Africa Vision 2

Africa Vision 2

Ndjamena, November 10, 2007

Stuck in the door.

The United States of America have been good to me. Gastronomy and size of servings are such that my appreciative stomach has expanded considerably. Usually it does not lead to major problems but last night it did. For unexplainable reasons the door to the building where I am staying a flat got jammed. Brute force in the category of The Undertaker, Batista or other heroes of the formerly known World Wrestling Federation led me to unhinge the door. Unhinge to the extent I could worm my head and bag through only to be stuck at the belly level. It is there that breathing lessons of yoga came in handy. I visualized an empty void where my belly was and wham bam I crashed through the door. While pondering on my efforts I heard my poor neighbor coming home. Not being a bogey yogi like myself I rushed down and aided him with a bucket of water, soap and a rope to pull him in. No fire broke out that night and in the morning a Chadian demolition team came and the door is functional yet again.

Carnivore is the club in Chad where people come to devour piles of meat, or look at it. I go for the music, it is usually African blues/jazz or buffed up traditional French chansons. Like Rick’s place in Casablanca it is where vagabonds, spies, military, oil people, humanitarians, Chadian Richie Riches and girls, girls, girls come together. In the Netherlands just before my departure my friends had a vote and decided it was time to cut, burn and eradicate my beard. Frankly I agree that the bush living on my chin is getting a tad tedious. After all it has been there several years now. Slashed it was delicately and presently another beardless man is populating the earth. And yet again while entering the nightclub several ladies catcalled me as Jezus. Despite the chunky form and the lack of proper facial hair. Leaving the club is a battle, specially if you want to leave alone and with your items. Even if I live about 400 meters from Carnivore a taxi is obligatory because dacoits are on the outlook for scatterbrained white men walking the street.

A good old massive downpour turned the street into a swimming pool. Luckily my digital photo camera came with swimming goggles. Silly me left them in the Netherlands however. Plans a plenty for my future garden and they involve peacocks, coconut trees, swimming pool, hammocks, basketball court and bar cum disco. Dreams will come true. As many of you have shown interest to swing by Chad I shall definitely make your stay in Ashis’ Palace a pleasure. Likely the office cum palace is soon to be opened. And Brahma Chooks, yep, chicken will be there. Bahai has given me a good feel for it.

Work wise the biggest challenge next week is convincing our donor UNICEF to move ahead with releasing funds so the work (not preliminary) but the real thing can start as of November 15th. Then I am off to the field to visit the two sites; Mondou and Doba where we will work and have our offices. Meeting our partners in the field, village elders as well as exploring the local infrastructure, hospitals, health posts and water wells. I have seen some photos of a laboratory and a documentary of the area. Will try and post them as soon as possible. Internet access is requiring patience but soon we will have wireless so I shall be able to communicate swiftly.
Some of you may have heard of the attempt by people of Zoe’s Arc to kidnap 103 Chadian children and to fly them to France to be presented to adopting families. I cannot think how delirious the people of this organization must have been. The children they took are not orphans, but are healthy Chadian children with parents. Several hundred families in France paid more than 2000 euro to adopt a child. Chad however does not have a law for adoption and these children clearly had family, parents and were lured with candy. Truly the idiocy of this operation is worse than any imaginable tragicomedy written. The seven people who were responsible for this action are in jail and will be tried. They are facing 20 years of hard physical labor in Chad. President Sarkozy of France is doing all he can to get his compatriots back. Try to imagine a group of Chadians coming to France to lure 103 children into an airplane to be taken to Chad as new members of families in Chad. How would the Chadians be tried?

As a consequence the word Non Governmental Organization or humanitarian aid worker has a foul taste to it according to many Chadians. In the media the President came out and said that the goal of the taking of the children was to sell their organs. Mass demonstrations have been held against the members of Zoe’s Arc. It does not help when members of this organization come out and say that the organizations that are on the field and have been for 4 years do not have an impact or make a difference and that taking the children to France would have been their saving. Their day in court will come. And the damage done to NGO’s and the reputation of the international community will take a lot of time and effort to heal.

Tonight one of my Indian friends is leaving. He will return to India or go to Madgascar. After a huge vegetarian lunch a dinner at the Taj Mahal will follow. He is known as guruj and with a proper evening filled with banter and Indian humor he will be wrapped up and sent by parcel to the motherland. Bless him!

Let the party start I need to run

Vande mataram

Ashis Brahma
Aid to the Assistant Editor Assistant of the Journal of Africa Vision