Abeche Mosques and women on asses.

The view west from our house, across the Sultan's seat of the Chadian Ouaddaï Region and the 4th largest city in Tchad, home to over 55,000 people, Abeche. To the left, though its invisible, is one of Ol' Idris Deby's grand houses. Mr. Deby is the current 'elected' president who continues to change the Chadian constitution to allow himself further terms, a standard in African democracy. I mean what kind of country would a democratic nation be without a dictator, eh?



Abeche has 2 REAL roads. The rest are paths that weave between the mud shacks, markets, children and donkey caravans. Its like one big obstacle/rally course, Nick you'd dig it. And the markets...I still need to find a way to take a picture or two of them...the markets have been obliterated twice in the past week by torrential flooding. Sounds chatostropic huh? Well, would you, as an intelligent business owner, set up shop in a stream bed that violently floods everytime a good rain passes within a 10 mile radius of the city? If you answered yes then the Chadian Better Business Bureau and the Abeche Chamber of Commerce would love to help you set up shop selling piles goat heads or ant infested dates!

And here Necole, is one reason why Jean Pierre would despise Tchad. Jean Pierre would be subject to this, and worse, trust me. Donkeys are used for everything here and are everywhere. Check out the vibrant colors the women are wearing. Its only the women who wear these beautiful colors, the men all wear khaki colored or white robes. Its refreshing to see some of these women on the road sometimes, you forget these colors exist.






Finally, heres a quick picture made from a speeding car (about the only way I feel comfy taking pics now!) of a local village. When we fly in any direction out of Abeche, civilization as Westerners know it, ends. Roads cease to exist. Power? HA! Water? Equally HA! But these villages scatter the desert below, some of them look soooooooo cool too. I wish I could wrap myself in a white robe, paint my face black, put on a pair of shades and leather gloves and head off on my bactrian camel into one of these encampments. I have no idea what I would do once I got there though. I'll try to get some better pictures soon, hopefully this weekend when I may get the chance to spend a the night in one of the Sudanese Refugee camps.