A Week in a Tchadian Village
On 13th December Bethan's school gave their Christmas performance based on the Gospel of Luke and the term ended. The next morning we packed up the car and then transferred everything into the aeroplane (Cessna 182) to spend a week in the South of Chad. We were based in a village called Tchaguine, staying in a guest house within the property of a family that I had flown many times. During the week, I flew a team of doctors into various villages in the region, where they spent 1-2 days at each location. The advantage of being based in Tchaguine was that as well as having a fuel stock and good security for the aircraft, Matt and the children could join me for the trip. It was the first time in a MAF aircraft for Bethan and Luke, and their first opportunity to experience village life since we've been in Chad. Here are some of the photos from our visit.
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| You know your not at Heathrow when.. |
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| A sweet old lady sitting out in the shade |
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| Tchaguine |
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| Tchaguine |
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| The movie theatre, it was showing Real Madrid v Barcelona while we were there. 300 CFA a ticket (approx 45p) |
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| Grains waiting to be ground |
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| Village life |
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| The local Church - At the front right there are big pots of produce given as a tithe from the crops. The people sitting on the left are the choir. |
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| The church youth group practising marching and playing games |
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| Enjoying the open space of Tchaguine's runway |
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| Coming to meet me and Phillipe after we had inspected the runway for objects dropped on the ground (Avocado seeds, sticks, rocks etc) |
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| Taking off to move the doctors between villages |
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| The aircraft was parked in a pen at night to discourage curious children from getting too close |
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| Refilling Jerry cans to refuel the plane |
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| Doing laundry |
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| Walking to market |
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| Tuesday's market (The rest of the week this area is empty) |
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| Ordering fried bean doughnuts for lunch |
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| It was cool enough to enjoy a camp fire |
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| Sylvie and Bethan got on like a house on fire |
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| Termite mounds near the runway |
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| Climbing trees |
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| Beautiful butterfly |
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| Chasing the aircraft to it's parking spot |
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| The boy with the long hair perplexed many people |
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| The aircraft always draws a crowd |
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| Bethan loved a week of playing with kittens |
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| Mobile phones, Coca-Cola and football can be found everywhere in the world! |
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| Pounding millet |
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| This little guy was taking a walk right by the aircraft |
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| Pumping water |
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| Desert Rose - for most of the year this plant looks almost dead then once a year it flowers beautifully |
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| Eating a Chadian staple - rice and sauce |
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| Our host family for the week who blessed us in so many ways |
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| Leaving Tcahguine |
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| Tchaguine from the air |
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| Tchaguine runway |
