Christmas and anecdotes
I never thought I would ever go to Newfoundland and double check for myself that the U.S. Military has a base there... But after KLM announced our Boeing 747 had a gas jam and that we would thus have to stop in Gander and in Ireland for refulling, which meant that we were certainly going to miss our transfer to Addis Ababa on Thursday morning.
After using my extensive network of contacts, I realized that there were chances that Wojciech and I were going to be stuck in Amsterdam for a couple of days and maybe even spend Christmas there. This recognition made me understand the importance of flexibility in our field, and I must admit feeling so helpless challenged me to double efforts to make this project even better and that, on its practical, human, technical, ideological and cultural sides.
We were lucky enough to be among the people who were reconnected quickly. Soon we were in Paris, and soon also were we on a luxury Air France flight to N’Djamena, along with a surprisingly high number of Europeans travelling to Chad for a variety of purposes. After watching cartoons on the Klu Klux Klan and watching a beautiful sunset over the Saharan desert, we were among a crowd of husted young Chadian soldiers doing their best to keep people in lines to get their passports stamped and get out of the airport without suffering the wrath of the power-hungry customs agents.
It was very beautiful to see faces of 10 people from Rafigui waiving at us from the stairs on the other side of the big fence that marked the bondary between Chad and international space. We were 14 hours early and had only called some time ago to mention it, and yet they all totally lived up to the reputation of the warmth African welcome.
I was expecting blasts of harmattan in my eyes and children yelling ‘nassara’ at me at all corners. Instead I found hectic traffic, an overpopulation of goats (which I like) and a handful of new friends. We are serious in getting the project doing and yet very sensitive to the goal of getting the most out of this unique set of circumstances that drew us together.
I am glad to announce that we have been through the whole set of administrative procedures that secure our 20-days trip in N’Djamena, and have had our first official fruitful meeting tonight, after which Wojciech and I stayed up very late. Although we are tired and are not looking forwards to 4 am for the typical Muslim prayer, at this point we at FMM and Rafigui are very positive about the outcomes and outreach of the A13I, and we feel we made today the beginning of a life-changing journey.
After using my extensive network of contacts, I realized that there were chances that Wojciech and I were going to be stuck in Amsterdam for a couple of days and maybe even spend Christmas there. This recognition made me understand the importance of flexibility in our field, and I must admit feeling so helpless challenged me to double efforts to make this project even better and that, on its practical, human, technical, ideological and cultural sides.
We were lucky enough to be among the people who were reconnected quickly. Soon we were in Paris, and soon also were we on a luxury Air France flight to N’Djamena, along with a surprisingly high number of Europeans travelling to Chad for a variety of purposes. After watching cartoons on the Klu Klux Klan and watching a beautiful sunset over the Saharan desert, we were among a crowd of husted young Chadian soldiers doing their best to keep people in lines to get their passports stamped and get out of the airport without suffering the wrath of the power-hungry customs agents.
It was very beautiful to see faces of 10 people from Rafigui waiving at us from the stairs on the other side of the big fence that marked the bondary between Chad and international space. We were 14 hours early and had only called some time ago to mention it, and yet they all totally lived up to the reputation of the warmth African welcome.
I was expecting blasts of harmattan in my eyes and children yelling ‘nassara’ at me at all corners. Instead I found hectic traffic, an overpopulation of goats (which I like) and a handful of new friends. We are serious in getting the project doing and yet very sensitive to the goal of getting the most out of this unique set of circumstances that drew us together.
I am glad to announce that we have been through the whole set of administrative procedures that secure our 20-days trip in N’Djamena, and have had our first official fruitful meeting tonight, after which Wojciech and I stayed up very late. Although we are tired and are not looking forwards to 4 am for the typical Muslim prayer, at this point we at FMM and Rafigui are very positive about the outcomes and outreach of the A13I, and we feel we made today the beginning of a life-changing journey.
posted by Emanuele at 1:06 PM
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