The Road to Guereda

November 16, 2005

Today I did a day trip with my assistant to Guereda, the base for project activities in the refugee camps of Mile and Kounoungo. I always thrive on getting out of the office and into the field, despite that our driver today had me digging my nails into the dashboard. I tried to explain to him that as a child protection organization, it would not be looked on well for us to hit a small refugee child. I continued to scream “lentement!”, as though he didn’t hear me the first time. The driver’s most shameful moment was when he lost his temper with a small boy on the road who had thrown a rock at the car. The jerk stopped the car, hopped out, and ran after the boy, looking like a complete moron. He even picked up a rock and I was screaming at him to leave the kid alone. Had the man had the nerve to physically touch the child, I would have hopped over to the driver’s seat and attempted the sand and desert myself, leaving the moron to think over his behavior. Luckily, he won’t be working with me anymore!

Regardless, it was a lovely journey through eastern Chad. The roads, being that they are made of desert sand, are horrible, and I am somehow still struck with the vast emptiness. Occasionally we would pass a sole woman sitting by the side of the road and I’d just have to wonder what she was waiting for in this nothingness. There were many camels along the way – I find them simply fascinating! The creatures seem to come from some other world, as they eat off the trees like giraffes, but trollop along like an awkward horse. And there are turbaned men on horseback, women and small children traveling on donkeys. I was wondering if getting one’s own donkey was somehow comparable to a child getting their first bike – that freedom!

I was warmly received in Guereda, welcomed into a few homes. Anywhere in Africa, when offered food or drink, you are obliged to take it, less risk offending your host. Well, I was offered a luke-warm “Chadian” porridge with contents that sent off all sorts of warning bells in my head. Regardless, rather than offend a very sweet host who clearly had little means to be feeding others, I drank the porridge. Needless to say, the porridge still haunts…

Oh, the rumor of the attempted coup d’etat has been ironed out. It turns out that some rebels broke into the Chadian army weapons stores in N’djamena and made off with all sorts of goodies (though even this is still hearsay). Don’t ask me how this was possible or what it means. This is Chad. I don’t understand anything.

But I am doing my best to educate myself further about this region. What is evident is that the Darfur region of Sudan has for years served as a battleground for geo-political wranglings between Libya, Chad, and Sudan (and even the CIA had a base there in the old-school days). The latest episode of violence in Darfur, well, more to come on that…