Four months in Chad

After many attempts to put pictures onto this blog over the pass couple of months, I have failed miserably, so I am just going to write and I will keep trying and hope that one day when I am trying the internet is working a bit faster to upload the photos.

 Quite a few things have happened since I last posted something on our blog. Here are a few..

Our shipping has arrived and we are delighted to have some familiar possessions in our home. This has been an important thing for Zack especially as now he says with his toys around him, this is his home here in Chad! 

It has rained and couple of times!........the first rain of the year was on 1^st April -  2 months earlier than normal.  It was a lovely relief to the hot weather and the kids loved it! It cleared the air for an hour or so before the heat returned. We are currently coming to the end of the hot season, supposedly at the end of this month, and I think we are all in the need of it being a bit cooler and fresher. 

For Easter we had a sweetie hunt for some of the children on the compound which was so much fun and  a lovely time together.  

One of the MAF ladies organised some of the neighbouring kids to come to the compound one morning for play, snack and to hear a Bible story.  It was brilliant to see about 20 or so children from the neighbourhood playing here and a gift to have the swings, climbing frame and trampoline to share with them on occasions.  We enjoyed time with some of their mums too -  although with my limited French, and no existent Arabic, my chit  chat was minimal!

As Zack thrives at the Chadian kindgergarten in the city, Esther has joined him too. The other children here on the compound are older than her and after a year of not playing with children her age, it is so lovely to see her playing with other kids her age at the kindergarten. She is loving it -  especially going to 'school' with her big brother!

As I write this, Andrew is away for a few days on his first flying solo trip away. He headed off yesterday flying a pastor and a Dr around the south of Chad reaching people in small villages where MAF become their lifeline. To me, it is so exciting that Andrew can be part of this and what a privilege for him to experience and see these remote places where nothing is taken for granted and gain an insight into these peoples lives and be able to share Gods love for them.  A wonderful example of the work of MAF.

It is hard to believe that we have been in Chad for four months already. We are feeling more settled, a lot hotter, and more accepting that the pace is slower here and some days, due to the heat and it just being Africa, we don't achieve much except the daily necessities of life! We are blessed with a new MAF family arriving just over a week ago and look forward to being  their neighbours!  Driving for me is becoming easier and the randomness is not so random(!), our house help, Saratou, is now working for us permanently and is more of a blessing that I could ever have hoped for and although I can't say Chad is home yet, I am getting there. Of course I still miss the UK -  family, friends, the seasons, lovely countryside, speaking English, more predictability on  a daily basis, nice cool mornings and evenings and the freedom to come and go around the country as one wishes but for now, we are happy and know that Gods work for us is here in Chad and that for us that is why we are here.

 

 

 

Andrew begins his flying training!

Over the past few days Andrew has begun his flying training here in Chad. Yippee.

It has been challenging due to weather restraints -  one day it was too hot here to start the plane until 5pm (he began work at 7am!) so it was a day of theory learning and watching the thermometer. Today, as I write this, after getting up at 5am to hopefully fly before it gets too hot, the dust seems to be a problem and visibility poor so I do not know if he is up in the sky or not.

Please pray that over the next week he will complete the training necessary as Patrick, the person training him, works for MAF in Madagascar and has to return next tuesday.

We have also brought a car....... Very exciting and if you remember my little old red corsa we used to have, this is very different. A toyota 4runner, automatic, 3.4L and 4 wheel drive -  needed here if we leave the city roads.  Car shopping was an experience. Here you find a car you like in the garage in your price range and that is it generally. There is no real choice of specifications  -  if the car is OK then whatever the specifications are, they are either a bonus or not. It was a testing time car shopping in the 42C heat, with a toddler and in French! Praise God that we were able to go with a local MAF employee to help us out. Another difference was the need to go to the bank and withdrawi the money to buy the car in cash.......

We continue to feel blessed here and pray that our shipping, which should arrive on Wednesday to the airport, comes to us successfully with minimum custom fees....  We are all very excited about the thought of opening the boxes to see exactly what we packed up over 7 months ago! Zack just has one request -  that he gets his track back!

7 weeks in Chad already!

We have been here now for 7 weeks, time is going really fast and we have all settled in well. The kids are loving playing on the compound, especially in the small swimming pool. We are getting used to the hot weather, although apparently in April, the hottest month of the year, we are told it is like living in fire!

Andrew has brought his own motorbike for getting to and from work. The soft sand on some of the roads make his trips interesting but then he does like a challenge. He has been in the office most days but has been able to accompany Bryan, a relief pilot here, on a couple of trips, including one to Cameroon, so he was able to claim a new country! He is looking forward to beginning his flight training in just under 2 weeks time.

I have conquered driving on my own! I cant say I like it but I have to do it. Especially as Zack has started at a kindergarten in town so I need to drive him there and pick him up. He is enjoying it and even is picking up the African accent sometimes!

We have brought a washing machine although not able to use it yet as here we need to run electical equipment through a voltage box and although we have a voltage box we need to attach a plug! Nothing is straight forward here! We also seem to find that fridges here are not the most reliable and are currently had 4 different ones.

The mosquitoes continue to bite but I have found a very good mosquito squatter in the last few days -  a wet flannel!

Now as I write this, the children on the compound, 10 of them, are off to play together under a water sprinkler in one of the gardens........

First Flight with MAF in Chad

I had the opportunity to join Kalvin, the MAF's current pilot here in Chad for a flight to Ati, a town just over 200 miles to the east of N'Djamena.

 

A good thing about flying are the views....

 

Approaching Ati



About to land at Ati

A drawback of flying is there is often not much time on the ground at the destination before we have to turn round and go back.  We spent 30 minutes on the ground at Ati unloading and reloading passengers and baggage and avoiding standing out in the sun for too long.  Thankfully this is not the hottest time of year so current daytime temperatures only reach around 40 C (104 F).

 

MAF Chad's Cessna Caravan Aircraft at Ati

Departing Ati

 

 

Arriving back at N'Djamena (the Chari River here forms the border between Chad and neighbouring Cameroon; Cameroon is in the foreground, with Chad beyond the river)

 

A proud Zack next to some Duplo construction he had designed and put together

 

 

 

Arrived in Chad

We arrived safely in Chad on Thursday afternoon after our flights from London via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  Everything fine so far; the other expatriate staff here have shown us around the city and shops.  I (Andrew) have also had the opportunity to spend a morning at the MAF hangar and have met some of the Chadian MAF staff and see the two aircraft that MAF operate here in Chad.  One is a new 4-seat Cessna 182; the other is a much larger Cessna 208 Caravan.

The other expatriate staff here are Kalvin and Albert together with their families.  Kalvin is a pilot and has been here for many years and is acting as programme manager until that post has been filled.  Albert is an engineer and moved here with his family last year from Mongolia.  We have a comfortable flat on the MAF compound two miles to the east of central N'djamena.

At the moment we are finding our bearings and getting used to a lot of things being different.  Zack and Esther are enjoying making new friends and being able to play outside in the warm weather.

One week to go.......

The countdown continues - in a weeks time, almost exactly, we should be on the plane heading to Ethiopia and then Chad! WOW. Still very excited and the nerves haven't set in yet. However, we just need some good weather for Andrew to complete  a flying renewal assessment over the next couple of days....  I, Hannah, feel so peaceful about the move ( except the usual goodbyes) and know that God has, and is, blessing us with His peace as He walks before us.