Monday, January 29, 2007
Monday, January 22, 2007
The best and the worst...and a run in with the police
Hi all - I am not sure what is happening to the comments, but people have been putting them there and I cannot publish them...Oh technology...
I thought I would talk a little bit about the worst things in Sudan and then tell you about the best things..
The worst is the dust. It is everywhere, on every part of you, and I wash my clothes every day (lovely lana rooney will attest to such predilicitons) and the water is black. It is in your hair, on your face, on your clothes, you may as well just roll in it.. The other day I went to have a meeting with my boss at the British Council and as I was sitting there I looked down and in horror realised that my white shirt was actually filthy! It literally looked like just before the meeting I had sat in the dirt and rolled from side to side... I commented about how dirty I was, and she agreed! How embarrassing..I had only had it on for a few hours. There is definitley a skill in keeping 'clean'. The Africans have it mastered.
The next, or course is the lack of alcohol. It is easier to get drugs than grog. The other night, with a friend, we drove around on alcohol "missions". It really is rather hilarious. It feels like I am in high school..
The best is the people. Really they are so kind and friendly. Last Friday I went to Nazik's house, a woman I work with now at teh NGO and I invited Anna, her son, Ahmed, and Rachel and they make us lunch, took us to the Sufi dancing and generally opened up their home and hospitality to us. This is so common. People and friendly, warm, welcoming and generous. For what Sudan lacks in so many ways, it makes up for in this area.
That is probably the best thing, the main thing, dare I say the only thing....
I will share a little adventure we had with the police. On Saturday night Trish, Rinee and I went to a flash UN BBQ - it was very good, but the best was yet to come. Rinee and I got a rickshaw home. I have mentioned the drivers, young, teenage and a bit rough. Well after driving us around for 20 minutes, all the back roads (here back roads are dirt tracks), we finally had enough. We got out, said we were not going to pay and went to catch an Amgad (like a taxi). He was furious and demanded that the Amgad driver take us and him to the police unless we paid. We refused. So off we all went to the police station....Mmmmm....my phone battery was low, so was Rinee's and we were not sure where we were.
Now Rinee and I had had a few drinks so we were feeling a little surly. We were NOT going to PAY! This wene round and round for a while. The mood was a little strange, the police were half laughing, half ogling (I did have a very low cut top on) and half angry with us - all in very bad english of course We tried to call Ahmed, his phone was off. We called Mohammed (my volunteer co-ordinator) and Rinee's phone cut out. We called him on mine and mine cut out. So now we were unsure where we were, were fighting with the police and had no way of contacting anyone or being contacted by anyone...mmmmm time to take care, but NO, it was at this point that Rinee decided it was a great time to start yelling at the police. I was horrified. I said RINEE, we are in a fundamentalist state with not a great record for human rights (!) please don't yell at the police! lol.
It could have all gone very badly, but I think they didn't quite know what to make of us and so in the end we paid a little money to the rickshaw driver and they let us go.
The Amjad driver was pissing himself laughing. We took off with him (he'd waited), probably the best fun he'd had in ages, and started home. We sort of acquired a policeman who sat in the front seat on the way and who just kept looking at us and laughing hysterically with the Amjad driver...Who were these wild western women who yelled at the police??
Really the things that happen are never what you expect....Just another day.....
I will post some photos again soon....
I thought I would talk a little bit about the worst things in Sudan and then tell you about the best things..
The worst is the dust. It is everywhere, on every part of you, and I wash my clothes every day (lovely lana rooney will attest to such predilicitons) and the water is black. It is in your hair, on your face, on your clothes, you may as well just roll in it.. The other day I went to have a meeting with my boss at the British Council and as I was sitting there I looked down and in horror realised that my white shirt was actually filthy! It literally looked like just before the meeting I had sat in the dirt and rolled from side to side... I commented about how dirty I was, and she agreed! How embarrassing..I had only had it on for a few hours. There is definitley a skill in keeping 'clean'. The Africans have it mastered.
The next, or course is the lack of alcohol. It is easier to get drugs than grog. The other night, with a friend, we drove around on alcohol "missions". It really is rather hilarious. It feels like I am in high school..
