safer to travel by convoy and we’d been waiting for one for months so we were happy to join them. We were there as the Chadians gave speeches and as the first children were returned to their parents after more than four months. What a joyous reunion! We also watched the CNN reporter struggle through the harsh conditions of Chad (heat, dry, and poor roads- an understatement). He mentioned to our director that he wished he’d gone to Palestine or Israel for the weekend instead. Chad isn’t for the weak. It took 6 hours to drive the 170 kilometres there with the road conditions which caused holes in the radiator hose, only 4 hours on the way home.

I thoroughly enjoyed our time in Adre. It’s actually cooler there as it’s about 1000 feet higher in altitude. From there we could look over the border into Sudan and it’s well known Darfur region. We saw the bullet holes in the home of some good friends of ours and I talked with a high school biology teacher who is one of only 5 teachers in charge of over 300 students. Not many are willing to go teach in this war torn town. It’s hard to believe what this town often faces as it seemed so tranquil, it was a relaxing weekend.

I also got one more sick day in before leaving Abeche, in one more week. As the heat soared to over 40 degrees and the fans sat still due to a lack of electricity it was more and more uncomfortable to be sick. Praise the Lord it was only really bad for about 12 hours and that the power came on an hour and a half earlier than it usually does. Most days the power goes out around 7 in the morning and returns between 4 and 5 in the afternoon. That day it came on at 2:30- Machallah (praise the Lord).

I have one week left in Abeche and a month left in Chad (to the day today). I heard Manitoba got some reprieve from the cold this week. I hope that continues for you and that it’s all warmed up by the time I get home! Have a great week everyone.

gaga

Gaga is not how I feel about Chad rather the name of the refugee camp that I was privileged to visit yesterday. I spent the day trying to capture everything but it was difficult to take it all in. A friend of mine is the country director of the Aid Organization CORD which is how I got to go. She was spending yesterday, March 8, at the camp for International Women’s Day.

The Gaga CORD staff, all Chadians and one refugee, had organized a day of speeches, singing, and small dramatic presentations. Each speaking to the rights of women. Girls are usually forced to marry at the age of 13, no longer being allowed to go to school and never having met the man before. I visited the school rooms that have been built at the camp, they’re simple. A blackboard, sand floor and cement walls.

Later in the afternoon a game of soccer, football around here, between the refugees and the Aid workers had been organized. The refugees won and they celebrated as though they’d won the World Cup. “Gaga foog, Gaga foog” (Gaga up, Gaga up), they chanted. It was amazing to see the sense of community that’s developed in the camp. During the soccer match I had the privilege of being the ref for the teenage girls volleyball game. A volleyball camp was conducted earlier on in the camp where the girls were given the opportunity to play a sport. Not very common!

We also visited the women who have started their own small businesses making bread, spaghetti, perfume, and toques and booties for children. I think these people have come a long way from their desperate situations in Darfur. Fifteen thousand refugees live in Gaga and 9 000 new refugees have poured into Chad in the last few weeks. This crisis has persisted since 2003 and it seems as though there may be no end in sight. Troops are supposedly moving into Sudan but reports from different sources give different information on their status.

As the day ended we drove out to the nearby CORD base to watch the most beautiful sunset. It was a picture perfect African savanna sunset although my picture of it doesn’t do it justice at all. I spent the evening with the Chadian staff and slept in a small concrete hut. I was exhausted though having been in the over 40 degree weathering sun all day and so I had my bucket bath, used the cockroach ridden squatty potty and soon after said good night. What an amazing experience!

I was thankful to not have a nosebleed yesterday as that has been a problem for the last week with the Harmatan winds bringing in more dust, if that’s possible, and the temperature rising. I’ve never had a nosebleed before this past week. Remarkably though it seems the cracks in my feet are starting to heal a bit.

From the African sun,
Vanessa

maybe we don't live in the bush

Another week has passed and it went by quickly. I officially finished my English course as I had one straggler finish her exam this week. I am helping teach a beginner level class for the last few weeks I’m in Abeche (3 more!). Then we’re off to N’djamena for 4 weeks until I fly over the big blue ocean to home.

