Tailoring tricks

Where to go when your trousers are too long? Who would be able to renew the zip of your skirt? What to do when your new shirt has been torn? Exactly, the local tailor will surely help you out! Because the collection of clothing stores is rather small here in Kosti, and many people cannot afford to buy new clothes all the time, the tailor is one of the most often visited people in town. Apparently, these tailors really fulfil a very essential task in the local society. So, when Frank's favourite shirt had been torn, leaving a big obvious hole on the front, he didn't hesitate to send his shirt for mending. All tailors here have a 'ready on the same day' policy, so after Frank had brought his beloved garment in the morning, he couldn't wait for the end of the day to come and wear his 'new' shirt again. It's interesting though that sometimes the result you have in mind, doesn't always match with the real-life result when you are faced with it. So, it happened that Frank's shirt was returned in a different state than expected; the place where the hole used to be, had been treated with an arsenal of needles and different coloured threats. A heap of 'stitches' stared at him, perhaps even more distinct that the previous hole. The tailor must have thought "As long as it's seamed and closed!" And, whether we like it or not, we can't deny that he succeeded in doing so.

Fake bottoms

Some women are never satisfied with their body. Yesterday one of Frank's colleagues revealed the 'fake bottom'  phenomenon that has landed in Sudan. Women who have not been blessed with a natural big bottom, but would desperately like to have one, can buy special underwear with a new, fake bottom. This sounds very straight-forward, but the consequences of wearing such a fake bottom can be quite devastating it seems. You can imagine the faces and thoughts of people when your bottom changes size every other day. Frank's colleague told me a story of her cousin in Khartoum who had gone to a wedding, wearing a nice, colourful Sudanese dress and...a new pair of these special underpants. She had only been able to buy the cheap version of this special garment; the one with air-filled buttocks. But the result seemed to be the same, and she really enjoyed her new round shapes. Her brother though had become a bit suspicious and when he heard about his sister's new fake bottoms he clearly found it a bit over-the-top.  So, he made a cunning plan. He discretely approached his sister to the 'dance floor' and, while trying to hold his laughter, he pinched one of his sister's fake buttocks with a sharp needle. The buttock deflated instantly, leaving the poor girl with one big and one slim buttock in the middle of the dance floor. You can imagine the painful, embarrassing situation that followed. I don't know if this girl has ever worn fake bottoms again, but I can imagine it has made her think twice about it.

Occupy

Many of the houses here are being built in phases; whenever you have money, you build, but whenever there is no money left, you stop the building process for a while. So it happens that some people were only  able to construct a strong foundation and some pillars for the future walls, but nothing else. The half house will then remain like that for a couple of months, years or maybe forever. The collection of houses in Kosti is thus very assorted and includes many of these half built structures. From our balcony we can see at least 4 them, and one in particular always gets our attention. While empty houses in Holland are mostly being occupied by human squatters, this particular house has been taken over by some unexpected guests: animals! Especially the goats seem to have a soft spot for this place. In the evening they gather on the rooftop for a nice view and an evening chat. The people who live on the ground floor of the next building don’t really seem to appreciate this company on the first floor and the children always try to chase them away with sticks and stones. But the animals don’t seem to be bothered by that. “Such a waste not to use these empty buildings and beautiful rooftop”, they must be thinking. "Let's make the best of it, while it is still empty!". I guess I couldn’t agree more with this clever, unexpected group of occupiers.  Maybe, if they behave, they will be able to rent a room in the future.

The puppet show!

One of the handmade puppets

If you really want to see excited faces and extremely enthusiastic children, then come and see a the puppet show in one of the communities here! Although the materials are very basic, the crowd of children always seems to get so excited that they almost want to become a puppet themselves. The local puppet players really know how to engage the children (-and I have to say that they do a great job with engaging the adults as well! ;) and create story lines that contain both a great fun factor and a moral. Yesterday, the puppet show was about 'eating healthy food'. I can imagine you would think that the emphasis would be on 'eating fruit instead of  junk food', but the reality in these communities is a different one. The word 'healthy' here refers to only eating food that has been covered (to keep the flies and insects away) and food that has not been standing in the sun for too long. Besides that, 'healthy' also means not eating too many chillies on an empty stomach, because it could give you stomach ache. This awareness raising element seems to have a great impact on both the children and their families. Once again, it shows that you only need a bit of creativity, a curtain and some puppets to create both a highly entertaining and educational event.

Perfumed intimacy

Burning incense ('bakhoor') inside the house is a very common thing to do here in Sudan. The small pottery where the incense and charcoals are usually burned on are locally made and designed with nice yellow or red designs. On his way to the field, Frank came across a market stall where a large lady was selling the bakhoor and the nice accessory pottery, so he decided to stop by. The saleswoman was very convincing and she was happy to explain about this local custom with her hands and feet. At some point she decided to take it a step further and while smiling mysteriously she opened a special bucket which had safely been put away. She opened it and showed it to Frank like it was something very precious. What Frank saw inside the bucket came across as the paste we use to make Indonesian-style peanut sauce, but by the way the saleswoman was presenting it, he assumed it must be something completely different. The driver who had accompanied him tried to explain something in English about 'married women' and 'nice smell'. Frank must have still had a question mark on his face, when the lady decided to offer a bit of this special paste as a present. So, it happened that a few minutes later, Frank arrived back in the office, proudly holding his new pottery, bakhoor and the special paste in his hand. The moment he stepped in, showing his new purchase, the atmosphere in the office changed completely. The women started to blush and giggle, while the men got a new glow on their face and clearly gave their approval for Frank to bring in these special smelling items. I was standing in the doorway, when one of the blushing ladies came up to me and whispered: "This is only for married women and it is especially for the bedroom!" It had become clear that this special paste, in combination with the bakhoor, is a local aphrodisiac! Married women are supposed to burn the perfumed incense and rub the paste on their body so their skin will have a nice, lingering, seductive smell for their husbands. The fact that Frank had entered the office with these 'intimate products' so openly exposed had clearly given everyone something to smile and talk about for the rest of the day. And I can imagine they will closely keep an eye (and nose) on my odour the next coming days ;)

Tears

This weekend was a tearful one and it has shown me again that there is a thing line between life and death. The weekend started with an impressive visit to the village where one of the female staff members had just given birth to a baby-boy. While I was looking at this young strong lady (-just turned 25-) who had just given birth to her fourth child I got tears in my eyes. Like many women here she had given birth in her small home, with no light, no running water or electricity. The only woman who had been present during the birth was an elderly woman from the village who, I assume. is their traditional midwife. Baring in mind the many complications that occur during deliveries here (- especially since most of the women have undergone circumcision when they were young-), I was happy to be able to see both the mother and the baby in good health. The following day however, the sad news reached us that the dear grandmother of one of the other staff members had passed away. As the customs here require, we all went there straight away to express our sympathy. When we arrived, I found both the garden and house packed with women supporting and comforting each other. The sadness of this loss was very clear and the tears ran down the cheeks of the approximately 70 women present. One of my friends explained that whenever someone passes away, the women have the 'task' to cry with each other to show respect and support. It was touching to see how they fulfilled this task with such gentleness and care. One of the older women who sat next to me on the sofa stated a wise comment that basically summarised all my weekend tears. "Life is all about crying for new life and crying when the life has finished".