Moundou - 20 January, 2013. - The Eco-Charcoal Project, well on its way, has taken our staff to Nya and to new areas outside Moundou. We could not have reached them without local insight and connections that our staff has. The local leadership taking place is a demonstration of one of ENVODEV's core values: That local managers feel ownership of the projects. 

After a preliminary demonstration in Tilo, the ENVODEV team went back to impart a full training session. Dadje Aquilas and Ghislain were helped by two members of APRO-ECO, Ramadji Zizel and Chrisine Dadje.

On January 14, a total of 17 people, all members of KOSGUELBE, learned how to transform biomass (sesame chaff and rice-straw) into char. Well organized, KOSGUELBE is now producing bags of carbonized biomass. On the 6th of February, ENVODEV will return to Tilo to evaluate how well the team is carbonizing the biomass and will pick up the first batch of char bags for briquette production back in Moundou.

Tilo is an exciting addition to the charcoal project. The villagers are motivated and grateful to be part of a project that will provide a new and much needed source of income. The district chief was present at the training, marking the importance of what this charcoal project represents to the local population. 

All photos have been sent directly from ENVODEV's office in Moundou. We know how important pictures are for everyone who is involved in this project. We keep the pictures at a relatively low resolution quality so they can be sent back to our main office in France. 

What does a photo represent?

For supporters and donors, photos are proof of progress. Pictures are some of the most powerful tools to convey a message. We hope you appreciate the ones we send you from Chad. 

For Chadians, to be in a picture is a rare and exciting opportunity. For many, being in a photo is only something they have heard of, and when the act of taking a picture is about to take place, some are afraid; fearing that perhaps the camera will cause pain in order to take the image. Once the picture is taken, and they have the opportunity to see themselves, it is a great excitement to them. They do not take a picture for granted.

On a technical level, a picture is also significant. In a city that only receives arbitrary electrical energy, it is not easy to charge the batteries of a camera. Solar energy is hardly exploited due to lack of infrastructure, and city power can only provide a total of three to four months of sporadic energy a year. Apart from the energy issue, sending a picture from Moundou to France is a technical challenge because internet access is scarce, expensive and weak. A 15-30 kbps connection is the typical speed. This means sending one picture can take several minutes, and cost modem connection several dollars. From 6 am to 8 pm, internet connection is often non-existent, meaning sending a picture has to be done at night. 

Therefore, we are thankful to share any picture that comes from Chad with you. We are also grateful to our Chadian team for the efforts they put into sending these photos and for the work they are doing.

(NEWS) LYON – September 27, 2012 (ENVODEV) – The escalation of crises in Chad will inevitably mark the precarious lives of Chadians in the months to come. Last year’s drought, that resulted in a famine in Sahelian Chad, has given way to just the reverse phenomenon this year, hitting much closer to Chad’s population and agricultural centers. Unprecedented rains have ravaged central and southern Chad, not only compromising crop yields, but displacing populations across the nation. According to a report released by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, close to half-a-million people have been affected, and hundreds of thousands of hectares of cropland compromised (IRIN, 2012). Just last week, as stated in a press release by Djamil Ahmat on September 21, 2012, the First Lady of Chad, Hinda Deby, launched a vast campaign to help those who have suffered total loss in N’Djamena. Several hundred humanitarian tents have been given to the families whose homes were destroyed by the floods (Alwihda, 2012). (See map below to view affected regions and statistics).

Yesterday, in a discussion with an emissary of the Ministry of the Environment in Moundou, ENVODEV National Coordinator Loubaramadji Dadje Aquilas was informed that rice crops in the central region of Bongor have been devastated. The Logone River, which flows south to north, rose and swelled so much that the flat plains have been completely submerged. The Chari River, of which the Logone is a tributary, consequently swelled as well. The Logone water level is so high that the vast rice plantations are in some areas completely submerged, and rice grains have rotted. Dozens of villages have been abandoned, and the only road from N’Djamena to Moundou has become the place to relocate due to its elevated surface. Families are living on the paved road in makeshift shelters while violent rains, though progressively diminishing in frequency this week, still sweep across the plain.

The charcoal project to be launched and expanded this fall will not suffer since ENVODEV is working in southern Chad, where the rice crops have been affected to a lesser degree. The yields are expected to be mediocre, exposing Chad to a much more severe food crisis at the beginning of next year compared to the food crisis this year due to the drought in 2011. ENVODEV Administrator Rodoumbaye Ghislain announced that ENVODEV’s charcoal project has received unprecedented support from Laokein Kourayo Medare, the Mayor of Moundou. More meetings with the Mayor are to be held in view of establishing a project in an effort to mitigate the environmental stress due to deforestation, a result of wood-charcoal consumption.

Deforestation is the leading cause of desertification in Chad. Because of the lack of protection from trees, the topsoil is exposed to the elements. The soil is baked in 45°+C weather for several months, then blown away by winds; this makes the ground incapable of absorbing the torrential rains during the wet season, particularly when the rains last five months instead of three as they did this year. This phenomenon has affected countries well beyond Chad.

The other result of excessive water is the increase in disease epidemics. Water is synonymous with typhoid fever and malaria and many other crippling diseases that chronically affect the country. Only time will show the extent to which these diseases will affect the Chadian population this year. Outbreaks of cholera are yet to be reported.