Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CHAD
A P E A C E C O R P S P U B L I C AT I O N
FOR N E W V OLU NTE E RS
April 2005
A W E LC O M E LETTE R
Dear Future Volunteer:
Congratulations on your invitation to join the Peace Corps and
for considering an assignment in Chad. My own Peace Corps
service in neighboring Niger was more than 17 years ago, but I
can clearly remember the excitement, anticipation, and
nervousness I felt when it finally dawned on me that I had
made a commitment to head off to Africa for two-plus years.
Serving in the Peace Corps is an experience that is certain to
have a significant impact on your life, so the decision to
accept this invitation should not be taken lightly. I hope that
the materials you have received in your invitation packet will
help you decide whether an assignment in Chad is the right
thing for you at this time.
Living and working in Chad is an experience that will
transform you in more ways than you could possibly imagine
right now. Peace Corps service here will, in all likelihood,
include bouts of frustration, boredom, discomfort, loneliness,
and self-doubt. However, if you are like the vast majority of
Volunteers who have served in Chad, you will have an
overwhelmingly positive experience. You will make a small but
substantive contribution to the socioeconomic development of
your community while becoming adept at working effectively
in a completely new culture. You will learn languages, make
friends, and become a real person, rather than an unknown
foreigner, in the eyes of your community. When you leave at
the end of your service, it will be with a sense of achievement,
a great deal of sorrow, and a much better understanding of
the world.
You are no doubt aware that Chad is a poor, hot, landlocked
country with some of the world’s most dismal socioeconomic
indicators. Colonization by the French and long periods of
internal strife have taken their toll on the people and
development of Chad. Do not be fooled into thinking,
however, that your service here will consist of two (or more)
years of sweaty deprivation among people who have little to
offer the outside world. What you may not know, but will soon
discover, is that despite chronic poverty and difficult living
conditions, Chadians remain proud, dignified, enterprising,
optimistic, tolerant, and hospitable. In addition, the cultural
diversity and richness of Chad are amazing.
Lack of electricity and running water, learning a new language
(or two), and the harsh climate are things that most
Volunteers in Chad adapt to very quickly. The biggest
challenges are related to isolation—from current information,
American colleagues, friends and family, and all that these
entail. We encourage you to think hard about these challenges
as you consider your invitation to Chad.
Prepare yourself, friends, and relatives for a major reduction in
the frequency and reliability of communications. Internet access
is limited to the capital, and in addition to being extremely slow
by U.S. standards, it is subject to frequent outages. E-mail and
phones are not readily accessible to most Volunteers, and mail
service is reliable but sporadic, so you must begin envisioning
life without regular access to the Internet, telephones, and
communication with friends and family.
Adjusting to being the only American in a village or town will
be difficult, but one must make such an adjustment to be
effective as a Volunteer. The happiest and most productive
Peace Corps Volunteers worldwide are those who spend the
maximum amount of time in their assigned communities
establishing meaningful relationships with colleagues and
neighbors. Envision yourself getting together with other
Volunteers relatively infrequently (every three to four
months) during your service.
The quality of your Peace Corps experience is largely in your
hands. You should begin to prepare yourself now by learning
more about Chad and its people, reviewing or beginning to
study French, and studying both the Volunteer Handbook
and the material in this welcome book. We look forward to
seeing you in N’Djamena should you decide to accept the
assignment in Chad.
Nelson Cronyn
Country Director
TAB LE O F C O NTE NTS
Map of Chad
A Welcome Letter 1
Packing List 75
Pre-departure Checklist 79
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NOTES
Government
Economy
12 PEACE CORPS
capital for public and private sector investment projects.
Cotton, cattle, and gum arabic provide the bulk of Chad’s
export earnings. Chad ranked 167 of 177 on the United
Nations Human Development Index Report in 2004. The
primarily agricultural economy will be boosted by major oil
field and pipeline projects that started in 2000 and began
production in late 2003. A consortium led by two U.S.
companies is investing $3.7 billion to develop oil reserves in
southern Chad estimated at 1 billion barrels.
