Refuse: (verb) i. to be unwilling to do something ii. to be unwilling to give a requested item iii. to be unwilling to accept an offered item

Meanwhile we will continue working on the Teda language and helping out administratively at the TEAM guesthouse and at La Palmaraie language and cultural centre. For the past six weeks there has been an annual Teda/Daza/Kanembu festival for the three related languages. There are classes for children to learn to read and write in their native tongue and for adults to participate in a writing competition. The final prize giving ceremony was very well attended and featured on Chadian TV and radio news. Alongside our regular lesson with our tutor Abdel Salaam, we helped with computer skills in a translation class, as a result Abdel Salaam was able to translate a suitable booklet entitled 'Let's use vaccination to protect your child against disease'. We hope it will be useful as we try and increase vaccination rates amongst the local children.

The Teda language is very rich both in the complexity of its verb forms and in having specific verbs for each nuance of meaning, which isn't easy compared to some verbs in English. For example, last Friday we came across a couple of verbs which mean to refuse;

Wadi: to refuse something offered,

Nduadi: to refuse to give something,

And then checked in the dictionary and found two more

Ndedi: to refuse to do something

Aridi: to refuse the little that is offered.

There are probably others that are yet to be written down, the current dictionary only has 2,900 words, the average middle aged English person has a vocabulary of 25,000 words, which explains why our teacher keeps giving us words that frustratingly are not in the dictionary.

Perhaps we can unpack some of these meanings for 'to refuse' as we look at our work in Chad.

Firstly, lets continue to look at vaccinations. Shortly after we opened Guinebor hospital fourteen years ago, we started seeing cases of neonatal tetanus from births in the community. I went to the national vaccine storage facility in N'Djamena to get some anti tetanus vaccines for pregnant women so that their babies would be protected but found that there were no routine vaccines for any diseases in the country! The same day there was a meeting taking place between WHO and the Ministry of Health, and it bore fruit. Shortly after the UK along with the USA and the Gates Foundation were amongst the founding members of the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisations which joined with the MOH and the WHO in Chad and there is now a highly efficient cold chain and storage system throughout the country with large solar powered fridges in hospitals and clinics. The UK led the way from 2016-20 as the major donor. Now vaccinations through the first 15 months of life are supplied throughout Chad against TB, polio, tetanus, diphtheria, whooping cough, hepatitis B, haemophilus, yellow fever, measles, and meningitis and recently added rotavirus and malaria. These are not theoretical risks; We have seen confirmed cases of all those in italics.

Wadi: to refuse something offered

Unfortunately, despite free vaccinations, many children remain unvaccinated, but slowly rates are improving and we hope that the production of a book in Teda with the accompanying video narrated version of the book will help increase the uptake.

Nduadi: to refuse to give something

The UK had been requested to increase its support for vaccinations by 10% in the coming year so that 8 million more children could be vaccinated, saving about 200,000 lives. Clearly with the UK Aid cuts of 40% announced this week this will not happen. Hopefully the general cuts will not mean that the previous vaccination budget is reduced. An across the board cut of 40% by extrapolation could mean that another 32 million children would not be vaccinated with a further 800,000 deaths. The USA is the third largest donor behind the Gates foundation and the UK, the situation will be even worse if the work of US Aid is permanently stopped. Nduadi has consequences that may well be felt in Chad, and if it not in vaccination perhaps the cuts will fall in the TB, HIV, Leishmaniasis or family planning services that we are able to supply free of charge for our patients in Bardai.

Ndedú: to not refuse to do something

(note the U with a tone marking that makes the verb negative)

In the UK the percentage of the population that are refugees or asylum seekers is about 0.54%, in Chad with many refugees from the conflict in Sudan it is 10 times higher at 5.8%. The response of the international community to this humanitarian crisis affecting the many refugees along the eastern border has been underfunded, a situation that is likely to get worse. Unusually the Chadian government decided at the start of the war that it no longer refused the right of refuges to paid employment. It may only have a small effect as well paid employment is hard to find for such a large number of people but it is good to see a policy decision that benefits the outsider rather than further marginalising them.

We wish that we could bring you first hand news from Bardai, sadly we can't but we have been speaking with people by telephone. The Church rebuilding has begun, the funds sent by BMS have been spent on sacks of cement, reinforcing iron, and gravel. The breeze blocks are being made and soon the foundations will be laid higher up on the rock. Dr Abdel Kerim is in Bardai and along with a young Chadian doctor they have for the first time successfully treated a young man with a knife wound to the intestines without our assistance, which is very encouraging

We thank God for:

His presence with us in these troubled times

Please pray for:

The decisions of our leaders throughout the world that they may seek peace through justice and have compassion on the poor.

Lord, where there is injustice, unite us as your children to speak out and walk out as necessary. May all of our acts of protest be stepped in love for others and for you. Amen *

With love Mark and Andrea

* From the app Common Prayer For Ordinary Radicals by Shane Claiborne and Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Morning Prayer for 3/3/2025