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Even short distances can be a challenge when traveling in eastern Chad, especially during the rainy season. We had to travel from Koukou to Goz Beida to go visit camp Djabal and catch our flight out. We got to witness and experience some excitement along the way. #refugeecamp #iACT24 #rain #easternChad #Travel

First, we have to get there. We’ll be waking up around 4:30am to be ready for the car that will pick us up at 5am. Then it’s a forty-five minute bumpy drive to the Goz Beida airport, before the sun even rises. The GZB airport is a dirt runway. Before the small humanitarian planes land, an SUV will drive up and down the runway on a “goat run,” making sure there are not animals that might make for a tragic landing. In this area, there are many camels, so “camel run” might be mo

We left LAX on Saturday on our 23rd trip to refugee camps along the Chad-Sudan border. After a four hour layover in Paris, we landed in Gabon on Sunday night. Gabon?! It’s the third time I’ve been to Gabon, and none of those times was it part of the plan. Chad never makes it easy for you. I was prepared for the normal logistical obstacles that come along once you land in the capital, but this time we couldn’t even land because of a sand storm. Flying into Goz Beida, eastern C

This is my third time heading to Chad with i-ACT and Gabriel. My fifth time to Chad overall. Getting ready and leaving for Chad doesn’t seem to get any easier, but I’m starting to get used to it. By “it,” I mean leaving family and friends behind, as they continue to live their daily lives without me. It’s still a strange feeling. That I’m about to be somewhere so far and so isolated, living a daily experience so incomparable. But this is what I’ve always wanted. No matter how

In-between. Photo: Gabriel Stauring/i-ACT This is going to be a long trip. Too long. It’s not easy to say goodbye to family, especially my kids. A month is a huge chunk of time in the life of an almost two-year-old. I also don’t like not being around for my big boy, Gabo. I hate missing his soccer games and hearing every day how he did at school. I don’t like not being able to talk with Mimi and catch up about what’s happening in the world. KTJ and I are in contact multiple t

A ten minute flight turns into a one hour drive turns into an all day road trip for the i-ACT team. #GozBeida #iACT17 #KouKou #easternChad #Travel

You can download/subscribe at iTunes, get the RSS feed or watch via the embedded media player. #GozBeida #CampDjabal #darfurunited #refugeerestaurant #refugees #Travel

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]The team says goodbye to Camp Djabal and travels on. [divider_2] Photos: [slider width=”5

An i-ACT expedition is a serious undertaking for certain. There’s the preparation, the travel, the heavy stories, the baggage limits at Chadian airports, the hurry-up-and-wait… Yet to every cloud there is a silver lining, and in the cloud of the heart-wrenching work we’ve done on this trip, there is the silver lining of celebrating the end of the day with our friends in the camps at the local “hotel” – what they call a restaurant. In Goz Amer, the hotel is a lively spot with

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]The team makes it from KouKou to Goz Beida, and finally to Camp Djabal! Photos: [slider w

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]A short video blog from Goz Beida in eastern Chad. [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_r

The Team has made it to Goz Beida, the closest town to refugee camp Djabal and their home for the next few days. Here are the first images from the UNHCR compound and Djabal itself. You may spot some familiar faces. [image title=”” size=”large” align=”center” lightbox=”true” group=”djabal” link=”” width=”524″ height=”0″ autoHeight=”true” quality=”100″ frame=”true” link_class=”” underline=”false”]https://www.iact.ngo/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/IMG_1015.jpg[/image] [image title

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]The drive to the camp is bumpy and slow but not boring.  I see women with long faces and

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]The i-ACT team finally arrives in Kou Kou, the forward operating base for UNHCR in Camp G

My return trip to Chad has been a bit surreal. The last time I was here, I was evacuated from my N’Djamena hotel by French military in an armored HV after two days of rebel attacks on the city – and one very intense moment as the rebels plastered our hotel with their machine guns. My teammates and I eventually made it out of the country via a French military plane to Gabon, a country to the southwest of Chad. Yet despite being in great physical danger, I don’t see this as

[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”3.22″][et_pb_row _builder_version=”3.25″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.25″ custom_padding=”|||” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”3.27.4″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]I like food, and I think about it a lot.  When I think about it back home, though, it’s n

The i-ACT 11 team introduces themselves and talks about their mission. #ACT #iact #team #Travel

Despite their best efforts, the team is still stuck in N’Djamena after some airplane trouble. On top of that, it looks like only some of the luggage will make it to Kou Kou the following day. Traveling through Chad can be unpredictable at best and purgatory-like at worst but it pales in comparison to refugees’ eight years and counting in limbo. Fortunately, the team will likely be in the refugee camp by Saturday to continue their work. #refugeecamp #KouKou #team #Chad #NDjame