The Teda alphabet was devised & published by Mark Ortman in 1998 (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

Mark Ortman, director of ‘Association pour le Développement et la Paix’ (Assoc. of Peace & Development), has spent the last 30 years working with the Teda people in northern Chad. Never before written down, ADP developed the Teda alphabet and first published the language in 1998. Mark looks back on an incredible three decades enabled by MAF.

Linguist Mark Ortman heads up ‘Association pour le Développement’ (ADP) based in Bardai in the far north of Chad – the furthest destination that MAF flies to from the capital N’Djamena.

Mark Ortman from ADP has worked in northern Chad for 30 years (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

Without MAF – a six-hour flight – it would take ADP up to five days to reach Bardai traversing through the Sahara Desert.

Only 124 miles of the 1,056-mile route is paved, before it turns into sand. Once in the mountainous Tibesti region, the bumpy drive over hardened lava and dunes can be just as slow as walking.

Bardai is an isolated town in the middle of the Sahara Desert (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

Vehicles often break down, which means searching for parts while others wait or sleep on the sand. There is no accommodation nearby.

One time, it took Mark 19 days to reach Bardai when his car broke down in the desert.

Reaching Bardai – 6 hours with MAF or 5 days overland? (credit: Philemon Schelling)

ADP staff and volunteers have been catching MAF flights for 30 years, which frequent Bardai eight times a year. Mark says, it would be challenging for volunteers to serve the Teda people without MAF:

‘The Lord has grown our team to where it is because of MAF. Without MAF, we couldn’t have short term volunteers come up to push our programmes forward.

‘We can continue to survive without MAF, but we cannot have a programme which touches so many lives.

‘The fact that we can book flights up and down and move people around, allows us to have a big team. We can’t have so many people working with us without MAF because how can they help if they can’t get up here? That’s where MAF comes in.’

Mark Ortman, Director of ADP & MAF partner

The journey overland is so rough, vital equipment has been damaged en-route. It’s far more practical for ADP to fly people in to repair things rather than bringing in new equipment by road.

The route to Bardai is incredibly bumpy (credit: Philemon Schelling)

Difficult beginnings

MAF began flying to Bardai to serve the Teda people in the early 1990s. Mark and his wife Cheryl moved there in 1994.

The Teda people speak the Teda language from the Tebu Saharan language family, but before Mark arrived, it had never been written down.

ADP developed the Teda alphabet in Latin and began publishing the language by 1998, but this wasn’t without its challenges.

According to UNESCO, Chad has one of the highest illiteracy rates in the world – 94% of children still cannot read or write by the age of 10.

Chadian Arabic is spoken in mosques and French is taught in schools – not the languages of the Teda. Initially the Teda resisted external influences and were suspicious of ADP’s motives, explains Mark:

‘The Teda did not want their language written down when we started!’

Mark had to painstakingly explain the value of having any written language at all.

Convincing them took time. It took nearly five years to develop the orthography – the process of adapting an oral language into a Latin script – which Mark completed with the help of a small number of supportive Teda.

Publishing the first Teda picture vocab books was a turning point (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

The turning point came when the first picture vocabulary books were published says Mark:

‘When they saw the books come out with their language written down, that’s when they saw what could be done!’

But the books were banned under Gaddafi because they used the Latin alphabet – widely viewed as Christian – instead of Arabic, which is synonymous with Islam. It was perceived that reading your mother tongue in a Latin alphabet could risk Christian conversion – an anathema to Gaddafi’s regime.

From 1999 to 2012, Mark was forced to relocate to N’Djamena due to a rebellion in the region, but students continued to learn without him.

Gaddafi viewed the Latin-script alphabet as ‘Christian’ (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

Positive endings

After Gaddafi fell in 2011, the Teda came to value reading and writing in their own language thanks to ADP.

As learning flourished, there was a clear need for a centre in Bardai to accommodate Teda classes and resources.

Simon & Anja opened Bardai’s ‘Mosko Hanadii-ĩ’ Centre in 2011 (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

A Swiss couple known to Mark – Simon and Anja – had been teaching in a primary school in N’Djamena for a year and wanted to visit Bardai as tourists.

Mark agreed on the condition that they would consider moving there for eight months with a view of opening a Teda learning centre.

They agreed! In 2011 they opened the ‘Mosko Hanadii-ĩ’ Centre in Bardai, which means ‘a place to sit and learn’. Simon felt that the project was the ideal fit for them:

‘We wanted to work somewhere where our abilities would be needed. Starting up the centre was the perfect job for us. We really loved it.’

‘Mosko Hanadii-ĩ’ means ‘a place to sit and learn’ (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

The response from learners was tremendous. People started signing up straight away recalls Simon:

‘By the time we started the first course, we already had a waiting list for the next one. It was way more positive than we ever expected.’

It became clear that learning to read Teda wasn’t enough. They needed to write it as well. At first, westerners were writing the materials, but long term this had to change explains Anja:

 ‘We needed to change that. They needed to do it for themselves and take over because it’s for them, not for us.’

Following their initial eight-month period at the centre, the couple split their time between Switzerland and Chad.

In Switzerland they worked on a dictionary, cartoons, books, and other resources which were difficult to produce in the desert.

The single classroom has since grown to three and has become a thriving hub of learning.

The centre also boasts a large conference hall /sports hall, a library, which houses many books in the Teda language, and even a museum celebrating Teda life.

Teda is taking off!

One of the most popular initiatives is the annual writing competition, which encourages Teda people to write their own stories and win a prize.

The annual writing competition has become a huge hit (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

The first writing awards launched in 2012 – a simple ceremony with a small group of participants. Today this annual event is packed to the rafters with the highest award presented by the regional governor.

Simon says MAF is an integral part of the Teda success story:

‘MAF is a huge help in our logistics. They facilitate what we are doing, whether it’s flying us or the people we invite to Bardai and back, or transporting materials and even mail.’

Simon, founder of Mosko Hanadii-ĩ’ Centre & MAF partner

Today the Teda written language is part of the national curriculum. Mark explains history in the making:

‘Once the Teda have the ability to read and write in their own language rather than a language they don’t speak, like French or Arabic, all of a sudden something happens and they embrace it.’

As for the Teda’s relationship with MAF, after 30 years of service, they see the charity’s aircraft as their own!

Teda is now part of Chad’s school curriculum (credit: LuAnne Cadd)

Read about how neighbouring Daza people embraced their own written language.

News coverage

Al Jazeera