Dressing up

Children wearing traditional clothes

There is a saying in Dutch which states that clothes 'make' the man. In English one would say 'fine feathers make fine birds' which basically means the same. I don't know the exact translation in Arabic, but I am sure there must be a similar saying or wisdom, since the traditional clothes here look very nice! On various occasions people have shown their costumes proudly to me, while convincing me that I have to ask my husband to buy me Sudanese clothes from now on. Whether I feel like it or not, women love to 'dress me up' in their traditional Sudanese tops. Yesterday, one of the cleaning ladies from the office came upstairs and I noticed the suppressed smile on her face while greeting me. Her hands were behind her back and as soon as she stood in front of me she showed the mysterious item she had been hiding. "You wear this and then photo for Mister Frank!!" she said while excitedly pointing at the Sudanese dress she was holding. I instantly had to stop what I was doing and surrender to the mannequin activities that followed. The other cleaning lady had also arrived and happily joined in. Only after they had agreed on the way the material had to be put around my shoulder, the photo shoot could begin. Since one of them clearly had some difficulties to aim the camera in the right direction, more shoots were taken from the furniture and floor of our house. But eventually the photo was taken and proudly shown to Frank as soon as he came upstairs. It was indeed a nice dressing-up intermezzo, to probably be continued: "After the weekend, I bring other colour to try for you!"

All for one and one for all

Everyone who would come and visit Kosti, would see straight away that the society here is far from individualised. There is a very strong feeling of connectedness when it comes to families, roots and communities. Especially the members within a family (-and mind you, I mean the extended family!-) have an important say in decision making. I have noticed that also the concept of 'visiting a friend' is something rather different here; his or her whole family will be happy to receive you and join in the conversations and jokes! Among the staff here in the office, I have observed that this feeling of belongingness goes a step further than only family level. Whenever someone from the team is ill, the others try to organize a home-visit with the whole group. One of them admitted that maybe the large amount of people is not always the type of medicine that the patient is looking for when he is seriously ill, but apparently it is a ritual that can't be broken. That is also the case when a baby is born; all the women from the team go there together to offer milk, sweets, money and clothes. It sometimes seems complicated to organize a group visit, because everyone has a different schedule and responsibilities at home. While discussing when to visit one of the colleague's wife (who has recently given birth) it seemed almost impossible to find a day when we would all be available. "Maybe we can go in different groups or shifts?" I suggested with a hint of my, perhaps Dutch, pragmatic approach. It became quiet all of a sudden and they looked at me like I had said something unbelievable. "Here in Sudan, that would be really be not respectful." one of the women assured me with a comforting touch on my shoulder. "Even if it takes some time to organise it", she continued, "it is important to go there together!". It is surely all for one, and one for all!

With milk, please!

For many people, the first thing they're longing for in the morning, is a nice cup of coffee. One of the male students who lives in the neighbouring student's hostel obviously has a similar habit. Yesterday morning we saw him walking outside, enjoying both the tranquil early-morning sunrise and...a nice cup of coffee. He looked around contently, breathing in some fresh air and holding on to his coffee like a dear friend. Since most animals here in Kosti walk around freely, some curious goats came closer while continuing eating the grass. Suddenly, the young man  seemed to have an inspiring moment! My coffee would taste even better with a little bit of fresh milk!, we heard him think. Without hesitating, he knelt down next to the goat, holding his cup right under the udder. Within a few seconds he had turned his black coffee into a rich creamy delicacy. He seemed to thank the goat kindly and continued his morning ritual like nothing ever happened, leaving us watching though the window  with a smile on our face.

Bookshop

"Where can we buy him a nice present?" I asked, when a few colleagues were talking about the upcoming birthday of one of the staff members. "In the Kosti bookshop!" answered one of the enthusiastic young women, with whom I straight away formed the buying-a-birthday-present-action-team. After work we proceeded to the bookshop in Kosti. I was quite curious about the shop and the books they would sell. The books would probably all be written in Arabic, but that would even make it more interesting!, I said to myself. While I wondered  about what kind of book would be suitable as best birthday present, we entered the shop. There were many interesting, colourful things to see, but after having 'scanned' the small shop thoroughly for three times, I came to the conclusion that I couldn't see a single book! To compensate the lack of books, there were pens, vases with glitters and plastic watches in abundance. After having accepted that this bookshop was not really a bookshop, I looked around for some (other) nice presents. We both decided that the business diary that was lying on the counter would be nice for him, but because of one specific reason (-it was a diary for the year 2008-) we had to find some alternatives. The men behind the counter we very friendly and really helped us in offering new ideas and inspiration. Eventually we chose to buy a pen, a leather bag and a small painting with a text from the Koran. After we had assisted the men behind the counter with wrapping the gifts in a bright red and purple paper with ribbons, we left the building. Just before writing this blog, we handed the gifts over to the birthday-man after having sung 'Happy birthday' out loud with the whole team. I am happy to tell you, he looked very pleased with his unexpected presents from the Kosti bookshop!