Geography outside Abéché, Tchad

Chad News?

Sometimes people like to keep up with what's happening in Chad.

Go straight to this BBC page, then you will see links to recent stories on the right:

BBC Chad

Or try searching 'Chad' on this French news site which has stories in English:

France 24

Maybe you will think to pray for the country after learning more about what's going on?

Four Books

On the left there is one thing I try to do a little bit a day. Whip out these four books and read just a section. I find it interesting but it also gives me a headache. I am at a different level in each of the languages - good at English, ok at French, rusty at Arabic, and almost illiterate in Hebrew. It is sometimes a real struggle to care about keeping up competency in the two languages with non-western scripts, Hebrew and Arabic, but those are the ones I forget the fastest.

The Hebrew of course is only necessary because we are going to translate the Bible. But the others are necessary for everyday life in Chad. People on the street in the capital are just as likely to speak Arabic or French, and practically no one speaks English. Then there is the tribal language, which no one on our team knows yet, but which is the most essential of all to master. The sharing about Jesus will take place in that tribal language.

With all the language learning and stuff, it is easy sometimes to think that the work depends on how well we speak or listen...or in our case, translate. Granted, there is a definite importance to communication ability when you are doing cross-cultural work. But at the end of the day, two passages in the Bible remind me that 1) God is the one who is doing the work with or without me, and 2) the messages coming out of my mouth don't speak as loud as the ones coming out of my life. Here they are:


"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal."

Paul, 1 Corinthians 13:1


" Moses said to the LORD, 'O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.'

The LORD said to him, 'Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.'"

Exodus 4:10-12

It's between me and Him

So a couple from our church here in Chambéry recently invited us over for lunch at their house. It was a delicious sausage dish prepared in the old tradition of Besançon (where Victor Hugo was born). During our meal we were discussing how church differs in France and the US. Somehow I ended up sharing what I think the biggest difficulty is for people to grasp the truth about Jesus. We have lots of opportunities at the French school we attend to tell people about him - often people that have never heard, even if they are from a traditionally 'Christian' country. So many people from around the world have accepted that it is wrong to believe that another person's religious belief is wrong.

To me, truth concerning the afterlife and God is the most important kind of truth. So it is really important to be able to talk about truth about him in a meaningful way. We lose all sense of reason and objectivity in a religious discussion if we accept that bolded statement above. If you've read Night by Elie Weisel, maybe you remember Moshe the Beadle. His character had seen atrocities of the Holocaust, and then escaped. He returned to his Jewish community to warn them of the coming danger. No one believed him. They thought he was mad, but what if they were saying "Moshe, you can believe that those things are real and that's fine. As for me, I don't believe that the Holocaust is happening. But that's our beautiful freedom to believe as we want." Moshe surely would have been furious at this attitude! If someone claims that X is true, the opposite cannot also be true. To deny a truth like that is convenient in some ways, but in the end is slippery, and destructive.

This way of thinking is so embedded in a lot of people that I meet that they don't even recognize the inconsistency. So difficult, then, to have a meaningful talk about God!

On Dusty Roads

Showers mean a lot because of how dusty you get. The streets are terrible. I had forgotten this. They are totally sand and they are awful. Went through neighborhoods that are basically nothing. They are so many nameless streets without pavement, - not even entry-ways to houses can be seen, but the backs of concessions. A concession is a large courtyard in which a few families have their houses. These are walled around the outside, and these outer concession walls define the edges of the roads. So as you walk down the street there are seven-foot walls on both sides of the road. People walking back and forth – guys on bikes with huge boxes of bread on the back, women carrying stuff on their heads, little kids running around, a lot of people just standing around...I want to ask "What are you all doing today?"

Marketplace

At the big markets, inter-tribal commerce happens in French or more frequently Arabic. In French the prices are given straight up: 500=cinq cents. In Chadian Arabic however, the word for the price 500 means literally 2500. They think about prices in units of five. Anyway that gets really confusing when you are speaking foreign languages in the first place, neither of which you are expert at. Finally we figured that out. David got some sunglasses. We bought mango, and David and Stephen bought head wraps. We were dressed western, but I wished I had worn a headwrap because of all the dust and the direct sunlight. I didn’t wear my sunglasses today. Stupid, what am I thinking? Of course you need them. The sun was overhead the whole time we were at the market. I overheated. I drank 25 glasses of water today easy, 35 probably. I drink ALL THE TIME. You’re just always dehydrated. Water is life here.

Bush Taxi

If you don't have a vehicle of your own and you live in eastern Chad, you have several options for getting to and from the village or town you work in. One of the more economical options is the "bush taxi." This little beauty carried us from a major town to the little town where our team is hoping to work. As you are whizzing along through the desert, you have to hold on pretty tight to those ropes to avoid going overboard. An exciting ride with breathtaking scenery. SPF 30 recommended.