Africa Vision 7
Doba, November 20, 2007
Road trip.
The schedule will be a bit hectic but no guts no glory. From Sunday to Thursday we will visit the following villages and cities in Southern Chad: Doba (regional capital, 30000 people), Bebetou (village with about 2000 inhabitants and a Catholic Mission), Bebedja (Catholic hospital), Bero (small village in the middle of the oil fields) and Gore (near the border with the Central African Republic and home to about 25000 refugees from CAR). We are Leon, a former pilot, Chadian and homeboy from the region and myself. Our sturdy steed is a Toyota RAV large. And the co-pilot is Madam Poule, a hitch hike-ster we found on the road.
According to Leon giving a chicken water and food while traveling is as serving a death sentence so our beautiful bird is on a crash diet. Tranquil she sits in the back and reminds of her presence only when we take a wrong turn.
Our trip started of in a foul way. As mentioned before at the moment les Blancs are not a loved group of people presently in Chad. Some Chadians think all humanitarians are here to kidnap as many children as possible. When we arrived at the first military check point we were asked what was our reason to go south. As a rule you take what is called in French an Ordre de Mission. Somehow with the early departure at 07.00 I had left it in my room. Not a smart thing to do. More and more shouting military. One or two soldiers searching through the luggage. Finding a video camera.
Where is the permission for the camera?
Are you going to shoot films of children so you can sell them to families in Europe? Passport!
A call to my friend Faizal to dispatch a vehicle to send another mission order. Phone calls to relations with high positions in the army. A tough one-hour. A small donation (6 dollars) and the air is cleared. The same soldiers rummaging and shouting now coming for consultations of their ailments. Gastritis, hemorrhoids, headache and other minor problems. Lesson learnt. Get your papers in order before traveling. It saves time and energy.
The ride itself was smooth. Changing landscapes. Dry savanna, wet savanna, forest, and deep forest. And the rivers. Brown and flowing. Pirogues (local boats made out of wood) and fishermen, farmers on the banks of the rivers. Bright clothes. Bright light, more and more green (even if this is the dry season). The roads are perfect. Completely different from the East. The 700-kilometer journey we travel in ten hours. With all stops.
The south has the good fortune to have oil. But even better for them the first schools in Chad were built in the south around 1907. Missionaries came from Bangui, Central African Republic. The heartland of Chadian intelligentsia has been the south and even more specific the area we are visiting the next 5 days. Leon is a clear example of this. All through the 5-day tour we discuss the present and past socio economic reality of Chad. What are the differences between north and south? Between the pastoralist and the farmer. The trading Muslims, Christians that prefer school, animists that live a traditional life style. Again over the next blogs I shall try to share more of that. For those that have not yet visited the web site
www.ashis-africavision.blogspot.com
It is all the more attractive now as there are photos posted
The photo that comes with this story is a bit murky. Try and guess what you see and I will explain in a week what is actually on the photo.
Peace and love,
Ashis
2 comments:
Hey,
Good adventure of Mr. Forgetful. Ha. Just kidding. Happens with everyone sometimes. But if you had given them the money before you could have saved some time. You always seem to have some bird or animal company. Really merging with your surroundings. Yeah! But can't see any pictures on the blog.
Seems to be a beautiful place. Waiting for your pics.
hey i think its your chicken sitting there and it got reflected in the glass while you were taking the photo. Is that correct Mr. Do let me know as i'm curious to know. Ciao.
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