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".

Where to study?

Studying on the volleyball court

Students here in Kosti often have to, in many ways, be very flexible to be able to perform well in their studies at the university. The hostels they live in are shared with dozens of other students. Doing homework or studying for exams is something that really asks for some logistical preparations in order to have some time and place for yourself. The facilities at the universities are in most cases not sufficient to offer decent study rooms for all students. Fortunately, many of the students of the nearby hostel for male students are inventive enough to make up for this lack: they always seem to find a quiet study place for themselves. One of the boys always sits in the shade next to the sandy road, another one sits under the tree where the goats and sheep are gazing, and another student always settles down with his study books on the balcony. This early morning however we noticed one student who surprised us with his very special study place: the volleyball court! He looked very focussed and at ease to have this whole court to himself. I hope it will give him some extra inspiration and competitive (sports-) mentality to score well during his exam..

Living with your grandmother

'If you save something, you have something' is one of the Dutch sayings that illustrates the thrifty, economical mindset some of the people in Holland (used to) have. Here in Kosti, whenever a special item or product is needed, many people seem to come to our door because they know that we tend to collect things instead of throwing them away. Especially Frank always seems to magically come up with all different handy, unexpected items from his bag, drawer or cabinet. Yesterday, Mohamed, one of the staff members came upstairs while we were having lunch and he asked if Frank perhaps had an air-valve for the football pump. Frank disappeared for a minute and came back with a perfectly fitted valve for the hand pump. Mohamed started smiling and said: "You always have everything!" while happily connecting the pump to the ball. "In Sudan we have a special statement for people who tend to save things very well in their houses", he continued. We had become curious what this could be so we asked him what it was."Frank, in Sudan we believe that people like you live with their grandmothers; they must have taught you how to save so well!"

No water, no trees

Fetching water with donkey carts

In many of the surrounding communities it is hard to find any trees or greenery. The roads are sandy and dusty, and so are most of the compounds of the mud-built houses. One of the local staff members explained, while driving through one of these communities, that the problem is really the water shortage. Because there is no running water system, people have to rely on the so called 'water donkey carts' that fetch water from the river Nile and offer it for sale in the villages. It surely makes sense that individuals therefore prefer to use this precious water for their own living instead of watering the plants or trees in their garden. Recently, there have been some community-based initiatives though to plant and maintain trees in some of these villages. The starting point of these initiatives is that there is a shared responsibility to make the communities greener. I can't wait (-and really hope!-) to see the same villages in a few years time; hopefully with a nice cool glass of water in my hand, seated in the shade of one of the plentiful lovely trees.

Luxury salad

As I explained in my earlier blog messages, the options to go out for dinner in a restaurant in our 'home town' Kosti are very limited. So you can imagine our eagerness for a nice night out during our weekend in Khartoum. We were lucky to be in town for the European Film Festival and we gathered some of Franks colleagues to join us to see the Dutch film 'Kauwboy'. After this really impressive and moving film we proceeded to one of the restaurants that was supposed to be very good and tasty. The menu did look impressive; both  meat and vegetarian options were plentiful. My eye fell on the 'luxury salad' which was even printed in capital letters with an added 'recommendation!' sign. Me and one of the colleagues decided to share one of these highly recommended luxury salads, since the menu stated that it would be a combination of 5 different salads. Frank ordered a chicken dish, but we somehow were so focused and looking forward to this luxury salad, that this chicken dish sounded so 'basic' and dull. Not long after we had ordered, the friendly waiter came back with a plate of some (-as we thought-) appetizers and sauces. We dipped our bread into the sauces, but we very careful not to eat to much in order to keep space for our luxury salad. Frank, in the meanwhile, had been served his chicken meal which really smelled delicious! While we were patiently waiting for our luxury salad to come I stared at the plate of sauces in front of us and suddenly realized something; maybe our highly recommended luxury salad was already standing in front of us? To our great surprise the friendly waiter confirmed this, when we asked him about our desired luxury salad. We looked at each other and started smiling. Somehow we both really had a different image of our selected special dish! Frank couldn't hide his amusement, really enjoying his lovely chicken dish. We learnt our lesson: always ask for some clarification of a luxury menu beforehand! ;)