The best is the people. Really they are so kind and friendly. Last Friday I went to Nazik's house, a woman I work with now at teh NGO and I invited Anna, her son, Ahmed, and Rachel and they make us lunch, took us to the Sufi dancing and generally opened up their home and hospitality to us. This is so common. People and friendly, warm, welcoming and generous. For what Sudan lacks in so many ways, it makes up for in this area.
That is probably the best thing, the main thing, dare I say the only thing....
I will share a little adventure we had with the police. On Saturday night Trish, Rinee and I went to a flash UN BBQ - it was very good, but the best was yet to come. Rinee and I got a rickshaw home. I have mentioned the drivers, young, teenage and a bit rough. Well after driving us around for 20 minutes, all the back roads (here back roads are dirt tracks), we finally had enough. We got out, said we were not going to pay and went to catch an Amgad (like a taxi). He was furious and demanded that the Amgad driver take us and him to the police unless we paid. We refused. So off we all went to the police station....Mmmmm....my phone battery was low, so was Rinee's and we were not sure where we were.
Now Rinee and I had had a few drinks so we were feeling a little surly. We were NOT going to PAY! This wene round and round for a while. The mood was a little strange, the police were half laughing, half ogling (I did have a very low cut top on) and half angry with us - all in very bad english of course We tried to call Ahmed, his phone was off. We called Mohammed (my volunteer co-ordinator) and Rinee's phone cut out. We called him on mine and mine cut out. So now we were unsure where we were, were fighting with the police and had no way of contacting anyone or being contacted by anyone...mmmmm time to take care, but NO, it was at this point that Rinee decided it was a great time to start yelling at the police. I was horrified. I said RINEE, we are in a fundamentalist state with not a great record for human rights (!) please don't yell at the police! lol.
It could have all gone very badly, but I think they didn't quite know what to make of us and so in the end we paid a little money to the rickshaw driver and they let us go.
The Amjad driver was pissing himself laughing. We took off with him (he'd waited), probably the best fun he'd had in ages, and started home. We sort of acquired a policeman who sat in the front seat on the way and who just kept looking at us and laughing hysterically with the Amjad driver...Who were these wild western women who yelled at the police??
Really the things that happen are never what you expect....Just another day.....
I will post some photos again soon....
Friday, January 12, 2007
Another day.....
Well my life here is so different and so interesting...For such a large town, it really is a small community. i spend a lot of time with my fellow volunteers and I thought I should tell you about them..
Anna: I spend most time with the lovely Anna. She is a 60 year old vicar's wife and is as hilarious as you would imagine. She swears like a trooper, loves a gin a tonic and is full of vile and vitriole. We have the best fun. She is English, as are most of the vollies, and is always ready with a cup of tea and a joke from her husband (he emails one daily
Rachel: or as Ahmed calls her Raashelllle.... Rachel is a 30 year old retired burlesque dancer (and in a night of confessions a former pole and lap dancer!). She is a Kiwi and has been travelling for 8 years. She oscillates between the goth and the vamp and is always up for any adventures that are on offer.
Renee: works at the British Council and is always light and fun and ready for a night out. She is a former lawyer, turned teacher, turned international adventurer. Her former assignment was in Turkey and her next, who knows. She dates Micheli, an Italian tour guide, who again is the funniest man. When we are all together we laugh all night...
The boys: There is Liam, an English lad who spends his days and nights studying Arabic. His lessons at the moment consist of sitting for hours either in the Sheesa cafe or with the tea ladies and chatting to all and sundry. He is a former engineer, has been living in Palestine and is here for the duration I think.
Young Matt is 22, sweet and full of hormones. I am not sure what he hopes to achieve with the furious texting with all the young sudanese girls, but it seems to fill his time...
Nick is a fellow Aussie - I don't see much of him as he is always off doing something interesting somewhere..
