Chad — a country of intrigue, open doors and opportunity!
By Agustina Fasano, Sydney
All I knew about Chad was that it was a French and Arabic speaking country in Africa, that there had been a coup in 2008 along with bombs and evacuations, and what I learnt from reading an article from the AIM magazine (Africa News- February 2011), about the existence of a Christian school called College Evangelique which represented all the people groups (including unreached) of Chad. The article said they needed teachers who preferably already spoke French. So after many emails and lots of prayer, there I went for 9 weeks, to get my eyes opened and to serve wherever I could in this very short time frame.
The first thing I discovered on my flight to N’djamena is that people are incredibly open to the Gospel. I had the opportunity to talk to a Muslim man returning from Mecca about Jesus.
Secondly, that it is unbearably hot! You can shower (if the water happens to be running) but once you close the tap then you are immediately hot again. I have never felt anything like it. Upon arrival, the AIM missionaries gave me the kindest of welcomes by having organised a little roster to have me over for meals. So much for going there to serve! They were so hospitable!
As was my Chadian host family who hosted me for two weeks. I had heard a few horror stories about an all-fish-diet and diarrhoea so I wasn’t looking forward to it so much. But in actual fact I really enjoyed it. Covered in prayer, I never got sick once. My time with this family was a highlight.
We had so much fun together and learnt a lot from each other. I learnt to understand African culture better, and to cook their traditional meal “la boule”.
One of the main activities I did was teaching English. When school started, I struggled to adjust to teaching the 55 to 65 kids per class, i.e. around 300 students a week, but I learnt to embrace the challenge. Added to that, the only resources were chalk and a blackboard. I learnt to love the simplicity. I later found out that it is one of the best schools in N’djamena, that 1 in 4 students are Muslim and that along with their parents they agree upon enrolment to the two hours weekly of Bible teaching and other Jesus-centred activities. Even the Sultan’s children attend this school! An amazing mission field!
Throughout the 9 weeks I also had the privilege of visiting other ministries. I was so impressed by learning about some of the activities taking place in Chad, like the group from SIL (Wycliffe) finishing the translation of the New Testament into Tchadian Arabic; or the amazingly-run orphanage, called Bethanie, which is run by a group of young French people. The person in charge is under 25 years of age. Then there were the teachers who have moved heaven and earth to come and teach the missionary kids and in turn open up Chad for so many more families to come. There were those faithfully remaining in their ministry after years of trials, little fruit and of crying out for a help that never seems to come. There were people in the medical field who deal daily with the frustrations of an uneducated or ill-informed people, who fall sick and demand much more than what one or two doctors can give. I was blown away by meeting and spending time with these missionaries and people working together for the sake of His kingdom, sacrificing the comfort of home, family, friends, access to the variety of fruit and vegetables that we have back home, bearable weather, internet, electricity and reliable water. Yet they still choose Jesus and His kingdom. Their reward is to come. And hopefully more workers too.
I experienced firsthand moments of absolute joy, embracing a simple life in Jesus.
I am so blessed to have been exactly where God wanted me to be for this season of my life, that I was obedient in going to Chad. The fact is, you can only learn so much (or so little) by reading on the internet. I pray that if He calls you, that you too leap out in faith and go. Just go.
January 2012
