From August, 2013 until July 2014 I am working as a Peace and Justice Assistant for Mennonite Central Committee, in N'Djamena Chad. During the application process, many people asked me "Why Chad?" and the best way I could find to answer them was by telling this story:
In 2009 I found myself in South Africa, staying in the home of a Coloured family near Cape Town. Every night we would sit at their kitchen table before bed, drinking Rooibos tea and talking about Apartheid, peace, development, and life in Africa. They shared from a lifetime of experience. I shared my modest reflections from a 3 month journey. One night my host said to me: "Michelle, it's great that you came to South Africa to learn about life here; but this is the Europe of Africa. Until you travel further north, you still do not understand Africa." Those were sharp words for a curious soul, and they stayed with me.
In many ways, my privilege prevents me from truly understanding the Africa of my host family, but my hope was that in signing up for a year of peace and development work in another African country, I would get a little closer. I knew almost nothing about Chad when the placement came up, and perhaps that was my first clue that N'Djamena was the perfect choice. My hope is that through sharing stories and reflections from my time in Chad, we may come one step closer to understanding the vision of Africa held by my friend from the Cape.
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