Getting Started

The Anglican church

The maize field belonging to the church

We arrived but this was the first part of the process and things move slowly.  Having come from Khartoum, Medani is a pleasant sight.   There are trees!  And we saw some grass!  Our temporary apartment block is a couple of hundred yards from the River Nile which is lined by green parks with swings and slides for children and seating areas for relaxing.  Across the road are rows of tea ladies and juice bars and people sit around chatting and relaxing with friends.  It has a real seaside feel and is very pleasant.

We took a little walk around early evening the day after we arrived and found an Anglican church.  We had a look around and met the Bishop and had a good chat with him about his visits to England and the work they were doing here.  He showed us around the place which consists of a few small buildings one of which houses five computers.  I am quite excited about this as it is an opportunity to teach skills and English at the same time and so my brain starts doing somersaults thinking about what I can do here.  However, what hit me like a bolt was seeing blackboards fixed to various points on the outside of the buildings with seats arranged under nearby trees.  These informal outside classrooms are where young people come for English lessons after they have been at school or university.  They hang around the church because they know that this is where they can learn and practice their English.  They come because they need to and the Church meets that need.

Makeshift Classroom

Jessica was an SVP volunteer in Wad Medani before us and she had given us the names of some people from an English School that she volunteered at and we asked the Bishop if he knew them.  Of course he did and so Rose came over when she finished teaching and took us to the English Institute.  We met Doris, a German woman married to a Sudanese man and had lived all over Africa but came to settle here when her husband retired.   (My description does not do justice to this very interesting woman who has done some amazing stuff)  We met James as well; both he and Rose run the little English Language Institute.  It had a lovely atmosphere, like an oasis of calm.

We then met up with Christine who is doing her 3^rd year of her language degree in Sudan and is due back to the UK next week.  We all went along to Nile street, ate pizza and drank tea.

In fact this is all we seem to do all day.  We go over to the Ministry of Education, sit around and drink tea and chat, hand over a piece of paper.  Then we go somewhere else and do the same.  Patience, patience.

Our home town - Wad Medani

View from a Rakshar in Medani

We have been hanging around for what seems like forever and so we were very excited to be travelling to our final destination (not that final!)  The journey itself was fairly seamless and we arrived in Wad Medani after a 2 ½ hour air-conditioned coach ride and were picked up immediately and taken to our temporary accommodation by people from the Ministry of Education.

The accommodation is quite plush, with ceramic floor tiles, air conditioning in all rooms, double glazing and comfortable furniture.  We were told that we would be here for 2 or 3 days and we also guess that our permanent accommodation will not be as salubrious as this so we are making the most of it.   Take-away lunch is brought for us all and we sit around and chat for a while with the Ministry people for a while.  They leave and tell us that they will ring at 6 to make sure we have everything we need for our evening meal and that is that.

The apartment is on the 3^rd floor and some poor lad had carried our 6 bags up the stairs and so we asked Rami how much we should give as a tip and he said 3 or 4 pounds. We gave Rami 5 and asked him to give it to him on his way out but Rami couldn’t find him and so instead put the money on my phone.

At 6 this same boy turns up and asks us about food and so assuming he had been sent by the Ministry we gave him our order for food.  He spoke only very little English but he explained that his brother has a market stall and would we like some oranges or bananas?  So he went and bought us a kilo of each. We also took the opportunity of giving him the tip for carrying up the bags.  He came back again later, asking us whether we wanted some meat.  There followed a long conversation about meat and we said no we didn’t want any.  Then he came back with a frozen chicken and a couple of packs of meat.  We said no again.   He was hard to get rid of.  We were suspecting that he wasn’t from the Ministry at all but acting under his own initiative and we were feeling really put out by his persistence.  Echoes of Ethiopia.

The next day he was back again.  Banging on the door asking if we wanted food.  We told him no but he kept on.  Martin went down to buy something from the shops but the guy was behind him harassing him and so he came back up without buying anything.  The next day as we were walking out he stops us and tells us that the money we gave him wasn’t enough for carrying so many bags – it was “Little money”.  He asked us the same thing next time.

