I was last in N'Djamena in 2005 and the bullet holes are still there; and I'm told more have been added since. There was also the crashed airplane on short final. N'Dolo had one of those too, only there you couldn't see it if the Congo river was high. It was next to the sunken boats. Those sunken boats were very useful actually. When visibility was low, you could pick out the sunken hulks easier than the airport, so you made your approach with reference to the wrecks.

What made that comment memorable to me is that really brought home how differently the world is viewed by an African stuck in a place where nothing much good can happen to him. It helped me understand why people keep streaming into those seeming dystopias. They are willing to put up with it for just a slightly better chance.