Kjeks og spagetti

Nå er det over to uker siden vi landet i Sudan for andre gang, og over en uke siden vi kom tilbake til Port Sudan, kontoret vårt, våre frivillige og hverdagslivet. Det er lite som har forandret seg siden vi dro, og vi har hatt travle dager. Vi har holdt en kapasitetsbyggingsworkshop denne uka, og planen er å holde en hver uke framover.

Den siste uka har det også vært spagettilaging- og kjeksbakingsopplæring på ett av kvinnesentrene i Port Sudan. Røde Halvmåne har investert i bakeutstyr og ovner til de tre kvinnesentrene organisasjonen driver i byen. Etter endt opplæring kan kvinnene komme hit fem dager i uka og benytte seg av fasilitetene. Da må de selv kjøpe ingredienser, og kvinnene velger om de vil lage spagetti, kjeks, honning og syltetøy til eget bruk, eller om de vil begynne å selge det i nabolaget eller til den lokale kremmeren. Slik kan kvinnene også bidra med penger til familiens økonomi, i tillegg til at det kvinnelige fellesskapet styrkes gjennom arbeidet på senterne.



Spagettideig lages


Deigen går gjennom en spagettimaskin


Ferdig spagetti


Kvinnene selger ferdige varer

Three months in Sudan

I have been sitting at the headquarter office in Khartoum today, the same place I was three months ago. In a couple of hours I am leaving for Norway to spend Christmas in Oslo. It seems absurd to leave; 29 degrees, aircondition and crowded streets will soon be replaced by -9, shopping hysteria and snow (insha'allah).

The past three months have gone by fast. The life in Port Sudan has become "normal", after cracking a few codes, both language and culture wise. Things that were hard in the beginning, like the non-existence of planning and a different concept of time, are now completely natural to me. So natural that I was (after Norwergian standards) almost embarrassingly ill-prepared for some presentations in Kassala branch earlier this week.

Ingvild practicing her Arabic (cracking that language code!)

The workshops we have worked a lot with in our branch in the Red Sea State are highly appriciated by the volunteers, and telling them about the Red Cross/Red Crescent movement, giving them tools to feel ownership to both the organisation, the activities and their communities is important to us. Our goal is to fully implement the volunteer structure decided in Khartoum. This specific goal motivates us and the volunteers and has created a great working environment.

Ingvild explaining the structure of the Sudanese Red Crescent

I am explaining the different roles in the unit committees

We still have a long way to go, and I am already looking forward to going back to Port Sudan in January to continue what we have started.

I love Kassala!

Last weekend, we visited Kassala branch to see how the Sudanese Red Crescent Society is working in other places. Here are some pictures from the three days we spent there.

Presentations

Taha translating

Sexual Health presentation

IHL presentation (playing Raw War)


Picnic in al-Rimela

Music and dancing

Curious children in a tree near by

"Authentic Africa"

And camels!

Sunset

Graduation ceremony for volunteers - we got a tob!

The second day of Eid al-Adha at our friend As-Sadiq's place.

Short tea break before getting the sheep..

The sheep, preslaughter
The sheep, post-slaughter




Preparing the meat'
Breakfast

On the phone, scheduling our next visit

Morgenstund har gull i munn

Nesten hver morgen trasker Ingvild og jeg innom kaffedama vår på hjørnet. Hun har satt opp stoler og små bord, en slags mobil kafé. Selv sitter hun bak en gammel kommode hvor hun har kaffebønner, kopper, sukker og jeg vet ikke hva. Når vi kommer for å bestille vår daglige kanne jabnah til å ta med, har hun som regel brent og malt kaffebønnene allerede. Vi håndhilser og slenger oss ned på hver vår plaststol. Hun koker opp kaffen på en liten kullgrill, og tilføyer litt kardemomme og ingefær. (Selv er jeg ikke så glad i for mye ingefær, men sudanerne er helt gale etter det, får jeg inntrykk av.) Kaffen helles fra kjele til kanne uten at så mye som en dråpe går tapt. Tre små fingerbølkopper, jabnah-kannen og sukker plasseres på et lite brett, som vi balanserer med oss over gata og inn på kontoret. Få minutter senere spaserer de første frivillige inn; de vet hvor de kan finne dagens første kaffekopp.

A story with a happy ending

It’s 2 p.m., I am sitting in my office and showing a young boy the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Lillehammer in 1994 on youtube.

Mahmoud, volunteer coordinator, Ingvild and Alex, who speaks a little Eritreaen, and our new friend in our office.

Two hours earlier, my boss delegated the responsibility of this kid to me and Ingvild. He is from Eritrea and has been in Port Sudan for some weeks. His family lives in Norway. The Norwegian authorities had asked the Red Crescent for help in tracing our new friend after his family found out he was in Port Sudan.

He understands some English, speaks a bit Arabic, and after hours of patient drawing, asking, miming and googeling, I understand that he left his country because he was going to be enrolled in the army. The young boy walked for over a week to the border of Sudan. Once here, he got robbed for all his belongings. He walked for days and then hitch hiked to Port Sudan. He ate whatever was left on the side of the road and found water by digging in the ground. In Port Sudan, he was approached by a fellow Eritrean who immediately took him to his home. This is where our friend was found by the Red Crescent.

Learning the alphabet in Norwegian

Our young friend will leave for Khartoum, and hopefully, he will be in Norway to celebrate Christmas with his family.

Sun, heat and presidents

My adrenaline is pumping while I scan the audience around me, just waiting for another woman to faint. I ignore the two presidents on the stage only ten meters away from me. My biggest priority now are the masses of women around me. It is at least 30 degrees, the sun is burning, and the water tanks have been empty for over an hour. There is no system here; people are pushing from all directions to get closer to the stage. Some of them have been here since 7 o’clock in the morning, and since most Sudanese eat their breakfast at 10 or 11, they are not exactly well prepared for hours of standing. The police men are hitting the girls and women in the front, pushing them back with long sticks; completely ignoring the fact that these people are being pushed by hundreds of others from behind. The school girls next to me are crying, they are not allowed to leave by their teacher, since she has the responsibility for them. In the end, one of them faints. Me and my Red Crescent colleagues pick her up and try to make our way through the crowd towards the ambulances. During the four hours we are working, around 70 people are transported to the hospital this way.

I understand that a presidential visit is a big event, but the organizers could have done a better job. When the water tanks are empty at 9.30 and the police are hitting and pushing crying women further away, this means that the event could have been better prepared. I am happy to do my job as a Red Crescent volunteer, but preventive work, like enough water, a shaded area to relax in and fences would have been helpful.


Volunteers preparing for the big day