With over 100 languages and more than 200 ethnic groups,
three major religions, three climatic zones, and an ancient
history, the culture of Chad is rich, diverse, and complex.
Environment
Chad has four climatic zones. The Saharan zone in the north
averages fewer than eight inches of rainfall annually. The
sparse human population is largely nomadic, with some
livestock, mostly small ruminants and camels. The Sahel zone
in the center receives approximately 24 inches of rainfall and
has vegetation ranging from grass and shrub steppe to thorny
open savanna. The southern zone, often referred to as the
Sudanian zone, receives about 39 inches of rainfall, with
woodland savanna and deciduous forests as vegetation.
Annual rainfall in the Guinea zone, located in Chad’s
southwestern tip, is approximately 47 inches.
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sloping basin that descends toward Lake Chad. There are also
highlands in the central Guera region that rise to 4,900 feet.
www.countrywatch.com
On this site, you can learn anything from what time it is in
N’Djamena to how to convert from the dollar to the CFA
franc. Just click on Chad and go from there.
www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations
Visit this site for general travel advice about almost any
country in the world.
www.psr.keele.ac.uk/official.htm
This site includes links to all the official sites for governments
worldwide.
www.geography.about.com/library/maps/blindex.htm
This online world atlas includes maps and geographical
information, and each country page contains links to other
sites, such as the Library of Congress, that contain
comprehensive historical, social, and political background.
www.cyberschoolbus.un.org/infonation/info.asp
This United Nations site allows you to search for statistical
information for member states of the UN.
www.worldinformation.com
This site provides current and historical information on 228
countries.
www.rpcv.org
This is the site of the National Peace Corps Association, made
up of returned Volunteers. On this site you can find links to all
the Web pages of the “friends of” groups for most countries of
service, made up of former Volunteers who served in those
countries. There are also regional groups who frequently get
together for social events and local volunteer activities.
http://www.rpcvwebring.org/
This site is known as the Returned Peace Corps Volunteer
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Web Ring. Browse the site and learn what former Volunteers
are saying about their service.
www.peacecorpswriters.org
This site is hosted by a group of returned Volunteer writers. It
is a monthly online publication of essays and Volunteer
accounts of their Peace Corps service.
www.allafrica.com/chad/
Brief news stories on Chad
http://hmnet.com/africa/1africa.html
Site of the Africa Information Center
www.afdb.org/african_countries/home_chad.htm
The African Development Bank Group
www.td.undp.org/
United Nations Development Programme in Chad (in French)
Recommended Books
1. Africa South of the Sahara. London: Europa
Publications (annual).
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5. Thomsen, Moritz. Living Poor: A Peace Corps
Chronicle. Seattle: University of Washington Press,
1969, 1997 (paperback).
Telephones
Local telephone service is unreliable and expensive. You can
generally arrange for your family to call you once you learn
where you will be posted, depending on your location in the
country. Chad is six hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time
(five hours ahead of Daylight Savings Time).
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Sites range from large administrative towns to small villages.
Peace Corps/Chad arranges for housing, relying on the
resources available in each community. It tries to ensure that
Volunteers have lodging that allows for independence and
privacy, but you have to be flexible in your housing
expectations. You may be lodged in a small, one-room hut
within a family’s compound. Your house may have walls made
of concrete or mud bricks and a tin or thatched roof. A typical
Volunteer house consists of a sitting room, a bedroom, and a
cooking area. Some houses have inside toilets and shower
areas while others have nearby pit latrines. You probably will
not have running water and electricity, which means that your
water will come from a well or river and that you will spend
your evenings reading by a candle or lantern.
Transportation
26 PEACE CORPS
Because of safety and security concerns, Volunteers are not
allowed to own or drive any type of motorized vehicle
(including motorcycles) in Chad. The only exception to this
rule is in the event of a life-, limb-, or sight-threatening
emergency involving a Volunteer.
Chad has three seasons: rainy, hot, and cool. During the rainy
season from June to October, the temperature ranges between
75 and 105 degrees Fahrenheit with relatively high humidity.