It got to the point that we stopped answering the door and it was only after persistent banging last night that we opened the door and he had brought us up a visitor who we had met the day before who didn’t have my number but knew where we lived.

She told us that he was Ethiopian.  Well that explained everything as this was our experience in Ethiopia and were beginning to think it was going to be a Sudanese approach as well.  What a relief.

Ethiopians are not liked here.  I don’t think it is for any particular reason other than the fact that they are immigrants.  During famine times, many Ethiopians crossed the border to The Sudan and have stayed and many go looking for work here as it certainly appears to be more prosperous that what we saw in Ethiopia.  From what I can see, all countries do this when they have groups of immigrants coming into their country, no different to us or the US in this respect.

On being Tee-total

The issue with alcohol is a funny thing.  Neither of us are big drinkers and the thought of not being able to drink in the Sudan didn’t seem like a problem.  In Ethiopia after school had finished we would go to the hotel and have a couple of beers maximum three while we used the internet.  I think I had a vodka and tonic on one occasion.  But here, knowing that there is no alcohol is very strange. 

There are lots of café / bars where you can get delicious fruit juices and milk shakes, coffees, teas and other soft drinks but no alcohol.  A glass of rose wine would be nice or a large vodka with lots of ice and tonic but I can’t and I feel cross that I can’t.  I keep saying let’s have a beer or shall I open up a bottle of red? Or get those beers out of the fridge.  I think I am sharing my crossness.  I can’t explain it but I feel like showing off about it.  I resent being unable to have even one cold beer. 

There is of course alcohol here – the home-made kind and when we had this delicious date juice drink, our SVP friend said “Ohhhh if you leave this 3 days …..” so drinking does happen among the locals.  I miss the effects of being a bit tipsy and giggly.  I didn’t think I’d miss the social aspects of drinking either but I do. It's not quite the same getting together with people and then remaining completely sober without a glass of wine in my hand.  To add to this but I don’t like fizzy drinks or sweet juices and a tea or coffee doesn’t really hit the spot. It all adds to the excitement as Rebecca (SVP volunteer) likes to say!

However, it’s like always being the designated driver and it is quite irritating.

A village wedding

The women's section at one stage of a village wedding

Sudanese weddings are a series of events that take place over many days.  I don’t know what they are yet but we were invited to the event where the men jump up and down and beat the groom with sticks while the women and children watch.  I have no more information to give you at this point.

When we arrived we were treated like celebrities.  Chairs were made available for me and Rebecca with the women and the children swarmed around us wanting their picture taken.  Not to be outdone the women also got up and danced and wanted their picture taken too!

Children crowded around us - we caused quite a disruption

This lady did not want to be left out and strutted her stuff

Men dancing and getting ready to jump

Boys on a wall watching the men jump

It was all a bit overwhelming to be honest and after a while we were whisked off again because apparently the event was not being organised well enough.

On the way back to the house we stopped while Rami met up and chatted with all his mates by the Nile where the river had burst its banks.  There were several children swimming in the river and we were all envious and wanted to jump in.  However I was warned by my practice nurse to stay away from all water in Africa hahaha so I didn’t even dip my toes in.

Boys swimming in the Nile

How many thousands of years have boys been doing this in this same spot?

Since mankind started to live by the Nile, boys have been doing this same activity!

And what a fantastic evening view of the Nile.

The Nile

The Nile

The Nile

A Glimpse of Village Life

A painted gate is the only adornment form the outside of the houses

Rami one of the co-ordinators at SVP invited the new arrivals to stay in his village and visit the pyramids at Meroe (pronounced merrow-ay).  Naturally we were very excited about this and said “YES PLEASE!” and so we set off in a minibus for the 3 hour journey north of Khartoum to the town of Shendi which is the main town near to Rami’s village.  Rami had ordered in advance for a fish to be set aside for us for lunch.  It was a huge fish and it was prepared and freshly cooked for us at a little café and was absolutely delicious!  We washed it down with a pint of some kind of date juice drink which had a distinct undertone of sherry and we were informed that if this was left for 3 days mmmmmmm.  I guess this would be pretty potent by then!

