ABSTRACT
Creating a clear linguistic, ethnographic, social, and demographic picture of Chad is a major challenge. Among the most populous of the Chadian societies are the Sara of southern Chad, who constitute about one-third of the Chadian population and are found mainly in the Moyen-Chari, the Eastern Logone, the Western Logone, and the Tandjile prefectures. The Arabs never constituted more than 22 percent of the Chadian population even though they had a disproportionate influence in business and Arabic is the second most widespread language in Chad. The Maba are the third largest ethnic group in Chad and constituted the pillar of the former kingdom of Wadai. The Mbum, or Laka, along with their kin Laka, constitute Chad's next largest ethnic group, half of whom live in the South of the country and half in the Central African Republic. Sex education was extremely important and remained tied to clitoridectomy and circumcision.
