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Chad,
Africa
Encyclopedic Information
Government
- Embassy of Chad
in the U.S. French and English. "There are two
seasons in Chad: rainy season and dry season, the names
being obvious as to what the seasons mean. Summer in the
northern hemisphere is the big rainy season in Chad;
winter is the small rainy season. Spring is the very hot
season, autumn the short one. Lots of rain means cool
weather; no rain makes it up to 104 degrees Farenheit even
in the shade.
The beauty of this part of Chad (from Lake Chad northward)
is the desert landscape. As you head further north into
the Sahara, trees become more and more rare. I find it
beautiful to see a tree growing in the middle of nowhere,
because it has a taproot to some small amount of moisture
underground. Trees are very important here, for their
shade helps people escape the hot sun. The mountains are
another beauty of Chad, some rising up very suddenly in
the midst of a flat landscape, sometimes at nearly 45
degree angles-like a rocky skyscraper in the Sahara.
Chadians are very friendly people, known for their bravery
and courage. Many Chadians are Animist, but some are
Muslim and others are Christian. Animists worship the gods
of the river, sky, moon, sun, mountains, and offer animal
sacrifices when one of the spirits gets angry and causes
disease or calamity to appease them.
I will try to describe a typical day in the life of a
Chadian child. As the sun comes up, around 6 AM, mama gets
up to sweep the concession and start the fire to cook
breakfast. She takes millet paste from last night’s meal,
and mixes it with milk to make a breakfast cereal.
Everyone starts to stir from their huts at the smell of
the smoke from the fire.
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The children eat hurriedly to get to school on time.
They will walk to the school and back; no buses or
transportation here. The school is a one or two-room
rectangular building made of clay walls and a tin roof.
Children of all ages are grouped together; the one teacher
uses the schoolhouse method to teach the kids: as he
teaches one group, the other group is working on an
assignment. During recess, the kids play together and
socialize.
When the kids get home from school, they help their
parents with the younger children, the cooking and the
housework. They rarely have any school homework, they are
so busy helping maman (Arabic=ammi) and papa (Arabic=abbi).
When the sun sets around 6 PM, they are eating millet
paste and sauce, usually “in the dark” although their eyes
are adjusted to the light of the moon and stars. One or
two hours after the sun has set, they have probably gone
to bed.
In describing a typical day in the life of a child in
Chad, of course I am leaving out the things that make life
exciting and pleasant. During the rainy season there are
no classes during times when the children are helping
their parents sow the millet seed and reap the harvest.
Once in a while there are village dances, celebrations,
hunts. Women in the neighborhood sometimes argue out loud
right in the street, with everyone else listening in.
Young people fall in love, children are born, older people
die. I will leave it up to you to decide whether or not
life here is the same or different from life where you
live..."
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