Night swimming

Sometimes the nights here can bring some unexpected surprises. A few nights ago, I woke up in the middle of the night. I felt like drinking a glass of water, so I gently put my feet outside the mosquito net which is permanently hanging above our bed. While my first foot touched the floor, I was still half asleep. But it only took a split second for me to be completely awake: I was standing up to my ankles in the water! The night rain had come through the spaces underneath the doors and windows. While we were fast asleep, the water had slowly filled both our bedroom and living room floor. It looked like a perfect opportunity for a true indoor night-swimming activity! Although it was tempting, we finally decided to just get rid of our excessive floods. After spending more than an hour on hands and knees, using all our sheets, blankets and towels to absorb the water, we were able to continue our well-deserved sleep. I obviously didn't need my glass of water anymore ;)

International Youth Day

Yesterday we celebrated International Youth Day in and with the various communities on the outskirts of Kosti. This event was actually celebrated worldwide a few weeks ago, but because of Ramadan it was postponed. This special day aims to focus more attention to the youth in the world and here, specifically to the youth in Sudan. The venue was the Safe Learning Space that has been established for the children in one of the communities. All children and youngsters were clearly over-exited that ‘something special’ was being organized for them. As soon as we entered the premises, a group of children started to follow us everywhere we went; they were so curious to know more about this 'different looking' man and woman. And, you can imagine that we shook uncountable hands! There were performances like dancing and telling- poems, all done by children and youngsters. Of course, after all we are in Sudan, there were also several speeches (one presented by Frank) and thank-you words to all. The ‘hit’ of the evening was a young local singer who made everyone dance, and click their fingers until they dropped. More and more people from the area gathered to see this interesting event and (-as you can see on the photo-) it became very busy! The sign for the closure of the event were the first raindrops from the sky; everyone quickly headed home to secure dry feet and clean clothes. For us, this was an evening to remember and treasure. And, more importantly, the voice of the Sudanese youth has definitely been heard! 

Medical assistance

The White Nile State of Sudan is almost as big as The Netherlands. But while the hospitals in The Netherlands are so plentiful that they can even compete, the people in this Sudanese district have extreme limited options when it comes to medical assistance. There is a small hospital for civilians here in Kosti that can perform some basic medical procedures. But when you want to be sure about your diagnosis and be more thoroughly examined, you should be ready for a 5-hour-drive to Khartoum. You can imagine that the situation for people in need of immediate medical care doesn't look very colourful. The drive to Khartoum (-if you have a car, otherwise you have to go by bus-) is not something you look forward to when you are not feeling well anyway. Frank's colleague introduced us to her sister who currently studies in Khartoum to become a surgeon. She is determined to come back to Kosti to work in the small hospital here, even though the salary and facilities will be far less than elsewhere. "I want to do something for the people in Kosti and the White Nile District", she said determinately. I am sure the people in this district will be more than happy with some extra medical attention from this ambitious and idealistic young lady!

Dining experience

Options for eating-out in Kosti are extremely limited, to say the least. Locals here tend to go out for tea and coffee, but take their food at their or someone else's home. So far, we have managed to find two places that come closest to being a restaurant. And yesterday we visited one of them: an old hotel with a green garden next to it. While entering the premises we noticed that we were the only customers and so we had the option to choose the best seats on their 'terrace'. We sat down under a nice tree and enjoyed the breeze. After a moment of observation we both agreed that this place surely has a lot of potential and our fingers started to itch to cut the grass, remove all the plastic and empty tins, paint the building and to wash the cushions on the chairs. But because we were there for a nice unwinding diner after a long day of work, we just decided not to look at the details too much.  The menu was simple and clear: 'chicken'. Frank had had the 'chicken experience' before and he asked if this time, the chicken could be grilled instead of fried. While explaining, Frank tried to show how he always grills his chicken on the BBQ. The waiter looked at him with a clear question mark on his face and slowly nodded his head to show he somehow understood. To be completely sure, Frank called one of his Sudanese colleagues to ask her to explain our dining wishes to the waiter. After we had finally ordered, we took the games we had brought with us, out of the bag. While we started playing, our drinks were being served; not exactly what I had ordered, but it did taste nice. After an hour-and-a-half wait (yes, it was indeed 1,5 hours..) our chicken with bones arrived! It was grilled and looked lovely. All the waiters (-we were still the only customers-) enjoyed the view of us eating our fine dining Sudanese meal. We finished the chicken to the bone and finally promised to come back again soon for another interesting Sudanese open-air dining experience. "Inshallah!"