It was very hot by then and so we had the choice to go and see the pyramids now or go to his village and to rest for a while.   We opted for the rest as we were suffering enough with the heat and the last thing we wanted was to be fried in the open air, pyramids or no pyramids.

Another 40 minute drive and we arrived at the village (whose name escapes me) and Rami shook hands and hugged every person we saw!  The thing with these villages is that they look like they have emerged from the earth itself.  The houses are made from the same material as the earth and are not painted on the outside.  In fact the only adornment is a painted gate to the compound. 

We first visited Rami’s Grandfather of whom we had heard stories about and was a bit in awe of him.  He was certainly feared by Rami.  When he was a boy, he had arranged to meet his Grandfather at a certain place to go to the market with him, but he got distracted and forgot about him and went another route and stayed all day at the market.  When he came back, he found his Grandfather still waiting for him in the same place, for the past 10 hours. He asked him why he didn’t make his way on his own and the Grandfather said that he had promised to meet him and therefore he would wait until he met his promise.  Rami said that this taught him never to break a promise.  Another story was when his Grandfather caught a thief and instead of reporting him to the police he put a padlock though the thief’s nose.  The thief thought he had got off lightly and went off but came back a week later snivelling and asked for the key.

We were all welcomed into the Grandfather’s  house, a single story mud-clad building with a flat roof.  What a surprise when we went in!  Ceiling fans, TV and very comfortable and also very spacious!  Very deceptive from the outside!  We just stayed long enough for him to pay his respects and then went onto his Aunt’s place.  When we arrived, we drove through the gate and were met by a maze of buildings and courtyards.  The compound is divided into a women’s area and a men’s area but luckily for us we were given a room of our own as we are a couple.  The house was well equipped, with TV, ceiling fans, cooker, fridge-freezer and another freezer for the water.

An outside wall within the compound

Another Courtyard

Inside view of a bedroom with a very droopy Martin suffering with the heat

One of the outside courtyards.  At night the TV is brought out and everyone lays in the open air on the beds

Martin and Rebecca resting 

Kitchen with all mod cons

Nice little storage jars

The village is on the banks of the Nile and is quite spread out.  There is virtually no noise - something which was particularly noticeable as the city of Khartoum is incredibly noisy!  The village is built up using local materials and this gives the impression that it has just emerged form the earth.  The land is very flat and sandy and it has a look of a beach full of sandcastles when the children have gone home.

The rest of the village consists of similar houses.

Here are some pictures.

Village view

Village view - looks like sandcastles drying out on the beach!

Village view

Village view with Nile overflow

Nile overflow - great for paddling

Nile overflow

Nile overflow

The Heat

The heat is unbearable.  It is like being fried.  Most of the time we are inside where the temperature without air-conditioning day and night is a steady 90 degrees  (32).  In Georgia I used to measure the extent of my chest infection / colds by how many packets of hankies I got through in a day.  (“I’m down t 4 a day now!” But here it is the number of showers I take in a day.  In the SVP flat I was on at least 7 a day – I even got up in the middle of the night to have a shower and spent my time in the flat wrapped in my sheet.  Actually, I did that because the other volunteer was doing the same but it turned out that that was a special sarong she had brought with her for that very purpose and so I must have seemed very strange to be wearing my bed clothes all day and night.

If we come back to the flat in the middle of the day the first thing we do is to switch on the air-con in the bedroom (used as a treat), plus the fan, get naked, cold shower, don’t dry and lay on the bed in icy ecstasy.  It is of course short-lived but it’s what keeps me going from stepping out of the taxi, crossing over the busy road and making our way up to the third floor.

The water here is never cold.  It comes from a water tank on top of the building and depending on when in the day you shower it will range from tepid to hot.  The best time for a cold shower is at 5 in the morning as this is the longest time the tank has not been exposed to the sun.  The water is cool. 

The same thing goes for water for drinking.  We freeze bottles of water and then it stays reasonably cold for a while but at night, if we leave a bottle by the bed, by morning it is quite warm.  In fact I have drunk colder tea.

