As you all enjoy your Easter dinners of turkey and ham I wanted to share with you a little what my day will be like. I forget that most people don’t experience these things in the course of their day.
Lately I have been waking up at 7 because the sun in coming up earlier. And if the sun doesn’t wake me up then it is the sound of the gunships or mig’s that fly close enough over the town to remind everyone how powerful this government is. I think even though they may have a purpose and destination to get to, I think they like flying so low to show off a little. So I sit up in bed and because of the night of sweating I pull off the sheets that have stuck themselves to my body. I unzip my bug tent and pull myself off the floor which is often a slow process because this stiff body has had enough of sleeping on the floor with only a thin local cotton mattress between me and the cement. Tomorrow because it is a holiday I will stay in sweaty PJ’s and head outside to the kitchen to make some tea and enjoy a bowl of the $9 corn flakes that we can get here. Saturday’s are pancake days so I usually make up a batch of pancakes from scratch (no pancake mix here) and call the boys from their beds to let them know that pancakes are on their way.
Cell phones are a lovely technology. The one I have here has a great little flashlight on the top which is very handy when the power goes off or using it to just get to my room at night without stepping on dogs, frogs or hedgehogs. Hey that all rhymed! I am very thankful for this cell phone that also serves as my watch because mine broke a while ago. The reason why I talk about these features on my phone and praise them is because I don’t actually use it to call anyone or send anyone a text. Sometimes I try but after the tenth time of trying to get through on the phone or the twentieth text message that fails to send I give up. I would love say that it’s really not that bad but I think I’m being kind. I have tried to call people for three days now and still can not get through. So if I make pancakes in the morning and have to go across the street to pass on the pancake information I have to go and get a wrap because it’s inappropriate to walk the 20 steps across the street with my shoulders showing rather than making a nice quick little phone call. Small inconveniences but when it could be so much simpler, it does start to annoy you.
After breakfast is done I try to think of things to fill my day. I try not to go to the office because if I do I could be there all day and wonder where my holiday went. So sometimes I will head off to the market to get some fresh food or off to the local import shop to get some more of those $9 cornflakes. The market is an experience all on its own. If anyone has ever been to an African outdoor market the smells may be coming back to you now as I mention it. With the slabs of meet hanging in the stalls and the rotting fruit in the streets it invites the flies and the smells that you never forget. I have made a few friends at the market that I buy from all the time. So their greetings are always warm and excited as they see their ‘sister’ Angie come to visit them again. So I can easily find things like oranges, apples (at $2 a piece), bananas, tomatoes, onions and potatoes easily but sometimes I will have to go deeper into the market to get the special items like carrots or green peppers. So once I have my hands full of food and have been fully harassed by kids trying to sell me bags or just people yelling strange inappropriate English words at me I wind back through the market to find the truck. It’s not too hard to figure out which truck is mine, even if all the landcruisers in town are white because I have a big SP logo on the doors and a big SP painted on the hood. Some tell me it’s for security reasons driving in the field so it is clear who we are but I think it’s so I can find the truck in the market after shopping.
Then it’s off to the expat shop called ‘Shiraz’. This is the only shop that we can find things like chips, chocolate bars, butter, sometimes cheese and yogurt and other items that cheer up our lives a little. Again I am greeted by the shop own and am given the guilt trip that I haven’t come to see him in almost a week. I have become what he calls his ‘good friend’ (or as I see as woman with money) so he always gives me a gift of a cold drink and some stale gum before I leave. So I pick up my goods that fit into a couple of plastic bags but cost often around $200 a trip. I head back home and my guards unload my purchases into the house for me because as a woman I can not lift anything that may be perceived as heavy.
Later on in the afternoon when it is too hot to do anything else we all end up on our back porch area and drink cold water and hang out. That is usually where we stay for the rest of the day. Friends will come over with games or just to chat about work stuff and security issues but mainly just to hang out. There is not a lot to do for fun so great conversations have become a must in our world. Sometimes we will make a meal and invite people over – which will happen tomorrow and then the conversations will continue. Someone will pull out their ipod and we plug them into the speakers and listen to all sorts of music since it is a very multinational NGO community. Or someone will pull out the guitar and we enjoy the music. I love this part about my life here. I love the community that surrounds me and that I can talk about all the challenges of working and living in Darfur and people get it! It’s something special that I will never forget. I love the friends that I have made here and they often make the week that much more bearable.
It kind of feels like we are a bunch of teenagers in this strange land of war. Each NGO has different curfews for their staff. So our gathers slowing dwindle not because of their desire to leave but that they have to be back before curfew. Then at the end of the night we are left with the SP crew and usually a couple people from OCHA and WFP that live next door. We end up piling all the dishes on the teetering sink and I’m always happy that we have a cleaning lady coming in to clean up all these dishes. It’s fun to cook and host but still not so fun to clean up after.
I then head back to my room with my cell phone flash light, brush my teeth under the stars and head back to the sweaty sticky bed where I will try and get a good night sleep. So as you eat your ham enjoy it to its fullness. Enjoy your family, enjoy your church services and pray that peace will come to Darfur so that I can join you next year. Happy Easter!
Oh ya – and an update from the last blog. Because of this great new agreement that we have to ease the paper process for humanitarian organizations, our program coordinator got kicked out of Darfur because he still can’t get his papers processed. Oh Sudan
