One year of adventure; one country of contrast; one gospel of hope for the hurting.
When you first breathe in the sultry African air that swells with the omnipresent 'poussiere', many say you are embarking on a journey of a lifetime. The enchanting eyes of ragged children tugging at your clothese, the vibrant soul-filled adoration resounding through the church, the kaleidoscope of colours in fabrics, sunsets, spices...all this begins to flow through your veins until your heart forever pulsates with 'Africa, Africa'.
A GAP experience in Chad promises challenges; being an 18-year old white girl teaching English to middle aged Muslim men. it promises excitement; being chased by desert boys with catapults with 500 camels darting towards you, then shouting 'in the name of Jesus be still' and seeing each one come to a halt! It promises unexpected situations: witnessing the tragedy of civil war and being evacuated to Cameroon. It promises sorrow; seeing a sick child's burns resulting from a 'healer' scolding with hot iron to cure chronic diarrhoea. But above all, I believe that through Chad, God promises to reveal hidden beauty...
One of the highlights of my time in Chad was through sharing the gospel with abused women: an opportunity that I had not anticipated before arriving. Mariah like many of the girls at risk in Chad, is a refugee from Central African Republic, who came to Chad to escape from her opporessive and abusive Muslim husband. Her hopes were broken when she realized Cha was not the prosperous asylum she had heard of, and with nothing to live on she was thrust into a life of prostition. Flooded with pain and regret, she became addicted to alcohol. 
When Angie, who works with AIM in Chad, and I first met Mariah, a drunken outburst of violence with another girl had resulted in multiple injuries and eviction from the brothel where she had lived. Our friend the Chadian pastor offered shelter in her home, and day by day we prayed together, sharing testimonies and reading the Bible. One Sunday, she heard the voice of God whom she thought had abandoned her all those years. In tears, Mariah asked Jesus into her life that day, and emerged from the church emerged from the church shouting 'Jesus m'a sauve!' Jesus has saved me! One night, however, an old client found Mariah and brutally raped her in the street. She nearly died, and yet continued to trust in God, knowing he had delivered her from that world. Now she has returned to her home in CAR where she works with computers and recently told Angie 'I cannot stop reading my Bible'. Amazing!
Although at first sight, Chad may be seen as a broken, barren ahd hopeless land, it swells like a treasure chest with untouched beauty in the faces of thsoe that Jesus cam eto save : the children, the sick, the prostitutes. Eveny minutes of my time in Chad waas wroth it to see the eleation int heeyes of Mariah and others, as they saw the truth that there was hope for the hopeless, joy for the joyless and for the despised, rejected and hurting hearts there was everlasting love in Christ.
Written by Emma Jones, about her GAP year in Chad with Mission Africa. This story first appeared in full in 'Dispatch' - Autumn 2006.