Rural street view

When we talk about ‘traffic’ in Kosti, we don’t just talk about the vehicles and bicycles. Here, the donkeys, cows, sheep and goats also have to be included, since they take a major part in the day-to-day traffic on the streets. Apart from 2 main roads, all the roads are unpaved and sandy so it is very comfortable for the animals to walk on. Kosti is considered a small rural town without any facilities or traffic jams like you see in a city like Khartoum. There are no such things as traffic lights, but the donkeys, cows, sheep and goats somehow have the same effect when it comes to slowing down your speed. Many donkeys are also used to transport goods (- really anything you can think of!) from one place to another. The other day, we were talking with one of Frank’s colleagues about the differences between the towns Kosti and Rabak, a nearby town on the other side of the Nile. She said: “Oh, Rabak is very busy!” I tried to remember my images of Rabak when I drove through it on my way to Kosti. Somehow I couldn’t recall it being ‘very busy’. After a short pause she finished her statement, which made it all clearer: “I mean, there are just too many donkeys in Rabak!” Talking about a rural street view ;)

The neighbour's axe

It seemed to be difficult to buy the specific tools we wanted to use for our new garden. Until yesterday, we had managed to dig the holes for the plants with wooden sticks and straighten the soil with an old half broken rake. One of the guards found it enough and went to the neighbour to ask if he had one or two tools we could use. This particular friendly neighbour lives right next to our building, in our back garden so to say. His house is actually a small hut made of a few twigs, carpets and plastic. Interestingly, he has given the priority to a big flat screen satellite TV, instead of reconstructing his home and open-air toilet. But anyway, this neighbour was very willing to lend out his axe for our garden activities. In exchange for borrowing the axe, the neighbour asked if we could provide him with some electricity and water. We agreed on this ‘deal’. It was a very solid (self-made-) axe which proved to be very useful for digging. While we were working and sweating in the evening sun, a few children from our area came to our gate. They were very curious to see us work, but they also came to ask if they could borrow the neighbor’s axe for 5 minutes. This axe seemed to be popular! We really wanted to finish our work before sunset and while saying so, the children happily came into the garden and helped us with planting the remaining grass. After this ‘group activity’, the children left with smiling faces while carrying the axe with them. This precious axe clearly seems to cut both ways: it provides our neighbour a source of natural income and it has surely proven to be a good garden help for the people around!

Car wash

As you can read in one of my earlier blog messages, the people in the White Nile District have to deal with extremes when it comes to weather conditions. As the period of extreme drought is considered far more difficult, the rainy season is seen as a time of 'beautiful weather'. When the water comes pouring down the sky and the clouds are so dark you need to switch your lights on, you often hear conversations like the following: "Salaam, tamam? How are you?" - "Tamam! I am fine, because it is such nice weather!". These rains make most roads here in Kosti extremely muddy and almost inaccessible; you really need a four-wheel-drive to be able to go to places. But the water puddles alongside the roads also come in very handy; washing your car or tuk-tuk hasn't been easier! Sometimes you can see various means of transport lined up on the side of the road, while the owners (or boys who want to earn some extra pocket money) stand bare-foot in the water puddles, fetching some muddy water to make their vehicle shine like never before. It saves you money, you don't have to make any reservations, there is no use of chemical soaps and it is a nice way to meet up with your locals. Enough reasons to visit this genuine natural, open-air car wash, I would say!