A Period of Adjustment

A Period of Adjustment—We have 7 hours time difference here in Chad and in the Philippines (the latter being ahead), so I had to adjust a little bit.  There were days that I would feel weak and sleepy.  And there were nights that I would be awake, sometimes up and doing something.

I also had to adjust with the food and maybe with the water, as well.  Twice I had loose bowel movement.  There was one night (about 3am) that I had to go out to the pit toilet. 

I’m thankful that they have native mangoes at this time of the year.  It’s good that they also have rice here.  Sometimes they serve bread (they call “gateau”—meaning cake) and sweet potato (fried in oil).  I like it when my family serves it with powdered cayenne that has some salt in it. 

Sometimes my family serves noodles or macaroni pasta, adding a different kind of sauce to it that’s orange in color and has ground peanuts and onions.  Usually carbs are served. 

My waistline seems to be getting bigger, so I decided that I have to stick to eating only 2 meals a day—just like when I was in the Philippines. 

GOD is good.  He gave me some supplements which I can take, along with the food I eat here. 

“Bouelle” is cooked ground rice that is usually a part of the Chadian meal.  They serve it (like a big bun) along with a vegetable viand that’s sometimes made of cassava leaves or other local leafy vegetables and come out like “laing” (a Philippine vegetable dish).  Dried fish is sometimes added to it, too.

Another interesting ingredient to the food is grains of sand that makes it gritty to chew sometimes.   Although, I think the cooks really don’t intend for it to be in the food they prepare. J

Flies here are not uncommon.  But I’ve figured out a way to escape a lot of them (especially the big shiny ones) while eating the food served me by my African family.  I simply eat the food inside the hut. J 

However, at night, I get to enjoy eating with my family.  And I don’t have to worry about the mouche (pronounced moosh—this word is French for flies), because they’re sleeping already! J

Sometimes, in the morning, along with bread and sweet potato they serve rice coffee or red herbal tea—it’s a little bit sour and sweet in taste and I like it! 

I’m thankful that the LORD has given me some nuts, too.  So with the meals I eat some each day and get to have some protein.  But there are also times when my family serves me boiled eggs or scrambled egg with onions.  So this is another source of protein for me.  And, not to forget, the boiled black eyed peas that’s a little bit sweetened.

GOD is good! I’m glad that there are cell phone sites here.  And so I’m able to communicate with loved ones somehow thru text messaging.  Internet access is quite hard and expensive.  Only few are capable of availing it.  I can only send and receive e-mails thru the kindness of friends who are able to avail internet services.

Oh, another thing!  I also had to adjust to the climate.  It can be much hotter here in temperature compared to that in the Philippines.  There are times that I would sweat profusely.  When I get back to the hut during the day or during evenings, I’d feel it hot inside like in an oven.  Temperature reached 39 degrees centigrade once.

John (a fellow volunteer who is a nurse and in his mid 60’s) jokingly calls my hut a “sweat box”.  Sometimes I would fan myself to sleep as I lay in bed at night.  I’m so thankful that there’s such a thing as hand fans! J