In my first few days here, even though I was drinking a lot of water, I nearly passed out through the heat when walking. My head would start to feel really heavy and I would get lights before my eyes and I just had to get out of the sun (we were mostly walking in shade) and sit down.  It’s a different matter when you are on holiday and you sit in the shade reading your book and drinking cold beer and you wonder how people can actually do the housework or shopping in this heat.  We can do nothing.  However after a week my body adjusted to the heat somewhat and I was down to 4 showers a day!  I think school starts early and so this wont be too bad when we are finally placed in schools.

The other thing is that most of the side roads are unmade which means that there is a lot of sand around.  You know what it’s like when you walk on a hot beach, barefoot?  Well it is a similar effect when you are wearing sandals here with the sand flicking up under your feet.

We are Here!

Sunrise over Cairo

Our flight to Khartoum left at 4:30 in the morning which meant that we needed to be at the airport at around 1:30.  It was a 3 hour drive to Addis from Nazret and so it felt like we had been travelling all day.  We had an 8 hour layover at Cairo and looked into doing a quick tour to the Pyramids at Giza while we waiting.  However, we had a problem with both our debit cards and could not get any money out at Cairo airport and so were technically potless.  However, we had internet and the time passed quickly enough.  Luckily we had stocked up on custard cream variants (banana and strawberry) and with the disappointing airline food stave off any emergent hunger pains.

Coming into Land in Khartoum

We arrived at Khartoum at 18:30 and were met by Rami and taken by taxi to the SVP flat not too far from the airport.  It was still very hot and we had to carry up the bags to the third floor – no lifts – which was a killer.  We have been separated too which is a killer!  There are only 2 bedrooms and for convenience and modesty have been designated a boys and a girls room.  Since our marriage we have spent only 2 or 3 nights at most and hate it!  The “girls” as we are being gallantly called are myself and Rebecca who is 5 days younger than me and the “boys” are Martin and a young man called Raj.

We were invited straight away to a wedding which I badly wanted to accept but after a shower I realised that I was actually too exhausted to do anything else!

We spent the next day sorting out our stuff which meant repacking so that we could have to hand what we might need for our time in the flat.  We were in desperate need of money as we had no cash at all and Sudan does not use VISA.  I had to ring home and ask Neal to go to a Western Union office and wire us money! 

It is really, really hot.  So hot you don’t want to go out.  So hot you want to just keep getting in the shower and drying off under the ceiling fans.  The covering up is an issue.  I wrapped a scarf over my chest, shoulders and arms which is socially acceptable but means that I am trussed up and worried about falling apart when I walk!  My solution is to tuck various ends under my bra straps and this is doing the trick!

Last night I got up in the early hours of the morning and showered; then switched on the ceiling fan in the bedroom and lay there lovely and cool.  I have felt faint a couple of times with the combination of heat and exertion.  It shouldn’t take too long to acclimatise (I hope)

There is a lot more choice of food to eat here than when we were in Nazret.  There are several good café style restaurants that we have seen and have had some delicious food.  Barbequed chicken is a dish that is commonly seen on street corners and is delicious.  We haven’t eaten a bi g piece of meat and virtually no chicken for 2 months so it is a big thrill! 

The charity has to apply for travel visas for us and we also have to have an HIV test.  The we will all be shipped off to our respective posts.

We are in Wad Medani (3 hours bus ride), Raj is going to be based in Khartoum, teaching at University, and Rebecca is going to be based north of Khartoum in Ed Dammer (5 hours bus ride).  She will be very close to Meroe where there are pyramids. Apparently, there are more pyramids in Sudan than in Egypt and with virtually no tourists as well.  This is something that I am particularly looking forward to doing!

There are no land lines in Sudan and so everyone has to have a mobile phone and a dongle for the internet.  Later tonight, Rami is coming over and taking us to buy a dongle each and to get our phones unlocked.  I will let you know my new number!  My old mobile number is now defunct.  I know many people change their numbers regularly but this was my first number and I have had it since 1997 – 15 years!  Is that a record I wonder?!

Scary mask from the Ethnographic Museum in Khartoum

Another one

The stuff of Nightmares

Practicalities

East Africa here we come! Ethiopia and then The Sudan!

