Chad is wetter than Britain! (at least some of the time)

Having spent a very enjoyable time on UK assignment with its unpredictable weather, we returned to Chad last Thursday and guess what- it's raining So I thought I would stick to our national stereotype and send you a  quick email  postcard.

 

Everywhere is green and the any slight dip in the  usual baked mud of the roads has turned into  pools of  deep slurry. That is not  what you would probably  expect  me to say about this place just south of the Sahara that is so hot and dry for most of the year.  But a look at the table below will show you that this  is normal; N'djamena gets an astonishing  76% of the annual rainfall of our home town, Wakefield UK.  Nearly all this water  is crammed into 3 very wet months with up to  7 completely dry months each year.

average rainfall mm / month

 

This annual deluge makes   travelling to and around the  city difficult,  for example  a couple of our vehicles have been dug out in the past week, but  all this rain  not a bad thing: it brings life. Last year the rains were light but thankfully  this year has been the wettest since we have been in Chad, and as a consequence there should be l be a much better crop of millet and other essential foodstuffs.

In a normal year  the WHO estimates that 40% of Chadian children are stunted due to poor diet and it doesn't take much to make them fall into frank malnutrition The  consequences of  last year's  failed crops are still being felt  with  famine declared from west to east right  across the Sahel including Chad.  This has  resulted in increasing numbers of severely  malnourished children attending our hospital. BMS is committed to seeking funds to enable us to carry on with our refeeding program so that we can continue to give the needed high energy/protein (milk, sugar and oil) feeds to the hospitalised children for up to 3 weeks of intensive treatment. The diet of those less severely affected can be supplemented as outpatients  with a flour made of  dried beans, carrot, sweet potato , millet, and peanuts..  Let us hope that this year's harvest will be better and that the children won't go hungry next year. Meanwhile we will continue splashing through the puddles.