Blog

Chad’s President Killed

News came April 20 of the death of Chad’s president, Idris Deby. He came to power in 1990 and was one of Africa’s longest serving presidents, with more than 30 years in power. This past weekend, several victories were claimed by rebels crossing over from Lybia who were trying to oust Deby for many years. …

Population Boom

Our first couple of years of traveling to our village in Chad were difficult. In 2004, it took up to 9 hours to drive to Mongo, and there was a long distance in the middle of our drive where the road was reduced to tire tracks in the dirt or sand. During a couple of …

The Other Dadjo People?

You hear about us talking about the Dadjo people of Chad, but did you know there is another group of Dadjo in Chad? They are separated by a distance of around 350 miles and are related to the Dadjo people group with which we work. In fact, the other Dadjo people group are larger in …

The Country Without Internet

Chad makes news by being without internet. The CNN story is a year-old, but it has become a reality again. CNN ran a story last year titled, “The Country Where the Internet has been Shut Down for a Year.” That headline only told part of the story. Social media had been shut down for a …

Toyota Wars

No, this has nothing to do with a sales war between Toyota and other car manufacturers. The Toyota War is the name of a decisive battle that happened in Chad, Africa 3 years before the end of former president Hissène Habré’s rule. Civil war began in Chad in 1978. It was a war that was …

A Bit of Chad in America

With all the worldwide restrictions because of the pandemic, we are unable to plan for another trip to Chad, Africa just yet. So, it’s kind of nice to hear that when we can’t go over there, a part of Chad has come over here. Maybe some of you have read about the giant Saharan dust …

Monjino, A Taste of Heaven

When we first arrived in the town of Mongo in Chad, we had a short-term living situation and it was suggested that we hire a guard. The person we hired was Mahamat, from the Bidiyo people group. Mahamat became a good friend of our family over our many years in Chad. Early on in our …

Covid-19, the New Unclean

As of the writing of this blog, there are officially 836 confirmed cases of Covid 19 in Chad with 68 deaths. Small quantities of masks have been made available by the government, with 600 being distributed on June 1st in the town of Mongo where our family once lived. The government imposed a curfew, closed …

An Oasis in the Desert

The Sahara Desert is the largest in the world. Interestingly, Chad is 3/5’s desert. When we lived there, we lived just below the desert, in what is referred to as the Sahel. The temperatures where we lived would commonly reach 110 F (43 C), and we recorded temperatures as high as 119 F (48 C). …

Malaria, Africa’s Deadly Enemy

It was 2003, we decided to take a short getaway from Chad to Northern Cameroon. Our two children at the time had a great time in the Baptist guest house where we were staying. The getaway was enjoyable overall, but as we hopped into our truck for the return trip to Chad, Art started to …