Mahamat Adamou

BBC Learning English

People and Places

Mahamat Adamou

Yvonne: You’re listening to bbclearningenglish.com and this is “People and Places”.

Hello, I’m Yvonne Archer 1 – and today’s guest…

Mahamat Ahmed Adamou

Hello, my name is Mahamat Ahmed Adamou I come from Chad. It’s a country in central

Africa. My mother tongue is Arabic.

Yvonne: The people of Chad speak many different local languages but their country has two official languages – French and Arabic. So French and Arabic are spoken and understood by most people. But did you notice the useful phrase Mahamat used to tell us which language he grew up speaking? Someone’s ‘mother tongue’ tells us which language someone’s parents and family speak and even which language the person thinks in!

Mahamat Ahmed Adamou

My mother tongue is Arabic.

Yvonne: Chad is very large country, about six times the size of Great Britain, and most of us probably think it’s mainly made up of sand. But is that the case? What does Chad looks like – what kind of ‘landscape’ does it have?

Mahamat Ahmed Adamou

People have a lot of misconceptions about Chad. They think of Chad as vast deserts but it’s not true. I mean, actually, Chad is very varied 2 in terms of landscape. So roughly you have, in
the north, the biggest part in the north is desert, and in the south, it’s savannah and in between,
you have what we call ‘the Sahel’ which is the beginning of the savannah and the end of the desert.

Yvonne: As Mahamat put it, many of us a lot of ‘misconceptions’ – we have the wrong idea about Chad’s landscape. It’s not only made up of ‘vast deserts’ – extremely large sandy areas. But did you manage to follow what it does look like? In the north, there’s mainly desert, in the south, Mahamat described the landscape as ‘savannah’ – so it’s rich with many rivers and vegetation 3. Then
‘in between’ – separating the desert and the savannah - there’s ‘the Sahel’ –

which is where Mahamat is from.

Mahamat Ahmed Adamou

The biggest part in the north is desert, and in the south, it’s savannah and in between, you have what we call ‘the sahail’ which is the beginning of the savannah and the end of the desert. You come across the oases 4, and in the extreme north, then you have the Tibestian Region which is really fantastic, it’s a lunar landscape.

Yvonne: Mahamat describes the extreme north of Chad as having ‘a lunar landscape’ – so wow - it looks like you could be on the moon! You’re listening to “People and Places” from bbclearningenglish.com

At the age of 20, Mahamat went away to journalism 5 school in Cameroon. But when he got home three years later, things didn’t go as he'd ‘envisaged 6’ – as he'd expected, hoped or imagined. As Mahamat continues with his story, listen out for the key words and phrases ‘political situation’, ‘press freedom’
‘activist 7’. Can you guess what did happen when he got back to Chad?

Mahamat Ahmed Adamou
 
I wanted to start working as a journalist – that’s where trouble came. And I saw that I couldn’t do my job as I envisaged in Chad considering the political situation. So I’ve been a bit (of an) activist about defending press freedom, and of course, that doesn’t go well with the leaders.

Yvonne: Mahamat became a journalist in Chad, as planned, but he also became an

‘activist’. He tried to help make it possible for the press - or media – to do its job properly, freely and without fear of being stopped or unfairly influenced by the government and other powerful people. But life became rather dangerous
for Mahamat so he left of the United States. And one opportunity led to another, and another, and another – and Mahamat, a journalist in Washington,
eventually became a BBC journalist here in London!

Mahamat Ahmed Adamou

I was like: "How is it (like) to go and work for the BBC? Ah, let me just go and try it." And I’ve been here for 7 years. So, it's kind of - ah, it’s an interesting experience - but my heart is always back in Chad.

Yvonne: Despite the ‘volatile 8’ situation – sudden periods of violent conflict – Mahamat still tries to visit his family and friends as often as he can. And he plans to return home as soon as he can to make a contribution. Mahamat would like to
‘start up’ or begin a new project or business, for example, so he'd like to

'generate 9’ – create jobs for people back home in Chad.

Mahamat Ahmed Adamou

The only reason I’ve been away is, of course, because of the political situation which is very volatile, but definitely and ultimately 10, I will return to Chad because I think I still have to contribute. Definitely, I want to be creative – don’t ask me exactly, what I’m going to do - but I just don’t see myself going back working for government or whoever. But I want to start up something which is original and which can generate, you know, jobs for other people. And I have plenty of ideas, but I have to work on them. Yeah…