Chad

Asa is in the office, so it's time to get caught up on my country blogs. I tried not to schedule too many countries this week, because Calib had his braces put on Tuesday morning, so he's got that adjustment period going on for learning how to eat. 

I probably should have picked something a bit better for his last meal before braces than Chad. (Spoiler alert: the meal did not go over well), but I'm trying to up our African country average. 

I try and focus on some positives for countries. Chad does have some great wildlife, including plenty of African elephants and hippos- and there's over 200 ethnic groups all with their own unique cultures and ways of life- but that's about all we had for the positives. 

Chad is a rough country, so we're going to have to file it in the 'studying for perspective' column, rather than the 'I'd like to visit' column. 

First of all, because of terrorist activity sponsored by Boko Haram, there is an official US Travel Warning, warning against pretty much all travel to the country. 

The trademarks in our book for Chad included coups, assassinations, and conflicts with Libya and Sudan. 

Until 1960, Chad was part of France's African holdings. But, with it's obvious lack of resources, it was largely ignored. After their independence,  the country dealt with invasions from Libya, and turmoil within their own country. Eventually, the country stabilized in 1990, with it's first democratic election. But, it was short lived. That same president, President Deby, has since done away with term limits and held several flawed elections. He's still in power today, despite attempted coups including one where there was a plot to take down his plane. (And there's some crazy story about his son being murdered after he was ousted as a presidential adviser- so there's that.) 

Beyond that there's unrest between the north's Muslims and the south's Christians. The only thing that unites them is severe poverty.  If you lived in Chad, you'd make 95% less money. 

You'd also die about 30 years sooner.  The average life span in Chad is 49 and a half. 

And that could get even younger with the water situation. Clean water is scarce outside of the capital N'Djamena (Nuh-Jam-en-ah), and people have to get it from wells and carry it for miles on their heads back home. 

Lake Chad, the country's namesake, was once one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world. But  more and more of it is becoming part of the Sahara every year. Within decades, the lake will have completely dried up- leaving fisherman and farmers in dire situations. 

The Sahara ('The Greatest Desert') was our landmark for Chad. It's the largest hot desert in the world (the third largest desert after the Arctic and Antarctica), and is comparable in size to the United States. 

The boys made their postcards. 

Calib's featured the African Elephants, and the Ennedi rock formations. People come from all over the world to this remote area to climb the rocks that come in all shapes and sizes. 

Peyton took note of the Guelta D'Archei, the most famous oasis in the Saharan desert. It's an ancient pool of water, surrounded by high canyon walls on either side. The water there, however, is black- thanks to hundreds of years of camel poop. 

Hayden, meanwhile, made his postcard in the shape of the country itself. 

For dinner we had  Broiled Fish, Chad Salad, pineapple, mixed veggies, and Hibiscus Tea. 

Most of the time some of us like dinner, some of us don't- but we manage to get through it. Sometimes we all love it. 

And sometimes, it turns into mozzarella sticks and mini tacos from the freezer. Chad night was one of those nights. 

It's not that the fish was bad. But I just can't get over mentally eating fish. It's not even the taste- it's just the idea of fish that is so unappetizing to me, which I think has carried over to all of the kids (since we never ever eat it). But, if I'm trying to force plantains and sweet potatoes on them- I feel like I should try some things that I think I don't like too. 

But, fish is just not happening again. Which will be tough, because there are a lot of island countries. But, we even got this from the nice case at Publix thinking we could do this. But, we couldn't. 

And the Chad salad was just not good. Sometimes you read recipes and you're like 'that's a weird mixture, but ok!' and it turns out to be great. And sometimes it isn't so great. 

The tea lacked flavor, and so pretty much everyone ate their mixed veggies and pineapple and then played with the rest of it. (To be fair we did all try it!) 

So Chad joins Angola and Indonesia for the only country's to earn zero spoons up. 

And in all the grossness I must have missed a table picture. 

69 down, 124 to go! 

Next Up: Mexico!