The dry, cool season extends from November to February,
when temperatures range from 60 to 100 degrees. During the
hot season from March to June, daily temperatures exceed
110 and rarely drop lower than 90 degrees, and humidity
gradually rises as the rains approach.
Social Activities
28 PEACE CORPS
appropriate wear for work. Wearing shorts, halter tops, short
skirts, form-fitting or low-cut blouses, military attire, or dirty
or torn clothing in public is not appropriate.
Personal Safety
30 PEACE CORPS
NOTES
Technical Training
Technical training will prepare you to work in Chad by
building on the skills you already have and helping you
develop new skills in a manner appropriate to the needs of the
country. The Peace Corps/Chad staff and local Chadian
experts will conduct the training program. Training places
great emphasis on learning how to transfer the skills you have
to the community in which you will serve as a Volunteer.
Language Training
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, you will find that language skills
are the key to personal and professional satisfaction during
your service. These skills are critical to your job performance,
they help you integrate into your community, and they can
ease your personal adaptation to the new surroundings.
Therefore, language training is the heart of the training
program, and you must successfully meet minimum language
requirements to complete training and become a Volunteer.
Chadian language instructors teach formal language classes
five days a week in small groups of four to five people.
34 PEACE CORPS
Your language training will incorporate a community-based
approach. In addition to classroom time, you will be given
assignments to work on outside of the classroom and with
your host family. The goal is to get you to a point of basic
social communication skills so that you can practice and
develop language skills further on your own. Prior to being
sworn in as a Volunteer, you will work on strategies to
continue language studies during your two years of service.
Cross-Cultural Training
As part of your pre-service training, you will live with a
Chadian host family. This experience is designed to ease your
transition to life at your site. Families have gone through an
orientation conducted by Peace Corps/Chad staff to explain
the purpose of pre-service training and to assist them in
helping you adapt to living in Chad. Many Volunteers form
strong and lasting friendships with their host families.
Health Training
During pre-service training, you will be given basic medical
training and information. You will be expected to practice
preventive health care and to take responsibility for your own
health by adhering to all medical policies. Trainees are
required to attend all medical sessions. The topics include
preventive health measures and minor and major medical
issues that you might encounter while in Chad. Nutrition,
mental health, safety and security, setting up a safe living
Safety Training
During the safety training sessions, you will learn how to
adopt a lifestyle that reduces your risks at home, at work, and
during your travels. You will also learn appropriate, effective
strategies for coping with unwanted attention and about your
individual responsibility for promoting safety throughout your
service.
36 PEACE CORPS
The number, length, and design of these trainings are adapted
to country-specific needs and conditions. The key to the
training system is that training events are integrated and
interrelated, from the pre-departure orientation through the
end of your service, and are planned, implemented, and
evaluated cooperatively by the training staff, Peace
Corps/Chad staff, and Volunteers.
The Peace Corps will provide you with all the necessary
inoculations, medications, and information to stay healthy.
Upon your arrival in Chad, you will receive a medical
handbook and a medical kit with supplies to take care of mild
illnesses and first-aid needs. The contents of the kit are listed
later in this chapter.
40 PEACE CORPS
approved antimalarial drug, usually mefloquine. Mefloquine
comes in 250 mg tablets to be taken on the same day once a
week. The antibiotic doxycycline can also be used for malaria
prophylaxis but is not as effective as mefloquine. You must
begin taking antimalarial medication before you leave the
United States, unless you have contraindications, and
continue taking it throughout your service and for four weeks
after you leave a malarial area. In addition, to eradicate any
remaining malaria parasites you may have acquired, you must
take another antimalarial drug (primaquine), once a day for
14 days, when you leave Peace Corps service.
