One evening in Khartoum

Tea with Nada, Mona and Rheem

If arriving in Khartoum had a surreal feeling, leaving again was bittersweet. 

It’s been almost a month since I first landed in this bustling, sprawling, incoherent maze of a city just before dawn. 

During that time I have lucky enough to meet a lovely group of local people who have sat with me over endless cups of tea, sharing wonderful insights that have helped me navigate life in Sudan so far.

On our last night in Khartoum (for awhile), fellow volunteer Robert - was also leaving the following day for his placement in Delgo - and I joined a mutual group of friends at a popular boulevard (although that might be overstating it somewhat) lined with tea ladies and plastic chairs along the banks of the Nile.

Moeze ever the poetic philosopher turned to us on the way and said somberly: “Khartoum will be darker tomorrow...” For a moment we thought he was talking about power cuts until he continued ... “two of its lights are leaving” and we realised rather belatedly he was actually talking about us.

The ladies that joined us spoke limited English, so what followed was a raucous if somewhat bewildering conversation interspersed with rather inexplicable bursts of laughter. 

Moeze our go-between did his best, but most of the humour seemed to be lost in translation. 

Regardless, I was soon laughing a long wholeheartedly with everyone else whether I understood the punchline or not. 

It was the most I’ve laughed in a long, long time and it really was a lovely evening spent with good company. 

Sudanese have a wonderful capacity to make you feel welcomed. 

As we were waiting to take an amjad back downtown, Mona - one of the young ladies - suddenly took my hand (here it’s quite common for lady friends to walk hand and hand) as we strolled down the road. “Beautiful”, she said touching my hair, “beautiful” she said pointing to my blue earrings.

Although I am enjoying getting to know life here, there are moments when I really miss the 

closeness and familiarity of my female friends. 

And even though we had only just met and did not share a common language, I felt so grateful and touched for Mona’s spontaneous gesture.