There’s a lot of planning and organising to do especially as we have to sort out plans for Ethiopia and wind-down from Georgia and then there’s also things to sort out in England.  We haven’t enough money that’s a bit of a nuisance!

A lot of research went into the flights and different combinations were investigated but as prices were going up we had to buy them quickly.  A quick moving around of our finances allowed us to buy our flights but it means that we do not have any English money to draw on while we are in Georgia.  So flights are booked, and we leave England on Wednesday 4^th July for Ethiopia, and then from Ethiopia to Sudan on Saturday 25^th August.  Unfortunately we do this via Cairo with a 7 hour layover but the direct flights had gone by the time we could rustle up the cash to book.

Naturally we don’t really have a clue what we are letting ourselves in for in the Sudan and so it is always difficult to prepare!  We have learnt from Georgia that we need as much TV series and films downloaded onto our laptops as possible.  Not forgetting good speakers.

Also we have now acclimatised to the cost of living in Georgia.  When we arrived last year, everything seemed so cheap but that was comparing it with English prices.  I am glad that when we arrived we made trips to Armenia and the Svaneti region of Georgia as I don’t think we could justify spending that sort of cash 10 months on! (What? 100lari?!!! - £27)  We no longer have any English reserves in our bank accounts to soften the blow and so we are trying to buy what we can in Georgia to save us paying English prices.

We have to get meningitis jabs and 12 month boosters for Hep A and B (Martin) and Hep B (me).  There is not a lot of difference in price between Georgia and the UK for meningitis but Hep B for me is £76 in UK and only £23 in Georgia.  Martin’s Hep A and B are free for him.  We also have to get a medical form signed which confirms our inoculations and general health.  This was going to cost £110 each!!!!! However, I wrote a pleading letter to the Practice manager and they will only charge us £75.  Still a lot of money for us but a good result!  We also have to pay for a police check (£25) and 3 months of health insurance (£75).  The charity will pay for health insurance after that.   We receive a stipend to live on in the Sudan, but I can’t remember how much!  It will be enough to cover our expenses so probably similar to what we get in Georgia and accommodation is provided.  We need to buy medication as well to take for at least the first month or so, but will buy these in Georgia as it will be much cheaper.  We need malaria meds, high blood pressure meds for me, painkillers, diarrhoea meds and maybe some anti-biotics.  I expect meds will also be cheap in Sudan.  I still have to check out the prices of insect repellent as from what I hear they are evil little sods that will penetrate denim!

We need to take a deet-impregnated mosquito net for our bed.  It is likely that we will have two single beds pushed together and so the pop-up double net will not be suitable.  So we are going for a king-size version that we have to hang from the ceiling. We will have to take extra fittings in case it is difficult to put up.

Sudan is a Muslim country and as a woman I have to be very conservative in my dress.  However as a foreigner I won’t be stoned if I am seen in public in trousers but intend to abide by the rules when teaching.  This means long skirts or trousers with long tops; no cleavage showing and long sleeves.  I have been advised that cotton is the fabric of choice because it is so hot and it would be unbearable wearing man-made fabric.  Black is the colour of choice for women’s clothes in Georgia but I have found an orange paisley loose top and a lime green top with fake sapphires over the chest!  I am delighted and my friend said ”It is very you”  so make of that what you will!  I also bought a long black skirt which is light-weight and so this is the basis of my Sudanese wardrobe.  I thought I would check out the Indian stalls in Stratford or Whitechapel  as I am sure I will find something suitable there.

We are seriously down-sizing the stuff we have in Georgia.  There is no point in taking home any winter clothes as we will not use them for at least a year maybe longer and so I will give them to the teachers here.  There is probably a suitcase full of winter clothes which is not surprising given that we have just spent 6 months in freezing snow!  But we also have a colour printer, kitchen and bedding stuff and modems to get rid of.  I have found buyers for the expensive stuff but hoping that they actually pay the money when it comes to it as the stuff isn’t really available until just before we leave.

