Chad Life: July 2020

Now that I do prayer letters more often, this blog has kinda become redundant. However, I think it’s morphing into more of somewhere where I can give you a small window of insight into daily life in Chad.

I can’t start writing anything at this point in time without referencing covid-19. Yes, it unfortunately made it to Chad, much to my dismay. I’m not sure how I thought Chad would be immune, but I lived in hope. Only for that hope to be dashed with the announcement of the first positive case on 19^th March. I have to say that I was impressed with how the government here responded. Lockdown happened immediately. We didn’t have full-on lockdown like many other countries because, quite frankly, most people here can’t afford to hunker down in their houses for weeks on end. They live day to day and so need to be out buying food with whatever money that have available that day. However, churches and mosques were shut, non-essential shops were shut, restaurants were allowed to operate a takeaway service only, mass communal transport was stopped, you weren’t allowed more than 4 people in a car or 2 on a motorbike. Everyone had to wear face masks. Hand-washing stations popped up everywhere. A night-time curfew was installed. The airport was shut to all but cargo planes. The list goes on. I have to admit that the latter point about the airport turned out to be one of the hardest parts of living through covid-19 here for me. The knowledge that there was no easy route out of Chad should I need it was hard to live with when my family and many of my closest friends are all in the UK. Numbers of cases increased in the country. The first community-transmission case was reported. Chad was heading in the same direction as most of the rest of the world. However, something happened. Or rather, didn’t happen. Yes, numbers increased quickly. We put many measure in place at the hospital to deal with suspect cases and prevent spread of the infection. The government hospital down the road was the designated treatment hospital. We waited for what I thought was the inevitable deluge of patients who would need isolating and referring to that hospital. It never came. There was no talk of mass death in the country. Our hospital staff never got ill with covid. Writing this 4 months down the line, I am full of gratitude that covid-19, despite causing sad deaths here, never escalated to the extent it has elsewhere. The healthcare system would have been inundated and collapsed under the strain.

Here’s a pic of me sporting one of my 5 facemasks. They’re a bit of a fashion statement here! This is my work face mask. Wearing it during hot season wasn’t pleasant but I am definitely pro-mask. No debate. This is my personal blog so I can give personal opinions ;)

Was I smiling or not under that thing?!

I’m a bit annoyed with myself for not taking a picture of my pharmacy colleague Audrey the other day. He proudly arrived at work sporting a shirt and trousers made out of the same fabric. Nothing unusual in that here. However, his face mask was also made out of the same fabric. And. Wait for it. His flipflops had been covered in the same fabric too!! He was head to toe in purple tie-dye. Brilliant. You’ll have to use my writing to conjure up an image of what he looked like!

One thing about covid-19 that I’ve appreciated, and let’s face it, there’s not been a lot to appreciate about it, is that it’s given me the opportunity to connect in real time with people in the UK doing online things like church services. Thanks to much-improved internet here, I was no longer the one who was far away and unable to participate. That was great. As was the empathy I now feel you all can have with me in the fact that I was able to have my hair cut last week for the first time in 9 months! Hairdressers here aren’t used to Caucasian hair but a lovely Canadian friend who lives out East was in the capital. She has hair-cutting scissors and many previous experiences of cutting people’s hair. The offer was there. I took it. Alfresco hair cut! Check out the hair washing facility in the picture below. Ecologically friendly as I was able to water the plants at the same time.

Simple hair-washing station!

Granted I was offered to go into the apartment she was staying in and wash my hair but hec, this was quicker and as the water was cool, pretty refreshing too! It was so nice to have 3 inches lopped off I can tell you.

Ta-da! The end result. Much lighter :)

Talking of water (my links in this blog are so slick today), rainy season has arrived with a vengeance. We’ve have had some pretty heavy deluges. Last week was particularly long and heavy and like me, many Chadians were saying they’d never known such an intense rainstorm that lasted so long. It was crazy. I was so worried about the villagers around the hospital and how their houses were holding up.

My new temporary lake-side property

Oh and finally, I almost forgot. Not sure how, because this last subject has taken up a lot of time and effort since it commenced last December. I built a house! I know, right?! What else would a pharmacist working at a hospital in Chad do? I’ve definitely got many new transferable (hopefully?) skills. Ok, so I didn’t build it with my own hands, but I was one half of the design and planning team and then I oversaw the build, which was led by our lovely and long-suffering hospital maintenance guy Alphonse. My BMS colleagues moved in two weeks ago! It’s so good to see it done and being lived in. I’ve vowed never to take on a big building project again. This is accountability right there. Please hold me to this!! I’ll leave you with some pictures of the construction phases and the finished product. There are a lot, so stop here if you don’t want to be bored with construction pics!

Thanks for reading :)