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!

Just around the corner..

Sometimes people tend not to see the precious things in their own town. Yesterday we discovered that especially here in Kosti it can be found so close-by, without people knowing it. We had invited one of Frank's colleagues to join us on one of our favourite walks along the Nile. She had seen a few of Franks photos before and she somehow couldn't believe that they were taken in 'her' town of Kosti. A bit sceptically she stepped out of the car and started our walk on the muddy path towards the river. Suddenly she stopped and pointed at the nearby bush: "Oh, look! That bird is bright yellow! Wow, it is beautiful!". We continued our walk and by every step she took, she became more and more excited. "I can't believe I am seeing this in Kosti", she said, while realizing that her house was only 5 minutes away. "There are birds in all colours of the rainbow and the area is so green!" Eventually she took Frank's binoculars and professionally screened the whole area to find any interesting animals. She hardly had time to sit down for the home-made picknick! While the sun was setting beautifully (-and the mosquitoes started to seriously attack us in the meantime-) we concluded that there is always something unexpected to discover, just around the corner.

Beds

Who thinks that beds are only there to be placed in the bedroom are wrong, at least according to the local Sudanese standards. Since it is very important to be able to host your whole (extended) family, most households here have put locally made beds in all rooms in the house and garden area. In that way, there will surely be enough space for everyone to sit and to sleep if necessary. The slogan 'less is more' is thus not really applicable when it comes to furniture in the Sudanese houses.  But it indeed feels like a welcoming gesture to immediately be offered a 'bed' while entering the house.

Support act

Generally, I feel a bit sorry for singers or musicians when they are faced with a lazy, uninspiring audience. It's so uncomfortable to observe that, no matter what he or she tries, the people in the crowd just can't be bothered to even stop chatting to each other or get out of their chairs for a little dance. My feeling is apparently shared by the majority of the Sudanese people here in Kosti; they are true stars in making a singer feel at home and supported! Last night we visited a local fund-raising event with, indeed, one of the many local singers on the evening program. It was not as busy as the organization had hoped, and unfortunately the majority of the plastic chairs in the open-air venue were empty. But,..as soon as the singer started to produce his first tunes, a few men jumped up, climbed on the podium and stood around him in half a circle. Their 'support act' consisted of clicking their fingers in the air in the direction of the singer (-who received this gesture with a big smile!-). After a few minutes the men left the stage again and sat down on their seats like nothing ever happened. Not long after that, a group of three young women climbed up the stage to do the same thing. And you can imagine that it became an ongoing finger-clicking-activity throughout the evening. One could question whether the evening was a success, because of all the empty chairs and the small amount of people who had turned up. But at least the singer surely had a good time with his support acts!

Your place, or mine?

"Please come to my house, you are always welcome!". Especially on celebration days, this kind of request is often heard here in Kosti. During the three days of 'Eid', people tend to have a so called 'walk-in' policy; you can come to their house at any time during the morning, afternoon, evening and even night! As a host, you never really know who will turn up when. It sometimes creates interesting situations when two people have invited each other and they show up at each others door step at the same time! Because of this 'walk-in' policy we were able to do a round tour yesterday, visiting six colleagues and their families in the Kosti area. We were vastly welcomed with a glass of soft drink and sugary sweets and home-made biscuits. And (-this will make you laugh, considering the message I wrote yesterday-) I couldn't leave a single house before being immersed by an overload of traditional brown coloured Sudanese perfume applied on my face, ears, hands, arms and neck. Back at home it took quite a bit of time to find some sleep after our lovely day of visits. It might have had to do with the amount of sugar taken throughout the day. Or was it perhaps the lingering Sudanese smell on my pillow?

Party smell

It seems to be absolutely unthinkable here to go to a party or for a visit without spraying some perfume, if it is available. We had already noticed that before, but yesterday we were confronted with some very clear proof of this assumption. The 'Eid' celebrations (the end of Ramadan) started yesterday and we were about to leave for a visit to one of Frank's staff members. While dressed up we walked downstairs towards the car. The night guard was sitting behind his desk and as always he greeted us with a warm handshake and big smile. "I have a surprise for you", he said while unexpectedly taking his bottle of perfume out of his bag and spraying Frank from top to toe. Knowing that the smell wasn't exactly Frank's taste, I started smiling. But before I knew it, he also sprayed his special perfume all over me! A bit overwhelmed we proceeded to the car, both smelling a bit too much and exactly the same. By the time we arrived at our destination we had tried to minimize the effect by driving with the windows open. The staff member we were visiting greeted us with a smile at her gate. I apologised for our extensive party smell. She smiled and tactfully said: "Maybe it is rather strong, but it is Eid after all..."