We are also trying to sort out the teaching resources we need.  We want to buy the pupil books for the MacMillan English World to take with us as we have copied the DVDs onto our laptop and we are scanning in the pupil work books.  It makes sense as we are familiar with the books and they are a good resource, but they are aimed at primary level children and as we will be teaching secondary school level they will not in themselves be directly useful.  But we can use them in Ethiopia and in the future.  Chalk, colouring pencils and other stationary is also cheaper here than in the UK so we will be looking to buy some resources here to take with us.

And then what resources to leave in Georgia?  Originally we thought we would leave the printer and laminators with the schools but now we realise that they will not use them!  But I will make a pack up of images and word cards, worksheets and tests that I think they might use and do the same for our school back in the village.

There is a lot of preparation and only 3 weeks left to sort it out.  Problem is that I have just got over a three week cold / chest infection and now moved onto the number 2 health Georgian health issue – stomach upset which has left me with no energy at all.

Will really be glad to leave Georgia!

Going to the Sudan

Last July, three weeks before we were due to board the plane for South Korea to teach English in the public schools, we were told that we had not been accepted after all despite being told by our agent that there was no problem at all.  When the email arrived saying “I am sorry for my impatient action” by way of an apology for leading us up the garden path I just couldn’t help but laugh.  We had rented out both our houses and prepared ourselves for a year away from home and had had an early Christmas dinner for the family (22 people) in July in the garden, with a Christmas tree, decorations, “Secret Santa”, crackers and carols; not forgetting a lovely traditional Christmas dinner.

We were a bit stunned to say the least but we researched alternatives, China, Taiwan and then applied for the Republic of Georgia (which incidentally was Martin’s first choice originally).  Conscious of not having had a plan B for South Korea, I decided to make sure we had one if Georgia didn’t work out and this is how I found out about the Sudan Volunteer Program (SVP). 

We exchanged a few emails with David Wolton and then met up in London for a cup of coffee and a look at some photos.  The problem was that they already their quota of volunteers but at that time were going through the process of confirming that everyone was actually going and so it was a bit of a waiting game.  The charity worked closely with the universities in Sudan and placed volunteers to teach university students English.  What we loved about it was the immediacy of the process; we had a chat and then signed up.  How this contrasted with the rigor of the South Korean EPIK program where we had to DHL a dozen documents at a significant cost and under immense time pressure.  This seemed so civilised!  And so the plan B became our plan A and it was a matter of waiting to see which one came through first.  When Georgia came through first Sudan was put on the back burner as a future plan.  Deep down I thought maybe we would never end up going there but as it turns out we will be spending a year there starting in September.

We didn’t know what we would be doing for the academic year 2012 to 2013.  It was February 2012 when we started to seriously think about what we wanted to do and then we weren’t really sure.  One option was to do another semester in Georgia and then travel around for 9 months, maybe get some volunteering work en-route, maybe India.  A young American woman in our Georgian cohort had met the love of her life in Tbilisi, a Nigerian student, and was planning a summer wedding in Nigeria.  “Why don’t we go to the wedding and then find a project for the summer?” we discussed and then we could go straight to the Sudan from there as it was so close!  So that was the seed but we didn’t have a firm plan.  Then a couple of weeks later, I was discussing our options with another TLGer and she told me about a volunteering opportunity in Ethiopia.  She had been there herself and said that we would love it and they would love us.  It was a school run by an English woman and her Ethiopian husband for poor children.  More research and emails and we were accepted to teach summer school at the English Alive Academy, in Nazret, just outside Addis Ababa; and so we applied to go to the Sudan for September, straight from Ethiopia.  (See separate blog for Ethiopia)  As it turned out our friends have decided to marry in the USA.

SVP have now introduced another program, working in secondary schools and they asked if we would like to be part of this new venture to which we agreed.  Our experience s in Georgia have made us (well me really) realise that I definitely do not want to be stuck in a very rural area without easy access to amenities and so we requested Khartoum as our base.

We just found out that we are part of a team of 6 teachers who will work in secondary schools in Khartoum.  We will each be teaching in 2 schools (single sex) the oldest classes, aged 15 to 16.  Apparently, first year university students are aged 16 to 19 so this is really pre-entry.  We are very excited about this and very happy about how the next year is looking.