42 PEACE CORPS
Antibiotic ointment (Bacitracin/Neomycin/Polymycin B)
Antiseptic antimicrobial skin cleaner (Hibiclens)
Band-Aids
Butterfly closures
Calamine lotion
Cepacol lozenges
Condoms
Dental floss
Diphenhydramine HCL 25 mg (Benadryl)
Insect repellent stick (Cutter’s)
Iodine tablets (for water purification)
Lip balm (Chapstick)
Oral rehydration salts
Oral thermometer (Fahrenheit)
Pseudoephedrine HCL 30 mg (Sudafed)
Robitussin-DM lozenges (for cough)
Scissors
Sterile gauze pads
Tetrahydrozaline eyedrops (Visine)
Tinactin (antifungal cream)
Tweezers
If your dental exam was done more than a year ago, or if your
physical exam is more than two years old, contact the Office
of Medical Services to find out whether you need to update
If you wear eyeglasses, bring two pairs with you—a pair and a
spare. If a pair breaks, the Peace Corps will replace it, using
the information your doctor in the United States provided on
44 PEACE CORPS
the eyeglasses form during your examination. We discourage
you from using contact lenses during your service to reduce
your risk of developing a serious infection or other eye
disease. Most Peace Corps countries do not have appropriate
water and sanitation to support eye care with the use of
contact lenses. The Peace Corps will not supply or replace
contact lenses or associated solutions unless an
ophthalmologist has recommended their use for a specific
medical condition and the Peace Corps’ Office of Medical
Services has given approval.
46 PEACE CORPS
• Relationship to assailant: In most assaults, the Volunteer
did not know the assailant.
• Consumption of alcohol: Almost a third of all assaults
involved alcohol consumption by Volunteers and/or
assailants
48 PEACE CORPS
provides support by reassessing the Volunteer’s work site and
housing arrangements and making any adjustments, as
needed. In some cases, the nature of the incident may
necessitate a site or housing transfer. Peace Corps staff will
also assist Volunteers with preserving their rights to pursue
legal sanctions against the perpetrators of the crime. It is very
important that Volunteers report incidents as they occur, not
only to protect their peer Volunteers, but also to preserve the
future right to prosecute. Should Volunteers decide later in
the process that they want to proceed with the prosecution of
their assailant, this option may no longer exist if the evidence
of the event has not been preserved at the time of the
incident.
50 PEACE CORPS
successfully complete all training competencies in a variety of
areas including safety and security. Once in-country, use the
tools and information shared with you to remain as safe and
secure as possible.
52 PEACE CORPS
not like strangers coming up to them and pointing a camera in
their face, especially when the person pointing the camera is a
foreigner. As you get to know people in your community, you
will probably find yourself welcome to take photos. You will
receive additional guidance regarding photography during the
first week of training. Until then, do not use your camera or
other photographic equipment in public in Chad.
54 PEACE CORPS
housing and work sites. Site selection is based in part on any
relevant site history; access to medical, banking, postal, and
other essential services; availability of communications,
transportation, and markets; different housing options and
living arrangements; and other Volunteer support needs.
58 PEACE CORPS
Many men have several wives. In strict Muslim households,
especially in the western part of the country, women are
sometimes cloistered, i.e., required to stay in their homes
unless accompanied by their husband. Certain tasks, including
pounding millet and drawing water, are considered exclusively
women’s work and are not done by men. These cultural
practices can be shocking to Volunteers. However, almost all
find that they can work successfully with both women and
men in Chad.
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within the Volunteer group, but you are unlikely to be able to
be open outside that circle. Visit www.lgbrpcv.org for further
information on serving as a gay, lesbian, or bisexual Volunteer.
62 PEACE CORPS
NOTES
66 PEACE CORPS
What should I bring as gifts for Chadian friends and my host
family?
This is not a requirement. A token of friendship is sufficient.
Some gift suggestions include knickknacks for the house;
pictures, books, or calendars of American scenes; souvenirs
from your area; hard candies that will not melt or spoil; or
photos to give away.
68 PEACE CORPS
NOTES
72 PEACE CORPS
as I take my bucket bath, I’ll be able to see the Milky Way
stretching fantastically across the desert sky.
—Lori Babcock
General Clothing
• Good-quality cotton tops (light colors show dirt
quickly)
• Good-quality underwear, socks, and bras (elastic tends
to wear out, so bring plenty)
• Rain jacket
• For men, sport coat or blazer and tie with slacks for the
rare formal event
• Two to four pairs of comfortable lightweight pants
• Two button-down shirts
• For women, two nice dresses or skirts (below the knee)
• One or two sweaters or sweatshirts (it does get chilly in
Chad)
• Comfortable jeans (without holes or rips!)
