Chad
- Karen Darnell
- Jul 21, 2020
- 2 min read
My favorite countries are those where I can find a voice, not of an outside observer, but of a native participant in the culture. It’s easy enough in English speaking countries, but in francophone Africa my two years of college French aren't enough. I have to wait for a translator. Fortunately, several voices from Chad have been translated.
To get fresh translations, not only from Chad, but from around the world, join Words Without Borders. This is where I found Koulsy Lamko, Chadian poet, playwright, and author. I appreciated this well written short sketch and wish more of his works were translated: https://www.wordswithoutborders.org/article/on-the-fourth-day
The prolific Chadian filmmaker Mahamat Saleh Haroun makes his country even more visible by his award-winning films including:
· Bye Bye Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0cLoQYtUGnU
· Daratt: Available on Kanopy with discussion of the film by Haroun at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLoF2g5TOh0
· A Screaming Man: Available both on Kanopy and at https://tubitv.com/movies/30822/a_screaming_man
· Grigris: Available both on Kanopy and at https://tubitv.com/movies/455416/grigris
My favorite was A Screaming Man due to the beautiful scenery, the religious metaphor (the father’s name is Adam – I found that meaningful within the story), and the mobility of the characters. The swimming champion is from the Central African Republic, the cook is from Congo, the girlfriend is from Mali, and the neighbors are going to Cameroon. These are not people who are unaware of their world.
Another native voice I appreciated was a woman rapper from Chad, Crazy Missy. This link is to an article about her with several of her music videos available: https://voice4thought.org/tchad-crazy-missy-la-rappeuse/
I’m not sure who put together this wide-ranging webpage on Chad, but I learned a lot by clicking around in it. My favorite parts were the:
· Art: Starting from http://www.tchad.org/artists/tendjibaye/mealtime.html
· Mancala instructions good even if you only have ground and pebbles: http://www.tchad.org/research/culture/games.html
I’m going to pick out one non-native voice for this blog and only because this description of a trip to an extinct volcano in northern Chad is just so well written and fun: https://secretcompass.com/chad-heated-heartland-emi-koussi-tibesti-mountains-sahara-desert-expedition/
After experiencing the voice of Chad, I took a trip through TheCrazyTourist to see the pictures and found, among others, the one attached to this blog https://www.thecrazytourist.com/14-best-places-visit-chad/
I’d rather see the country in person. When this pandemic is over, travel could be planned to Chad using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Chad and throughout the world.
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