Alone

…So then Friday, they packed us, our counterparts, and all our luggage into the PC land cruisers and we all went our separate ways for site visit. A whole week at our sites. Alone. With no one we know.

There are only three of us ’04 volunteers going north…me, Patrick and Darren. So it was the three of us, our driver, and two school reps. I, of course, got stuck in the front middle seat. I had to have my legs off to the side because of the gearbox. Let me tell you, seven hours like that makes for a numb butt cheek. Darren said he’d amputate it with his Swiss Army knife. But speaking of roads – haha- remember when I read that there’s only 310 miles of paved roads in Chad? It’s true. We turned off the main paved road an hour north of N’Djamena onto a rutted, bumpy, washed out dirt road (awesome for my poor ass). We kept passing groups of nomads with their herds of sheep/goats or big long-horned cattle heading south to find water. It was pretty cool. But it’s amazing how quickly something becomes commonplace – “oh look, another family of nomads riding camels with their herd of giant African cows…man my butt hurts…” But still, approximately every 8 minutes, I thought to myself, “I’m in Chad! Ha! I’m in Chad! For two years! Yahooooo!” and smiled. But anyway, back to the roads. We turned off that road at Massakory where another volunteer lives onto….get ready….a “road” that was only tracks through the sand. I didn’t really understand the no roads thing until that moment – there aren’t roads! We drove through the Chadian bush, sometimes with tracks, sometimes just kind of wandering, with camels and donkeys and scrub brush all around for hours until we found Darren’s village. Again, at first it was just incredible – literally like a safari, but within an hour, it was “My butt hurts and I’m so thirsty! Where is this #@$ village?” But we eventually found his village and it was very sad to leave him there with his mat and water filter and minimal French skills. He looked so forlorn as we drove away. But it was only about 40 minutes between Darren’s village and Patrick’s. They will get to hang out all the time. It’s about 1 ½ between Patrick’s village and Bol (Kate’s placement).

It was dark when we got to Bol at sundown. We pulled off to the side of the road (there’s a dirt road between Patrick and me) so our driver could pray and break his fast. I watched the sun go down through a horizon of sand hills and occasional palm trees while listening to a Muslim chanting his evening prayers. Cool, huh? I’m sure that will get old eventually too. So I have no idea what Bol actually looks like because I haven’t left the mayor’s compound today. That’s right, I’m living with the mayor! Bol is a major city 20-30,000, and the mayor is an important dude. Okay, get ready….ready? I have electricity, running H2O (in mayor’s house so I have to fetch it, but hey, no pump), a televisions AND a phone! You can call me anytime! I kind of feel like I’m not roughing it enough, but hey, whatever. The mayor and his family all speak French, Arabic and Kanembu.(local dialect) They’ll be great tutors for me. He has 13 kids, but only 4 are left at home – the rest are off studying in other countries or N’Djamena. He has 3 high school aged daughters and 1 junior high son. I think the girls and I will be good friends. They’re very smart and well educated. They had 2 volunteers here in Bol last year but they both went home early. I live in Amanda’s old house. She was med-evaced for depression – yikes. The kids here said to me this morning, “You’re not like Amanda! You keep your door open and you like kids!” When I asked other volunteers about her earlier, they described her as shy and reclusive. So the people of Bol are about to see a new side of America. Still, it’s weird to be following in her footsteps – her photos and newsclippings from her MN hometown paper are still on the wall and people keep mentioning her.

I’ll add more when I’ve actually seen the town and (hopefully) the lake! Oooh, forgot to say that there’s wheat, corn sorghum, fruits and veggies here (not to mention lots of fish!) You don’t have to worry about this girl losing weight!

Okay, time to sleep off the heat of the day. Will add more later! It’s later now and I don’t know what to do with myself. The first day in a new place is hard – I don’t know the routine, where to get water, etc. Sure my fam speaks French and I can communicate pretty well, but it’s incredibly frustrating to not be able to really express yourself. I’m very proud of my French, though. We had to do mid-training language proficiency interviews and the teachers told me that I’m the best (not counting the 2 that are already fluent). I’ll surely be fluent within a few months at site, but it’s hard and frustrating now. Only five days left to go. Man, I’m going to be so thrilled to see the other trainees when we all get back to Darda!

Dad, when we were on the phone last week, you asked how I like the simple life. I didn’t really get a chance to explain myself because of the connection and time limit. I love it. Sure it took a month or so to adapt to the heat, bugs and squatting but other than that, I really enjoy it. I’ve spent the majority of my time in Chad sitting on mats under trees. All of our classes are on the mats outside and we sit there in our free time too. I just spent 4(!) hours sitting on mats with my family. We played tic tac toe, we thumb wrestled, they taught me Arabic and Kanembu, and sometimes we just sat. I guess that’s what I really enjoy. It’s such a pleasant, relaxed feeling, like sitting around a campfire when everyone goes quiet and just appreciates the fire. The whole family is so close here – most live in this same compound. It makes me wish our family was closer instead of scattered. Imagine sitting around and talking and laughing with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents al the time. “Hey, Kathy, pass me the goat’s milk!” Yo, Margy, let’s play TicTac Toe!” Fun, huh? I’m sure I’ll eventually get sick of it and them – No I take that back. I think that sense of community will be something I’ll always enjoy and will miss terribly when I come home.

The people here look very different from the people around Darda. They look much more Arabic here. My sisters have this incredible hair that’s a slightly kinky version of shiny black middle eastern hair. Their skin is this beautiful dark – carmely color and their features are more Arabic/mideast too. It’s a really interesting mix. There are also ethnic Arabs, here, but they’re still more caramely that mid-eastern. Chad is SUCH a diverse place! I wish you could see the differences between the different ethnic groups! The women dress beautifully here. In the south, it’s crazily colored and patterned and mismatched pagnes or dresses. But here, they match! The women cover their hair here all the time with these beautiful delicate veil-type clothes. They only cover their hair, though, not their faces, so it’s not really a veil. Hmm, don’t know the word in English. I find myself thinking in this funny mix of English, French and Arabic – Franglarab. It’s weird.

November 9 – 2 ½ days left in Bol

I finally got to go out into Bol today. The mayor and a school rep and I went to meet and greet the gov’t officials. I think we met about 6, including the “Chef de Canton”, who is the traditional chief. Oddly enough, he spoke perfect English and is the Chadian Ambassador to Mauritania and Niger.

So I mentioned Amanda, who lived here before me. Everyone (including the gov’t officials) keeps telling me how reclusive she was – she never ate with the family, she didn’t talk to anyone, etc. and pretty much the first question people ask me is, “ Do you eat everything?” Amanda was a vegetarian and it’s pretty clear that the people of Bol did not approve. So she set the bar nice and low so that everyone thinks I’m awesome for keeping my door open and playing with the kids. The mayor gave me a Chadian name today – Zara (the Muslim version of Sara, I guess). They said they’ll slaughter a goat and have a naming ceremony for me when I come back after the (Peace Corps) swearing in ceremony in December. How cool is that? They kept making jokes about Zara from St. Louis tonight. They’re fun.

Miss you and love you with all my heart!

Love,
Kate

P.S. We talked to Kate on Saturday. She will be officially sworn in as a Peace Corps volunteer this Friday, December 10 and will leave for Bol on Sunday, the 12th. She’ll be gathering with friends on Christmas. She asked for anything “homey” and pictures from home. I suspect any little momento from your lives would be appreciated.

Marilyn