Africa Is Not a Country

I'm walking out of the photo because this post is not about me,
or maybe it's because I'm still working with Nesie on
how to take photos--at least he got the ladies on their donkeys

A friend of mine from the UK tells me his favorite (favourite, actually because he’s British) response to “Oh, you live in Africa? I went on holiday once to Kenya!” is “Oh, you’re from England? I went on holiday once to Greece.” I would have to look up the distance between the UK and Greece and Chad and Kenya to be able to tell you if they are similar distances apart, but a glance at map shows it’s not too different. The point is that one country in Europe (until/unless the UK ever manages to Brexit) is quite different from another country in Europe (language, culture, terrain, etc) and one country in Africa is quite different from another country in Africa (language, culture, terrain, etc). Having been in Kenya a few times (though I’ve never really traveled outside of Nairobi), I can tell you that it is very different from Chad. Recently, though, we’ve had a guy from Kenya here consulting for us on some office stuff, and it has been so fun to hear Jack’s observations on life in Chad. It was his first time out of East Africa, and he’s been great about everything. I have his permission to share a few of his “culture shock moments,” as he calls them. Keep in mind that Jack is a good Nairobi boy, and Kenya, like most places in Africa, is quite diverse tribally, linguistically, culturally—so even Jack’s thoughts are just Jack’s thoughts and are not intended to be representative of Kenya as a whole.

Looks the same to me

Here is Jack, trying to solve all of our problems
(he's not done yet!)

Jack’s first “culture shock moment” was actually something I didn’t expect at all. He and Denis (from Uganda) arrived just before lunch time and so we had food available for everyone that day. We did our usual welcome to Chad meal—roasted meat (camel and beef) with mapa (baguettes). We dump everything on a giant circular metal platter and everyone stands around and digs in. You rip a bite-sized piece off of your bread, use it to grab a piece of meat, a chunk of onion (raw, but we don’t mind), dip it in a mixture of hot pepper and lemon juice, and pop it in your mouth.  Jack said, “Oh, you’re all eating off the same plate? This is different for me. We don’t do this where I’m from.” Of course I offered to get him his own plate and eating utensils because we do have them, but we don’t often use them. Jack declined, saying, “No, this is fine. This is nice. No problem!” Which I thought was quite generous of him on his first day out here.

I don't have a photo of Jack's first communal meal with shared plate,
but here is an old photo of Leif at one such communal meal.

Now, I know that in the US and the UK we don’t often share food off of the same plate, but we did in the Middle East, Sudan, South Sudan, all over Chad, definitely growing up with sisters who like to try each other’s food, and I just assumed that it would be normal for Jack too, but I was wrong (probably for the first time ever in my life, of course).

Another communal meal that Jack was not a part of

Since our conversation about his “culture shock moment,” I’ve been noticing other things that surprise him about life here. Children go to school on Saturdays! People eat so much meat and very few vegetables! Men hang out after work and play games-cards and this French game that involves throwing metal balls down the street. He thinks they’re grown ups and they are not serious. It’s time for them to quit playing games!

I have no photos of the men playing games,
so please enjoy this photo of me, a grown up,
wasting time taking selfies with kids

When Jack first arrived here, I asked him how he felt about dogs, as he has been staying in my compound where Joe is the King of everywhere. Jack said he is not very keen on them, which worried me a bit. I made Denis sit in the back of the car with Joe when I drove them home because I know Denis likes Joe (he’s been here before). But within a day, Jack and Joe became fast friends. Now Jack goes with Joe and me on our after-work walks. We’ve had lots of interesting talks on those walks. That is when he came in contact with the Chadian after-work gaming clubs. He’s also amazed whenever we were driving home one night to see people outside on the streets, doing various things without being bothered by police or criminals. I explained to him that many/most people here do not have electricity. Often students will go to public areas at night that have streetlights to study their lessons. Other people just like to hang out at night now that it’s cooler then. Either way, Nairobi is notorious for crime and police patrol the streets there at night. Any outside loitering is assumed to be dangerous and people can’t just hang out outside wherever they want. Jack is amazed by this, but also slightly concerned for our safety, I think. Fortunately for him, our greatest danger when walking with Joe is that he will chew through his harness and escape to chase down one of those goats that taunts him from the side of the road. If Joe can take down a goat, he will be so pleased with himself, but I 

will have to pay a lot of money for a dead goat carcass.

Jack in the front, protected from Joe

Joe in the back with me when Emelie drove Jack and me home

Joe, looking cute, missing playing with Jack

 

Jack’s favorite places in Chad are Modern Market, our air-conditioned supermarket with aisles (!) and the Hilton, which we have been told is closing soon due to unpaid debts. I told him that probably means that he isn’t really cut out for a long-term life in Chad, but Jack knows what he likes and he comes from a place of cooler weather, multiple supermarkets several times the size of  Modern Market, and many fun places to hang out if you can make it there in the horrible Nairobi traffic.

Sunset over the pool at the Hilton-we are so fancy here in Chad

Hilton peacock sitting on an ambassador's car--
maybe if the Hilton spent less money on peacocks and more
on paying off their debts, they wouldn't be closing...

Modern Market, photo from the internet
Jack said, "I finally feel like home here!"
Even though several Modern Markets would fit in most
Nairobi grocery stores that I've been to.

Speaking of traffic, Jack’s presence with me in the car while driving to work is helping with my road rage. Whenever I get mad at someone cutting me off or refusing to follow basic traffic rules (even the stupid ones that came from the French like having the right of way going into the roundabout and not going out), I remember that it could be worse: I could be driving in Nairobi traffic. And it calms me greatly. No, people here do not drive well (if I’m being honest, I don’t always drive well either), but fortunately, there aren’t that many people here who have vehicles and our worst traffic happens whenever the President decides to block all the roads so he can drive somewhere without worrying about being assassinated by his beloved people.

Each colored line represents the path of one of the following:
 a motorcycle, donkey, pedestrian, car or minivan.

So there you have it. Those are a few of Chad’s quirks noticed by our wonderful Kenyan consultant. If you come visit me, you can point out other quirks that you notice because I don’t really notice the weird things we do here anymore.

Two Kenyans, a Ugandan, an American (not pictured) in a Lebanese restaurant
in Chad that said American can never go to with her British friends because they think the food is terrible.
The Kenyans, Swedes, Germans, Swiss and Ugandans all seem to like it fine.

A photo of Joe being carried to the car.
I've been told that he is a bit spoiled but the ground
was too hot for his little paws!

Try to say 'no' to that face. You will fail.
This past week Leif, Urbain, Gero, and Jack have all dropped everything to play with Joe.
And I have been invited to 2 parties with fancy Embassy people because they want Joe to come.

Also even Kadidja loves him

💗💗