Settling In

One of the bonuses of living in Omdurman is that to get into Khartoum we have to get a bus.  Well I say bonuses!  Getting a bus in Sudan is quite entertaining and can be a bit of an adventure.  For a start the buses are in keeping with the Sudanese taxis - they have all clearly seen better days and probably not in my lifetime.  There are also different sizes of bus with different prices, and there are also "Amjads" and "Rickshaws" to take you from A to B.  Although they have some bus stops in Sudan, apparently nobody bothers with them, so to hail a bus you simply stand by the roadside and make an appropriate hand gesture.  Appropriate meaning the correct hand signal for the destination that you want to go to!  Quite often a bus going elsewhere will stop just to check where you're heading and often it seems like they are laughing and waving at you as they sail past!

The bus station at Jackson, in Khartoum is a crazily busy place.  There are always crowds of people, loads of market stalls and a fair selection of beggars and juice bars.  The Sunday after we arrived we were standing in the bus station at what we thought was the front of the queue waiting patiently for a bus to take us home.  As the bus pulled into the bay everyone started running towards it, people were throwing themselves through the open windows and others were barging each other out of the way in their haste to get on the bus.  We stood and watched this spectacle twice, wondering how on earth we were going to get home, when we struck up a conversation with a Sudanese student called "Carlos."  He told us not to worry he would help us.  When the next bus pulled up he thrust his bag at Billie and dived on the bus and promptly lay across three seats.  We then joined the malaise pushing and shoving our way onto the bus worried that if we didn't make it Carlos would never see his bag again!  Once on the bus, we chatted to Carlos who turned out to be a student of some of our fellow SVP Volunteers, and when we arrived at our destination he insisted on paying our bus fare in true Sudanese style.  We thanked him profusely as he'd also saved us the humiliation of not being able to get off the bus in the right place due to our combined inability to click our fingers loud enough! The essential skills required to travel by bus are a range of hand gestures, the ability to throw yourself through an open window and be able to click your fingers loud enough for the driver to stop when you arrive at your chosen destination (unless it is the bus station or the end of the line where they'll just tell you to get off anyway!)

Jackson Bus Station, Khartoum

The whole SVP experience at this stage is like "Big Brother" meets "The Apprentice."  The heat is exhausting , and the best way to deal with it is to sleep it off until you get used to it.  So we spend loads of time lazing around, chatting, sleeping etc just like they do on Big Brother, then suddenly the phone will ring and we'll be told to meet Paul at the SVP flat.  Then we have to get ready and jump on a bus (sadly no limos for us!) to complete our latest task.  Thankfully so far no one has been evicted or fired!

It takes time to get all the necessary paperwork to stay and work in the country, so we have to hang loose in  Khartoum until it's all completed.  To help kill the time we have been doing a little bit of sight seeing and venturing out and about in the evenings looking for food.

 A view across the Nile from Tuti Island

Khartoum from the Nile

Some of our adventures using the various methods of transport have proved to be quite entertaining!  One night we decided to give up on the bus and take an Amjad into Khartoum as we were running late.  Not only did we not get dropped off where we had requested but the driver then charged us 30 Sudanese Pounds.  Unfortunately at the time we had no idea of how much it should be, but only realised we'd been ripped off when the driver shared the joke with some friends at the roadside who laughed at the stupid "khawajas" as we walked away.  On another occasion we took a Rickshaw to the Souk up the road from where we live, as we had not said exactly where in the Souk we wanted dropping, the driver just kept on driving all round and into the Souk, down the narrow alley ways.  When it got to the point where he was having to kick cardboard boxes out of his way to get past we realised our mistake and made our apologies and got out!

To help us get a flavour of what to expect Tom and some of the other existing volunteers have invited us to join them at their English Clubs.  It was great to finally get the opportunity to meet some students and chat with them.  The most common question they ask (often in near perfect English) is "how can I perfect my English?" or "What do I need to do to become an expert English speaker?"  As someone who is appalling at learning languages I am often impressed by how well other nationalities speak our language, but here it is the overwhelming enthusiasm and passion for English that continues to amaze me.  Before I arrived in Sudan I'd had a conversation with one of my daughter's friends about my plan to teach English here, to which he responded "Oh, so you're going there to teach them to speak English so they can come over and take our jobs."  To which I'd replied that I hadn't really thought about it like that.  Well even if I had, nothing could be further from the truth.  If we think our post graduate unemployment situation is bad, it's nothing compared to Sudan's.  During my short time here I have met people with Masters Degrees driving Amjads and many post graduates working in shops or doing what ever they can to make ends meet.  Even graduating top of your class does not guarantee future employment.  To get one of the coveted jobs with a major company or government department, excellent English is a necessity.  A good command of the English language also increases job prospects in neighbouring African and Arab countries.

My most humbling experience so far was visiting the Evangelical School in Omdurman.  We were invited to their Open Day and when we arrived there were a few people milling about around a small outdoor arena.  By the time we were guided to our seats and had got settled at least 200 people had assembled and surrounded us.  Tom introduced himself and explained who we were and we took turns to step into the centre and introduce ourselves and invite the students to ask us questions.  Everyone who spoke thanked us profusely for honouring them with our presence.   After the question and answer session various students made contributions ranging from speeches and poems to raps and drama sketches.  At the end of the session it was almost impossible to get away as everyone wanted to introduce themselves, shake your hand and talk to you.  For a brief moment I felt I knew what it was like to be a celebrity!

The students are so warm and welcoming I now feel confident that I'm going to thoroughly enjoy my time teaching here.