"How many sheep can you eat?"

After having been abroad for a few weeks, I was welcomed back in the office in Kosti with big smiles and warm wishes. Everyone was still quite excited about the Eid celebrations and the attached one-week off from work they had had the week before! While I was distributing the small souvenirs I had bought for everyone, I bumped into one of our male drivers. He greeted me with a firm handshake and tap on my shoulder. When I asked him about his Eid holiday, he smiled and pointed at his belly: "I ate 3 sheep on the first day of Eid!". He looked around to see if anyone else had heard it. A bit louder than his first statement he continued: "And...on the second day I ate another 4!" His face started glowing when his female colleagues acted surprised and asked him how he had managed. While he was explaining that he just really really likes to eat sheep meat during Eid, another male colleague stepped in and started sharing his sheep-eating experiences. While they were clearly enjoying their stories on how many sheep they could eat during Eid, I started smiling and I wondered how on earth one would be able to eat even one whole sheep in a day! The two men had become a bit overexcited and invited me for a sheep-eating contest during next year's Eid celebrations. "Sound interesting", I answered diplomatically, not sure whether they meant me joining them in the contest. After having given it some thought, I decided this competition indeed could be interesting. But I would rather observe. Or take the sheep home with me ;)

What comes around..

One of the drivers told me a rather funny, interesting story about the irony of life: One of Sudan's well-off business man, who lived in Khartoum, went to the doctor because he was not feeling well. Once the doctor had examined him, he concluded that he needed an operation on a short notice, to prevent things from getting worse. When the doctor wanted to make an appointment to set the operation date, the rich business man apparently jumped up and shouted that he would never want to be operated in a Sudanese hospital. "The quality is too low and the Sudanese surgeons surely don't know what they are doing!" So, eventually the man contacted several hospitals abroad and he was put on a waiting list of a hospital in one of the neighbouring countries. After months of waiting it was finally his turn to be operated and he hired a jet to travel to the particular hospital. His operation went smoothly and while he was recovering in bed, the surgeon who had operated him came into the room to check up on him. While he stood next to the bed, he shook the businessman's hand and introduced himself. You can imagine the patient's face when he heard that the surgeon was actually Sudanese..

Wrestling fans

It's no news that wrestling has been a popular traditional sport in many parts of Sudan. In Omdurman near Khartoum for example, a weekly open-air wrestling competition is greatly visited by locals. Over the past few months we have found out that the passion for wrestling here in Sudan sometimes appears when you least expect it. One day, we were invited by one of the colleagues to visit her home, which meant her senior parents, sisters and brother. Typically Sudanese, we were welcomed very warmly and offered drinks and sweets before we even had the change to sit down. The TV was playing in the small room which was right next to the room where we were seated. At some point the 'American Wrestling TV Show' was being announced on the background, and, to be quite honest, we expected the senior parents to switch the TV off or at least change the channel. Somehow the fancy put-in-scene glittery American wrestling shows didn't seem to match the extremely modest and traditionally dressed residents of the house. But,..surprisingly, they all jumped up and couldn't wait to gather in front of the TV in order to get the best view. Especially the senior man and woman were extremely well informed in terms of the nicknames of the wrestlers (like 'big tarzan'), introduction themes and different moves and techniques. While Frank and I observed the competitive public seated in front of the small TV we realized that wrestling, in whatever form, is apparently more deeply rooted than we expected!

Sharing holiday stories

After we had come back from our holiday break in Zambia, the local staff back in Sudan were very eager to hear our stories and adventures. While we chatted away about our amazing canoe trails on the Lower Zambezi river, the faces of our 'listeners' slowly seemed to turn like stone. "You did what?" they said unbelievingly. "Peddling in a small canoe on a big African river full of hippo's, crocodiles and elephants?!" One of the younger colleagues asked if we had prayed before we departed, because she could not believe we survived this extremely dangerous trip. According to her it was a lot safer to stay in Sudan! Despite our attempts to explain that this was an organized tour with experienced guides there seemed to be an overall feeling of unbelief and scary scenario's. One of the other colleagues commented that he was very happy to see me with my heart in the right place: "I don't know where your heart went to when you were faced with the elephant, but I am happy it has found its way back!" I have to admit, I am also happy it did!

Try again next year!

Even in this part of Sudan, were the people are generally not as tall as in Holland, the shelves in the shops are very highly placed. So, it happened that today I was standing in the small shop close to our office in Khartoum and couldn’t reach the products on the top shelf. After some attempts of standing on the tips of my toes while stretching out my arms as far as I can, I gave up and had to admit that my height was not sufficient enough. After having asked the shop keeper to give me a hand, he willingly came my way, climbed on the first shelf and grabbed the toilet paper I wanted. After I had thanked him he smiled and said: “See you next year!”. I told him that I was planning to come and visit him sooner than that. He started laughing when he saw the probable question-mark on my face and explained that they use this typical Sudanese saying when people are too short. “Come back next year; you might have grown a bit taller by then!”.

Solar energy

"There is always sunshine, after the rain", people say. Here in Sudan, you can be certain that the sun will be there before you know it. So why not using the abundance of sun rays for multiple purposes? In many of the remote communities where we work it is difficult to provide households and schools with the conventional electricity. For many communities it is difficult to  have enough light in the school buildings and outside spaces, to use electric equipment and to charge mobile phones. It appears to be common that wedding parties are interrupted several times because the sound system blew up due to electric fluctuations (-which leaves the poor wedding singer singing a capella for a while-). In cooperation with the community members there have been discussions to find some alternatives for the conventionally gained electricity. After long processes and meetings with local solar specialists, the day had finally come for the very first solar panel to arrive in the community. While the children curiously observed every move made, the mechanics installed the solid frame and panel. It surely looked good according to them! One of the staff members went to visit the community the day after and found a group of people watching the football match of the national Sudanese team. At the same time seven different mobile phones were lying on the table waiting to be fully charged. It does look like a successful sustainable change in this particular community. And I am sure the wedding singers will also appreciate this gesture. "Let the sun shine!"

Tragic

Last night's sunset in Kosti

Yesterday morning the sad news reached us that the father of one of the guards had passed away. According to the cultural custom, all  staff members went straight to his house and supported him in his grief and prayers. The fact that a family member has died is, on itself, already sorrowful. But when we heard the occasion of this particular death we were astonished. The father of the guard originally came from West Darfur. Because of the difficult war situation there, he had taken refuge in Kosti and settled here with his wife and children. He hadn't gone back to his family in West Darfur for about 25 years when he decided that it was now time to go and see them at his old age. So he went back to West Darfur a few weeks ago, for a visit and a happy reunion with his family members. He was aware of the fact that there were fights over cattle between different tribes in that area. But nobody would have ever thought that these fights would be the cause of his timely fatality! According to the story, some aggressive men came into the family house because they wanted to take over the cattle of one of the family members. The brave man stood up and tried to negotiate on behalf of his family, who he had missed for such a long time. The men who had entered the house showed no mercy and killed the man and his cousin instantly, in front of the rest of the family.  Because of the Sudanese heat and due to religions reasons, people here are being buried as soon a possible after they have passed away. In this case the father of our guard was buried the same day, in West Darfur, the place were he was born. Leaving his grieving family in Kosti behind..