Unemployment is forcing a generation seeking survival into grueling trades. At the Emtoukoui market in N’Djamena’s seventh district, dozens of young men have turned to selling sand as their daily livelihood. It is backbreaking work, far removed from office jobs, but essential for putting food on the table.

Macroeconomic projections indicate that Chad’s poverty rate is expected to hit 45.4% of the population, meaning roughly 9.5 million people are living in extreme poverty.

Under a blazing sun, along the paved road of Emtoukoui market, the scene never changes. Loaded handcarts line the roadway, waiting desperately for a hand signal. Nearby, faces tight with exhaustion and obvious discouragement watch for any potential customer. Here, it is not conventional commerce; it is the trade of survival – the sand trade.

National statistics from surveys such as ECOSIT4 show that youth unemployment for those aged 15 to 24 stands at 30.3%. For the 15-30 age bracket, the overall rate is around 22%, while the unemployment rate among educated youth exceeds 60%.

Life through sweat and muscle

For these young men, many of whom have seen the doors of formal employment close, sand has become their only exploitable resource. The process is physical, repetitive, and exhausting. Sand is loaded into 50-kilogram sacks, then carried by hand or using the ubiquitous handcarts – their essential tools – as they roam neighborhoods offering their services.

“We don’t choose this work out of passion, but out of necessity,” one of them confides, his gaze downcast, bearing the marks of an exhausting day. “We have to eat, we have to survive. So we dare, no matter how hard it is.”

Most of these young people have little formal education and are trying to find a way out through this activity, but it is no easy task.

An economy of hustle

The economic model, if it can be called that, remains precarious and unpredictable. Depending on distance, route difficulty, or the customer’s bargaining power, the price per trip ranges between 2,000 and 5,000 CFA francs. A modest sum compared to the physical effort exerted daily.

This situation alone illustrates the brutal reality for a segment of N’Djamena’s youth. In the absence of formal job opportunities, the informal sector becomes the last defense against poverty, turning these young people into invisible workers whose sweat builds the capital’s daily life, often in general indifference.

At Emtoukoui and elsewhere, these young men are not asking for charity, but for a chance. In the meantime, they continue to watch for the next customer, handcart loaded, faces hardened by the weight of an uncertain future.