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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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"It's $6,000," another said.
"No, it's $3,000," a third said, adding a thumbs-up gesture: "There is no problem in China."
Would-be businesspeople are now counting down the days until the new Chinese Embassy opens in N'Djamena and, presumably with it, the chance to get a coveted visa.
"It will be in seven months," said Ismail Ibrahim Adam, 39, who works as a food supplier for the Chadian army.
He was sitting in his walled compound, behind a Chinese-made faux mahogany desk, a Chinese-made fan whirling overhead and Chinese-made sconces on the wall.
His desk was scattered with several glossy brochures from a Chinese furniture company.
"If you have successful work, surpassing ability and noble dignity," one read in English, "you should have a corresponding office furniture to add much flavor to style yourself."
"I will show this to people," Adam said confidently. "And if I can get a contract, I will bring the furniture to Chad."
His first and only trip to China was two years ago, after friends told him of the possibilities there.
In N'Djamena, Adam boarded a plane for Hong Kong, where he got a visa at the airport. "When I said I was from Africa, they gave it to me easily," he said.
From the Hong Kong airport, he took a train to Guangzhou, China, a sprawling high-rise city of more than 8 million people that Adam described as "so big and fine."
"It had big buildings and good roads," he said, adding that what struck him most, coming from a place where collisions between donkey carts and trucks are common, was the orderly traffic flow.
