Memadji means "God's Will" (orphan in Tchad)

This is a story I wrote for the MCC journal called "A Common Ground". It is the story of a young orphan girl who is part of an MCC program. Hopefully more Tchad stories in January.

November 2004, Tchad

My name is Memadji Lembaye Isabelle. I am 6 years old and I live in the village of Milady in the southern part of Chad. I like my village. We have big mango trees and Karité trees that give us shade and fruit. Now the fields are ripe with tall red sourghum. The stalks are way taller than me, so I can get lost in the fields. Pigs, goats, and chickens wander around the village, and there are a few cows too.

My father died in 2002 when I was 4 years old. I don’t know what he died of, but it was very hard for us, because we were 8 kids. My two oldest sisters were already married, and now they have their own children. But my mom still could not care for the rest of us alone. I am the youngest, and so I live with my mom and two brothers in Milady. We live with my dad’s brother. My 3 other brothers and sisters live in another village with my mom’s brother.

My mom asked the church committee if they could help us, and they chose me to be one of the orphan children to support. They give our family an extra sack of grain once a year. They pay for my school fees and supplies, they give me a school uniform and some extra clothes, and they buy medicine when I am sick. The monitor from the church visits our home every once in a while to see how my mom and I are doing.

It is not easy to be an orphan in Chad. You have to work very hard- harder than the other children. Sometimes my brothers are alone in the bush for 2 or 3 days at a time, and they have to find their own food to eat. There isn’t enough money to send them to school. The way you see me today, this is not the way I was. Now I can eat, I can sleep well, I get medicine, and best of all, I go to school. The way I am now is better. I’m so glad I can live with my mom, but I miss my brothers and sisters.

My name- Memadji- means ‘God’s Will’. What would I do if MCC were not here to help me? I would turn to God. That is what my name means, and that is what I would do.