We landed. They opened the door. We got down the airplane steps to the ground, and started walking to the terminal: "Aéroport International Hassan D'Amour." However, before we reached the terminal, there's a queue forming, and 2 guys with masks and gloves, pointing something at everybody's heads.
They were taking everyone's temperature, screening for Ebola.
No, that is not a joke.
Welcome to Africa.
--//--
After that, immigration, bags, customs, and I go outside, where Abraham (a Tchadian man) and Kristin (a German girl) were waiting for me.
I will be spending the night at Kristin's house, who I found through Couchsurfing. (If you don't know couchsurfing yet, this is the time, look it up!!) Abraham will go to pick me up at her house at 6am and put me in a bus to Moundou, in the south.
Abraham had arranged a sim card for me, so I was able to send a message to my mom saying everything was ok, I had arrived safely and had already met my contacts in country.
We drove to Kristin's house to drop off my bags, and then she took me to the house of an ex-pat, where I met a bunch of ex-pats who live here and work for different NGOs and humanitarian agencies. A Brazilian (!!!) who works in the refugee-camps in the border with Darfour. Another German girl who works with press and information releases. Kristin herself works as a hydrogeologist, figuring out the ground-water and reserves for the country.
So here I am, it's my first time in Africa, and in my very first night, I meet a bunch of wonderful people, all of whom are staying here for years, doing whatever they can to improve the situation of Chad.
I felt humbled, and proud of humanity somehow. There's a lot of bad in this world, but there's also a lot of good. We just have to know where to look... :)
No comments:
Post a Comment