Don't Stand on the Toilets

It appears as though we will be in stuck in Khartoum for a little longer before heading to southern Sudan. One of the main problems is that our barrack boxes containing all of our essential equipment and medical supplies still has not been released by customs. This being said, we are trying to keep ourselves busy and have had the opportunity to do some exploring.

During our walks from the base to where we were staying at Canada House it is always an adventure dodging traffic. The vehicles have the right of way here, no matter what. One day a woman completely covered in a “hijab” (traditional clothing worn by Muslim women covering everything, but their eyes) tried to get us to sign a piece of paper. It appeared that she may have wanted to come to Canada. Everyone thinks it is that easy and all they need is a signature from us to come and live in Canada. There was also a gathering of several Muslims outside of Canada House where we were living, that had travelled from their village to Khartoum for a funeral. One of the men from their village was living and had been in a car accident and killed in Khartoum. They celebrated the funeral for 3 days and we passed by them every morning and afternoon heading to and from work.

The poverty here is extreme. I wish I could have taken more photographs to show you just how bad it is, but as I have said before, we could have been arrested if caught by the police or the Sudan Armed Forces. Several IDP’s (Internally Displaced People) are living in Khartoum. These people fled their villages after they were attacked in southern or western Sudan and relocated to Khartoum. They make huts out of whatever they can find including cardboard, scrap metal and wood, and live on the dirt floor. The other day while walking home there was a young male just getting out of a garbage bin. As we walked by I could see him and another young male digging through one of the bags pulled from the bin. Then they started eating it. I bought some bread and a litre of Coke (there was no water) and took it to them. It looked like they were eating some rice that had been thrown away together with some rotten tomatoes and maybe other vegetables. I don’t know, it was hard to tell. They did not speak Arabic and said what I believe to be thank you in their native tribal language. One of the young men took a piece of the bread, broke it in half giving it to his friend, and they continued to eat the garbage with the bread putting the rest of the food aside.

I realize that we have people living on the streets in Canada that will eat out of the garbage cans when they need to, but in a lot of ways these people, in my mind, had a decision to make at some point in their lives. Despite what may have caused them to start living on the streets in the first place, they still had somewhat of a choice. These people in Sudan never had a choice when rebels entered their villages and burned their homes, killed most of the men, raped the women and took them as slaves, and in some cases took the children to train and become soldiers for their cause. There is also a division between the people from the south and the people from northern Sudan in Khartoum. The people of Khartoum do not like the southern Sudanese people and a lot of the time will tear down their huts. However, the Muslim men do not work. They lay around all day in the shade and do nothing, thus they tolerate the southern Sudanese people because they are the one’s doing all of the work.


Later dudes…and dudettes,


Gonzo

A little reminder not to stand on the toilets. And the paper is not for writing your friend a letter either