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Struggling Chadians Dream Of a Better Life -- in China
As resource-hungry China cultivates Chad, people there increasingly see the Asian nation as a land of opportunity. Said shopkeeper Abdulkarim Mahamat: "If I can go to China . . . I'll make a lot of money, and life will change.
(By Stephanie Mccrummen -- The Washington Post)
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Since then, huge oil exploration projects have gotten underway, and Chinese money has flowed into government coffers, leaving some Chadians wondering whether they will benefit from the new wealth.
At the same time, a kind of excitement and curiosity about China has trickled down.
In the run-down capital of N'Djamena, where the French colonial past lingers in faded streets signs such as Rue Charles de Gaulle, just about anything new is Chinese. There is a bright red Chinese restaurant that seems discordant amid the crumbling beige buildings, and a Chinese-run hotel.
Here and there, Chadians have been hired by Chinese companies, leading to their first, awkward encounters with a foreign culture.
"They eat dogs and snakes," said Mustafa Mohamed, who worked a two-way radio for a Chinese oil company, taking lunch orders. "They are strange people."
Mohamed eventually met some Chinese businesspeople, though, and is now pinning his hopes on exporting precious stones to China. He walks around with a notebook, the words "Great Stones" underlined on a page with potential prices listed.
Here in Abeche, there are no Chinese companies yet, no Chinese television channels or news broadcasts, as there are in larger African cities from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to Accra, Ghana.
But shops are piled high with Chinese-made artificial flowers, baby clothes, pots and pans and the ubiquitous rubber sandals. And word about China has quickly spread as a few people who have traveled there return with stories like triumphant explorers.
"When you go there, they welcome you and help you with your hotel," said Mahamat, offering one well-honed story floating around the street.
"I hear it's a long journey -- 17 hours and very risky," said his brother, Ali Mohamed Zarouk, who is hoping to go, too. "I've never seen China, but I know about life in China. I have many friends there, and I know that they give an open chance to African people."
The idea of heading off to China has even become something of a fad, according to three young men who were sitting in front of Mahamat's shop, discussing the best routes and airline ticket prices.
"It's $5,000!" one said. "My friend told me."