• One pair of sweatpants
• Shorts (though not acceptable in public, shorts can be
worn around the house and while on vacation)
• Swimsuit or trunks
• Durable jacket (denim or fleece)
Kitchen
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Plastic storage containers
• Minimalist cookbook (e.g., More-With-Less Cookbook)
• Swiss army knife or Leatherman tool
• Plastic storage bags
• Packaged mixes (sauces, salad dressing, soups, Kool-
Aid, etc.)
• Good can opener
• Favorite spices
• Vegetable peeler
76 PEACE CORPS
• Small kitchen knife
Miscellaneous
• 12 passport-size photos (for visas when traveling on
vacation)
• Sturdy backpacks of varying size (day packs are nice
for work; medium packs are best for short trips)
• Maglite-brand flashlight with replacement bulbs or a
good headlamp
• Travel games, e.g., Yahtzee, Scrabble, Uno, playing
cards
• U.S. stamps for sending mail to home with returning
Volunteers
• Address book with addresses of relatives, friends, and
professional contacts
• Bandannas
• Hidden money pouch or belt
• Nalgene water bottle for traveling
• Travel alarm clock
• Screened tent for sleeping in the hot season (e.g., Long
Road Travel, TropicScreen, MSR Bug Hut 2)
• A Walkman that records with durable headphones
• Duct tape
• Family pictures and other items that will make you feel
at home (e.g., coffee mug, pillow, perfume, inexpensive
jewelry)
• Hobby materials (musical instruments, art or knitting
supplies, etc.)
• Shortwave radio receiver (for listening to BBC and VOA
broadcasts)
• Camera and extra batteries
• French/English dictionary
Family
❒ Notify family that they can call the Peace Corps’ Office
of Special Services at any time if there is a critical
illness or death of a family member (telephone number:
800.424.8580, extension 1470; after-hours duty officer:
202.638.2574).
❒ Give the Peace Corps’ On the Home Front handbook to
family and friends.
Passport/Travel
❒ Forward to the Peace Corps travel office all paperwork
for the Peace Corps passport and visas.
❒ Verify that luggage meets the size and weight limits for
international travel.
❒ Obtain a personal passport if you plan to travel after
your service ends. (Your Peace Corps passport will
expire three months after you finish your service, so if
you plan to travel longer, you will need a regular passport.)
Medical/Health
❒ Complete any needed dental and medical work.
❒ If you wear glasses, bring two pairs.
❒ Arrange to bring a six-month supply of all medications
(including birth control pills) you are currently taking.
Personal Papers
❒ Bring a copy of your certificate of marriage or divorce.
Voting
❒ Register to vote in the state of your home of record.
(Many state universities consider voting and payment
of state taxes as evidence of residence in that state.)
❒ Obtain a voter registration card and take it with you
overseas.
❒ Arrange to have an absentee ballot forwarded to you
overseas.
Personal Effects
❒ Purchase personal property insurance to extend from
the time you leave your home for service overseas until
the time you complete your service and return to the
United States.
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Financial Management
❒ Obtain student loan deferment forms from the lender or
loan service.
❒ Execute a power of attorney for the management of
your property and business.
❒ Arrange for deductions from your readjustment
allowance to pay alimony, child support, and other
debts through the Office of Volunteer Financial
Operations at 800.424.8580, extension 1770.
❒ Place all important papers—mortgages, deeds, stocks,
and bonds—in a safe deposit box or with an attorney or
other caretaker.
For Direct/
Questions Toll-free Local
About: Staff Extension Number
Responding to Office of
an Invitation Placement
Africa Ext. 1850 202.692.1850
Medical Handled by a
Reimbursements Subcontractor 800.818.8772
84 PEACE CORPS
P EAC E C O R P S
Paul D. Coverdell Peace Corps Headquarters
1111 20th Street NW · Washington, DC 20526 · www.peacecorps.gov · 1-800-424-8580