Monday 23 August 2021

The Past 12 Months in Chad - Eric Carle Style
(Part 1)

I opened our blog a couple of weeks ago and was ashamed to realise that although we have been keeping our Facebook feed up to date and have published quarterly prayer letters, we have not posted a blog post since last summer! The past year has been unpredictable, and unprecedented for the whole world. In the last few months things in Chad became even more unprecedented with the death of President Deby who had been in power for 30 years. Despite the travel bans and lockdowns we have done a lot in the last 12 months so here is part one of what we’ve been up to since returning to Chad in July 2020.

In August 2020, rainy season was in full swing and the flooding around N'Djamena was the worst we had seen since since living in Chad. Hansjoerg Schlatter, a training captain from MAF Uganda joined us in Chad to complete my postponed Caravan training and I had a busy month flying people and supplies to places isolated by the rain while also learning how to operate the C208.

Large areas of N'Djamena were swamped with water.

Finishing off the C208 conversion training with HJ Schlatter.

In September we celebrated Luke and Matt's birthdays. Luke had a party with his friends while Matt enjoyed solo parenting as I had a flight which involved staying overnight on his birthday!

I finished off my official training on the C208. It is MAF's policy that once you’re qualified you must then fly a certain number of hours with a supervisory pilot while you get proficient with your newly acquired skills. Unfortunately Hansjoerg was not able to stay long enough for me to complete the supervisory flying so we called on the services of Mark Liprini from MAF South Africa, who joined us for 5 weeks. One of the flights was to the Tibesti Mountains in the North, where we stayed overnight and for the first time in 3 years I got to see one of the most impressive tourist sights in Chad, the Painted Rocks.

Bethan's school year in Chad normally starts in August but due to the airport closures that were in place until early August and other restrictions, her teachers were unable to get back and set up in time for the start of term so she had a few extra weeks summer holiday and started back on September 21st.

A space themed 4th birthday party

Painted Rocks in the Tibesti

In October both aircraft were due for their 4 yearly weighing. Over time, sand creeps into gaps and parts get replaced meaning the weight changes over time. In order to weigh the aircraft, all the additional equipment we have on board (first aid kits, headsets, fuel pumps etc) is removed, the aircraft is cleaned, the fuel drained and then the weight and center of gravity arm calculated. Once the engineer has finished, the operations department check the weights of the additional equipment and add it to the weight of the aircraft. The new weights are fed onto our load sheet information to ensure we have accurate data for our preflight calculations. We were very thankful that our temporary visiting engineer was able to return for a month to carry out this and other essential tasks!

On October 28th I flew solo for the first time in the Caravan.

Weighing the Cessna 182

First Solo in C208

In November we celebrated Guy Fawkes night with a (surprisingly) large bonfire and the children built a COVID safe Guy which was added to the fire. A few days later we joined fellow Brits on Remembrance Sunday for an evening rooftop gathering, a moments silence and a shared meal. 

In the office I ran a four-week customer service course where the national staff learnt how to serve our customers well, how to handle difficult customers and how to build houses out of cards!

Bonfire Night in COVID times

Learning how to build card houses and serve customers

Handing out certificates of completion


In December
 I flew a delegation from ‘Mines Advisory Group (MAG)’, the British Government and the ‘Department for Demining in Chad’ up to Fada for a field trip to see the work that MAG are doing to demine the region. Between 1978-1987 the Ennedi area was part of the battlefield of the Libyan conflict. Now, 30 years later, mines and other unexploded devices are still in the ground, many displaced by the annual rains that carry them to areas away from where they were originally positioned. MAG are working with a team of 50 de-miners and specialist equipment to make the area safe again for people and livestock. 

Due to low Covid cases and easing of restrictions in Chad, we were able to hold our annual Christmas party with the national staff and their families. It was a great time to be able to share a meal together and recognise our colleagues’ achievements throughout the year. There were also plenty of games and gifts for the children. 

For our wedding anniversary we were able to get away to the AIM retreat center about 25 minutes away from our house. It is situated on the river and is a very relaxing place to spend a few days. The river was still high and fast from the rains earlier in the year so we were not able to kayak but we spotted plenty of wildlife including a hippo and some chameleons.

We had a quiet Christmas on the compound, with only 2 families in program at the time. We had a friend over on Christmas day who was on a short term trip in Chad, away from his family. On Boxing day, Bethan's teachers and a few other friends joined us for nibbles at our house

Demining in Fada

Ennedi Region where many mines are located

Camels in Ennedi

Wildlife spotting at the retreat

Sunset over the Chari River at the retreat

In January the country went into lockdown. We were spending New Years Eve with some British friends who work at Guinebor II hospital on the outskirts of the city. At 6pm the government announced that due to rising COVID cases between Christmas and New Year, N’Djamena would be locked down from midnight on Dec 31st. All roads in/out of the city would be closed, and the airport would close on the 4th January. Due to the timing of the announcement, some of our local staff who had been visiting relatives for Christmas/New Year in their home towns were unable to get back to N'Djamena. We got special permission to evacuate some people to the city who were unable to return by road and needed to be in the city for medical care or catch an international flight to return to school in Kenya. 

In the middle of January the airport was reopened but the roads in/out of the city remained closed. At the end of the month our temporary engineer from Madagascar was able to return to Chad, this time bringing his wife along too. We were very happy to have him back in the program in time to carry out some essential routine maintenance and get the aircraft back in the air.

Flying over Northern Chad while the roads were closed

Michel came back in January