Cultural Smoothie
We got here in the right time; while Chadians are complaining of the coldness of the winter, Wojciech and I enjoy the steady sunny 25 C we get every day! This week, N’Djaména was hosting an African festival that featured a large number of local artists and organizations. As we were browsing for new musical and visual discoveries, we got to meet with staff from NGOs who really got us seeing ‘International Development’ in motion. For example, we were lucky enough to discuss of a CARE AIDS project dealing with mobile truck drivers, about a sanitation project by the municipality to encourage the population to compost and recycle, and with a women’s agricultural cooperative that was also offering rotating savings and microcredit.
The first Christmas without snow also held its load of surprises. In opposition to the situation in Canada, Christmas here is much more of a community rather than a family thing (a little bit like New Year’s Eve). So, on the 24th, we got a genuine réveillon with all the Rafigui team, and then we went out in town to try out some local beer (the label of the Gala does not say anything about volume and alcohol concentration) and groove (a lot of souk, coupé-décallé, R&B and hip-hop). Good times...
A bit about N’Djaména. We have been going around in cabs several times so far and we saw as many cell phones ads as we would have in the Toronto subway. The dusty streets are filled with vendors, people carrying large loads of straw or wood, and couples riding bicycles and motorbikes. Youth graffities everywhere, and there is a lot of it related sexual health. The trees are very nice, and there are a lot of public venues, especially for playing soccer. There is a lot of military around, and it was stricking to see a pick-up filled with masqued police holding machine guns going around on Christmas day. We fortunately have yet to experience bad luck (knock on wood).
Today, we went to visit my friend Mini-Mini’s family in the suburbs. They are very welcoming, and we took tons of funny pictures. All in all, we are still in good shape, food is good, visits are enlightening and the future looks bright.
The first Christmas without snow also held its load of surprises. In opposition to the situation in Canada, Christmas here is much more of a community rather than a family thing (a little bit like New Year’s Eve). So, on the 24th, we got a genuine réveillon with all the Rafigui team, and then we went out in town to try out some local beer (the label of the Gala does not say anything about volume and alcohol concentration) and groove (a lot of souk, coupé-décallé, R&B and hip-hop). Good times...
A bit about N’Djaména. We have been going around in cabs several times so far and we saw as many cell phones ads as we would have in the Toronto subway. The dusty streets are filled with vendors, people carrying large loads of straw or wood, and couples riding bicycles and motorbikes. Youth graffities everywhere, and there is a lot of it related sexual health. The trees are very nice, and there are a lot of public venues, especially for playing soccer. There is a lot of military around, and it was stricking to see a pick-up filled with masqued police holding machine guns going around on Christmas day. We fortunately have yet to experience bad luck (knock on wood).
Today, we went to visit my friend Mini-Mini’s family in the suburbs. They are very welcoming, and we took tons of funny pictures. All in all, we are still in good shape, food is good, visits are enlightening and the future looks bright.
posted by Emanuele at 2:30 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home