July 2, 2008
Today is our first true day in Chad. Other than the time that I visited in 2003 and Rob again in 2007 for a few weeks, we now have moved everything we own (that isn’t still somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean) to this place called Chad. We left the place we had called home, Meskine, Cameroon, for the last two months, piled into a rented van and the McKenzies car, and drove north four hours to the border. A pretty uneventful trip, except for the herd of over 100 elephants that casually walked by on our left at one point – a poignant reminder that we were indeed still in Africa, just after I had been musing that the scenery made me think of the plains in Wyoming.

The stop at the border is the worst part. It took over an hour today, pretty normal. What we actually do there, I’m not sure. But you stop for half the time on one side, sitting in the blazing hot sun, and about half the time on the other side, again, in the now hotter sun. Then today, something was wrong with the driver’s visa, so we had to be pushed aside into the customs area, usually reserved for large trucks carrying goods. At least there, we weren’t suffocated by the continuous black exhaust from the passing vehicles.

After leaving the customs area, we were officially in Chad. The scenery was dustier and the people dressed a little different. The area was a bit slumish, so it wasn’t a great comparison with the nice village that we had just left. But I know all “big” cities have their “underbelly” that isn’t meant to be their best side. We quickly left the paved road and began on a bumpy and puddle-filled dirt road. About ten minutes later we arrived at the Lutheran Guesthouse Compound; basically a 10 foot tall grey wall topped with shards of broken glass (think pretty barbed-wire). The guard opened the large metal gate and we drove in. The first thing that struck me was the lack of vegetation. It has been raining for a month in Meskine, the grass has sprouted, and there are beautiful flowers and trees everywhere. Chad is a bit more barren, and this compound was built in the last year and so doesn’t have any large trees.

Upon arrival and inspection we found that our apartment was actually being inhabited by another person, who will be moving in 2 weeks…hmm. So, Rob and I were sent to the available studio apartment. A far cry from the 4 bedroom house that we just came from, but as they say here, “flexibility is the hallmark of missionary life” (don’t think I’m a saint, I did get angry and then cried quietly in my room before agreeing to actually place my luggage in the studio…). After further reflection and the realization that there was nothing to be done to change this situation, I just decided to better it. We unpacked what would fit in the tiny room. We turned one of our luggage trunks into a small table by throwing a piece of fabric over it and placing some pictures and books on top. We found an unused low wooden table outside, wiped it down and turned it into a coffee table. The two sitting chairs, we placed side by side to act as a couch. I arranged all my spices on the counter to make it look homey, and hung some brightly colored aprons on the side of the cupboards. I also, just yesterday picked up a large tablecloth that I had a seamstress sew for me, and it fit just perfectly on our table! It really brightened up the room! I pulled out our fridge magnets and a few snapshot pictures of me, Rob and my mom at Disneyland from February, and one of McCain, our niece and Rob reading a book together. The fridge comes up to my waist and doesn’t hold much, but having the magnets made it seem bigger somehow.

We finally sat down after about four and a half hours of working (with the iPod blasting tunes in the background, of course) and tried to cool off. We then realized that all of the bugs that had been outside, had somehow found their way in to our house, attracted by the fluorescent lights. So we quickly closed all the windows and swatted down what we could. They were mostly just termites (like flying ants), so harmless, but gross. There were about 1000 in our kitchen sink. Next job…cooking dinner. We decided that despite the grunting and groaning when I was packing the extremely heavy boxes of canned food and other kitchen items yesterday, we were now exceedingly glad for every morsel of food we had with us, since we have no car and no idea where the market or even any small shops are. We opened a can of beef ravioli that I found in Cameroon before we left, sliced some white bread that Madeleine, my house helper had made for our trip, and grabbed a couple of bananas. A very tasty dinner for a first night in a new house in Africa. After dinner we went to the McKenzies house for a rousing game of Carcassonne and we munched on some yummy Lemon Poppy-Seed Tea Cake that I made the night before we left (Everyday Food, May issue). Pretty good end to a rough day. Could have been a LOT worse. Thanks God! In a few minutes, we’ll tuck ourselves in to our new bed: two twins put together to make a king, with a pretty lace mosquito netting all around the bed. And this time, no waterbed and the mattresses are the exact same height! This is good living! Until next time…