Service au Sahel Tchad, working with the Provincial representative of the Ministry of Youth and Sport in the Bahr el Gazel, launched a one-week computer training class for the young people involved in different associations.
The ceremony took place at the House of Culture in Moussoro. This video was taken by the National Office of Audiovisual Media (ONAMA) et published during the evening news on 20 July 2020.
This report summarizes all the work that the association has done in 2019. All the reports are in French.
Table of Contents
Conclusion
2019 was a difficult year for the association. Even with many successes, the general financial climate in Chad slowed down several of our projects. Nonetheless, our work in education and development impacted thousands of people:
| Projet | Bénéficiaires |
| Markas al Nour | 818 |
| Cours décentralisés | 49 |
| Markaz Attafahum | 13 |
| Projets de Développement – Hadjer Hadid | 516 |
| Projets de Développement – Moussoro | 1075 |
| Total | 2471 |
We would like to thank all those who helped us continue advancing our goals.
The Secretary General for Service au Sahel
N’Djamena
11 July, 2020
Categories
Animal Health Videos
In January 2020 the association, in partnership with the regional federation of animal farmers from the Bahr el Gazel, and with the technical support of the Ministry of Animal Husbandry, gave a training on animal health.
The videos are available on the following Youtube playlist:
The videos were done in the local language, Dazaga, also called Goran.
Categories
Tawisa 3 – 3rd Quarter Report
The latest update on the Tawisa 3 project is now available. A summary is that
- Data collection in the Ouadi Hamra region has been finished. A final map has been printed in N’Djamena.
- A total of 27 pumps have been located in the region with 25 of them broken when surveyed. All villages with broken pumps have been invited to participate in the program.
- Villages who received new wells and water committee training in the previous Tawisa project were followed up with again during the 3rd quarter.
- The SAS compound has continued to be maintained and improved.
A new level 1 computer class took place between December 2019 and January 2020, focusing on Microsoft Word. The following video shows what the class was like and the students’ reactions to what they have learned.
A dental health training and clinic was held at the provincial hospital in Moussoro, Bahr el Gazel from November 1 – 8.
The training started with two days of theory: the anatomy of teeth and gums and nerves along with the uses of explorers and forceps and elevators. After learning the theory, seven local men began seeing their first patients.
Their first attempts took a long time: some teeth broke partially as they learned how much force to apply and how best to gain leverage. As the week went on, they increased in skill and confidence. By mid-week, they were needing tools faster than they could be sterilized, and had to slow down. By the end of the week the men had gotten into a rhythm and could skillfully extract even the most stubborn molars.
We were slightly worried about having enough patients during the week because the local radio station wasn’t working and so we didn’t have an easy way to publicize what we were doing. But we needn’t have been worried—good news travels fast and we had more patients by the end of the week than we had time to treat.
At the end of the week we held a ceremony to give out certificates to the seven men who had completed the training. Dental instruments were given either to one man or to pairs of men who were working in the same place. During that ceremony, the representative of the Health Minister said the following:
“Having trained dental personnel in Moussoro is like ‘taking a big thorn’ out of the flesh of the people of Moussoro.”
Representative of the Health Minister
And the initial feedback we’ve gotten has confirmed this. One doctor who was trained called to say “thank you thank you thank you”. “I’ve just arrived and the people of Michemire [105km west of Moussoro] are so thankful that I can pull teeth. Before they used to have to travel for help.” Finally, a friend of mine overheard someone saying “the international NGOs who are here are very busy but we don’t know what they’re doing all the time. You guys have done something concrete by helping pull our rotten teeth.”
Categories
Tawisa 3 1st Quarter Report
The latest news from the Tawisa 3 project being run in Hadjer Hadid are in the below report.
- Data collection has started slowly in Ouadi Hamra
- Pump repair has been delayed until late October / early November
- Follow-up with Tawisa 2 water committees has shown some successes but also some challenges
- The SAS compound in HH has been reorganized for more clarity
Service au Sahel is working hard in the Bahr el Gazel. Here is the latest news:
Classes
During summer vacation, we are pleased to offer several classes to local students. We finished one English class and have a new one started. A computer class has also started.
Development
In addition, Service au Sahel was able to offer a well to a village 20km away from Moussoro.
Chad is located in Central Africa. The country is one of the poorest and most underprivileged in the world, ranking 184 out of 188 on the 2015 Human Development Index. The population of 11.5 million is rapidly growing and is very young (45% of people are under 15 years).
SAS’s project is in the Hadjer Hadid region. These communities have multiple needs. There is high infant mortality (124 per 1,000 births) and low life expectancy 51.6 female/48.6 male. Over 30% of children suffer from chronic malnutrition. Around half of girls receive no primary school education. Factors contributing to these problems include:
- Low rainfall which limits the availability of easily accessible groundwater. People are therefore forced to use unclean water sources. Less than 20% of the region has access to safe drinking water.
- A prevalence of waterborne diseases, diarrhoea, cholera, hepatitis and typhoid associated with drinking unclean water
- A lack of basic hygiene and sanitation practices (over 75% of people defecate in the open). This results in widespread disease transmission and high infant mortality rates.
- Girls do most water fetching. This often takes several hours’ daily, making school attendance impossible.