That is sort of it, there are others that come and go, but that is the core group. It has been so much more than I expected...these people....and such a different life than I thought. For eg, last Monday I had an appt at an NGO, after I cam to the British Council where I found Renee, who was having coffee with Angus (a new trainer), Rachel and Anna turned up and we sat and chatted for a good hour. Then I wanted to go to the French centre, so Anna and Angus and I went there. I passed my French exam and enrolled in the next level. Angus has a girlfriend working for Medcin sans Frontier, in the Congo, so he wanted to brush up on his French. While he was organising this, Olivia, the most beautiful girl I have ever seen and again a good friend of Anna's stolled in. She is from Chad/France and so she offered him lessons, we all sat in the French garden drinking tea.. Rachel popped in and we all went to the internet cafe, then we went to Renee's for dinner that night...Micheli came and Mauro (a friend of his from Italy) and we just told stupid stories all night and then raced home in not too safe rickshaws with unlicenced teenage drivers. NOt quite the life one would imagine I was having in Sudan, but really, my days are so extraordinary..
On a more serious note I am now doing volunteer work for two NGOs. I am in the middle of a proposal for a women's centre in Darfur - ie a place devoted to addressing violence against women. I am then going to do a proposal for another NGO on FGM. So all of that is falling into place. My problem now is time. Ahmed is complaining that I am not a very good Muslim wife as I am not devoting all my time to him. I have to agree. But then again I am not a Muslim wife so not much I can do about that... He is good though, he has come back from Egypt and has now gone down south for a week for work. No chance to get sick of him.
That is it. Please write comments in the space below dedicated to comments. It adds to the fun
Anna: I spend most time with the lovely Anna. She is a 60 year old vicar's wife and is as hilarious as you would imagine. She swears like a trooper, loves a gin a tonic and is full of vile and vitriole. We have the best fun. She is English, as are most of the vollies, and is always ready with a cup of tea and a joke from her husband (he emails one daily
Rachel: or as Ahmed calls her Raashelllle.... Rachel is a 30 year old retired burlesque dancer (and in a night of confessions a former pole and lap dancer!). She is a Kiwi and has been travelling for 8 years. She oscillates between the goth and the vamp and is always up for any adventures that are on offer.
Renee: works at the British Council and is always light and fun and ready for a night out. She is a former lawyer, turned teacher, turned international adventurer. Her former assignment was in Turkey and her next, who knows. She dates Micheli, an Italian tour guide, who again is the funniest man. When we are all together we laugh all night...
The boys: There is Liam, an English lad who spends his days and nights studying Arabic. His lessons at the moment consist of sitting for hours either in the Sheesa cafe or with the tea ladies and chatting to all and sundry. He is a former engineer, has been living in Palestine and is here for the duration I think.
Young Matt is 22, sweet and full of hormones. I am not sure what he hopes to achieve with the furious texting with all the young sudanese girls, but it seems to fill his time...
Nick is a fellow Aussie - I don't see much of him as he is always off doing something interesting somewhere..
That is sort of it, there are others that come and go, but that is the core group. It has been so much more than I expected...these people....and such a different life than I thought. For eg, last Monday I had an appt at an NGO, after I cam to the British Council where I found Renee, who was having coffee with Angus (a new trainer), Rachel and Anna turned up and we sat and chatted for a good hour. Then I wanted to go to the French centre, so Anna and Angus and I went there. I passed my French exam and enrolled in the next level. Angus has a girlfriend working for Medcin sans Frontier, in the Congo, so he wanted to brush up on his French. While he was organising this, Olivia, the most beautiful girl I have ever seen and again a good friend of Anna's stolled in. She is from Chad/France and so she offered him lessons, we all sat in the French garden drinking tea.. Rachel popped in and we all went to the internet cafe, then we went to Renee's for dinner that night...Micheli came and Mauro (a friend of his from Italy) and we just told stupid stories all night and then raced home in not too safe rickshaws with unlicenced teenage drivers. NOt quite the life one would imagine I was having in Sudan, but really, my days are so extraordinary..
On a more serious note I am now doing volunteer work for two NGOs. I am in the middle of a proposal for a women's centre in Darfur - ie a place devoted to addressing violence against women. I am then going to do a proposal for another NGO on FGM. So all of that is falling into place. My problem now is time. Ahmed is complaining that I am not a very good Muslim wife as I am not devoting all my time to him. I have to agree. But then again I am not a Muslim wife so not much I can do about that... He is good though, he has come back from Egypt and has now gone down south for a week for work. No chance to get sick of him.
That is it. Please write comments in the space below dedicated to comments. It adds to the fun
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