Great excitement came to Abeche on Thursday when the cell phone network was finally turned back on after a month of it being gone because of the war. Even Chadians are attached to their cell phones, maybe more so because not many people have a land line.

A great part of my week was taken up planning for the weekend as we had all the missionary kids come over for Friday to Saturday for a little mini-camp. We being Mirjam and I. We did the story of Queen Esther with our only girl as the Queen herself and much help from the other missionaries who became the King, Mordecai, Haman, and beauty contest contestants. It was a lot of fun and the kids were all sad and very tired when it was all over. It’s hard for me to believe how many weeks I’ve spent at camp on end in the past. Only with God’s strength!

Today, Sunday the 2nd, our household decided to try out the new Chinese restaurant in town. You did read it properly, there is a Chinese restaurant in Abeche. It’s basically a N’sara (foreigner) place though with N’sara prices! It was weird to step into the Western world for 2 hours (the food was slow coming). The food wasn’t exactly Chinese as I’m used to it but it was good. I think I’ll stick to the local restaurant though for the rest of my time here though. The food’s great and cheap and it’s called 4 Etoiles (Four stars) so it must be near the best.

Well, that’s all for this week. It’s getting up to forty degrees now during the days. No such thing as Spring around here, straight from cold to hot season. Talk to you soon, I hope March came in like a lamb.

a different way of life

Sometimes I get to writing this at the end of a week and think, what have I done? What could I tell you that’s interesting? I think I forget how different life really is here than home.

Last Sunday I went to visit a leper lady with Marlene (housemate who’s lived here for 8 years). We sat on the mat and visited, by that I mean Marlene visited and the rest of us tried to understand. A friend of hers made us coffee as she has only tiny stubs of fingers left and toes that are similar. She has 7 children, lives in a small hut that is kept well. She can no longer make the Tekias (straw walls that people use to make shelter from the rest of the world), that she used to make for money. I think I often forget, even being here, how sad some people’s lives are here. How much we take for granted!

AIDS runs rapidly through Africa. We all know that. I’ve been told that it’s either not talked about here or it’s not as bad but I saw a woman affected by it this week. She walked past me with her stick as a cane, probably no more than 35. She moved slower than anyone I’d ever seen. She has a few, I’m not sure how many, beautiful children that play with friends of ours. Both parents have it and the children haven’t been tested.

I finished teaching my English class this week. I think I’m contemplating whether or not I want to be a teacher or not anymore now. It was so hard to mark the exams and not be sad as a few of them came close to failing. I thought how can I be a teacher if I cry when I mark exams! I’ll have to work on that area. It’s hard when you know they’re trying. I got some redemption though when I had a small party with them on Friday to give them their certificates and give them my congratulations on passing. This included introducing 6 innocent souls to chocolate cake and potato chips. Yes I did say introduce. We had been discussing the vocabulary word “chip” during class and none of them knew what it was in English or French. They’re sold in town but at $4.50 a tube (Pringles) they’re not in most people’s price range. Not really in mine! I think they like my chocolate cake more than the Pringles but they were excited to try something new. If only North Americans didn’t know the word “chip.”

Lastly I must apologize to my fellow Manitobans who may have heard me on the radio (CJOB 68) this week. In my 2 minute live interview I said something about “going to the market and buying small packets of salt and sugar.” I have since become the laughing stock of our team and have some reservations that this confession may leave me in the same state at home. I have not bought salt or sugar since coming to Chad. In fact we buy salt in fairly normal form here. To my aid I must say you can buy salt in rock form in small packages and sugar in a large cone form. It’s funny what your mind comes up with when put under pressure for an answer so quickly. I should’ve just referred them to here where the truth comes out! Really, everything I say here is truth… I think.

That’s it for this week, maybe next week I can tell you about my conversation with my friend on how many wives a man should have. From the desert where the air is heating and the Sahara winds are blowing, Agodu aafe (stay well).