Simple Pleasures

Khartoum is a city of very few street lights, and even fewer traffic lights. This presents some challenges when walking home at night, as it gets really dark once you turn off the main streets into side streets. Luckily, this is a very safe city to walk around in, so foreigners like myself need not worry too much about dangers lurking in the dark, though one can never be too cautious.

One of the benefits to this darkness, however, is that the stars in the sky are absolutely brilliant and the moon is equally bright. Sitting on my patio looking at the stars tonight, I can see many of the stars and constellations that are difficult to identify in our midnight sky at home. Even the Pleiades, the seven sisters, are visible here.

Looking up I also see one of the many stray neighborhood cats staring down at me. He’s perched on the roof, right above my living room door. These cats climb up the tree right outside my apartment wall and chase each other around the neighborhood every night, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. Occasionally one of them will jump down onto my patio and wait by my living room door for an invitation to come in. As soon as I open the door and shoo them away, they jump back up my walls to the roof, and the chasing begins again. It really is quite funny to watch and listen to.

I’m eating plain pasta for dinner for the third night in a row. Unfortunately, I fell victim to “Sudanese sickness” earlier this week, and I spent one full night and day making frequent trips to the bathroom and resting in bed. Thank goodness for Cipro the wonder drug. 24 hours after taking your first pill, the fever, sweats, and nausea are gone, and within 48 hours you’re back to your normal routine.

Though it’s never fun to be sick, I must admit that I enjoyed the down time to myself for a few days. I’ve been on-the-go ever since I arrived here; between trainings at work, getting moved in and acclimated to my surroundings, meeting new people, and socializing with friends in the evenings, I’ve had very little down time. It seems there are always things going on at the embassies here – German happy hours (with alcohol) every other Tuesday, salsa at the Dutch embassy every Wednesday night, and films, bbqs, bands, and poetry readings at the American, French, and Swedish embassies on a regular basis.

And there are the UN parties. I accompanied friends from Fletcher to a UN party this weekend, and it felt like culture shock; tons of folks, a DJ blasting American music, and tons of alcohol and wasted, happy people. Sudan is considered a “hardship post” for the UN, which means that families and spouses are not allowed, and personnel cannot travel freely outside of Khartoum. It seems the security restrictions, coupled with the lack of a night life here in Khartoum, begin to take a toll after a while, and many revert to their drunken university days when alcohol is available. I am not passing judgment, just noting the situation with intrigue.

One friend made an excellent point; she said, “it’s as if the UN people aren’t really living where they are living.” Because of the security restrictions, few UN staff have the opportunity to meet people outside the UN or venture far into Sudanese culture. They have cars so that they never take public transport. They only eat out at the same five restaurants. In many ways they are isolated, and I’m sure this only fuels the discontent many of them share about living here.

I feel fortunate that I am working this summer with a Sudanese organization, and that I’ve had the opportunity to have both Sudanese and international colleagues and friends here. It’s making for a well-rounded and really enjoyable experience. And for tonight, I am happy to be feeling well again, eating a bowl of pasta, and enjoying a beautiful starry night.