Did you ever imagine visiting Khartoum, Sudan!? (05/03/01)

Well, before I delve into Khartoum, let me give a couple other snippets of the past few days.

The day I sent my last email from Gedaref I tried something called "tumbak" or "soud" for the first time. It is a very strong type of tobacco that many Sudanese chew. They roll it into a small ball and tuck it under their upper lip.

So, a man at a telephone office offered me a sample. At first I declined, but then decided to try it. Since, the Sudanese were eminently friendly and I felt no threats of any kind, I figured this was the safest place to try it.

Within in 2 minutes, I was lightheaded. Another minute and my head was spinning and I was feeling nauseated. Another minute, and I felt that I really needed to lie down. One more minute and I rushed to the door, flung it open, fell on my knees in the dirt and threw up what had been a pretty tasty lunch. Boy did I feel sick fast!

Of course, everyone in the street stopped and stared. I saw exactly zero Westerners walking around Gedaref, so already I was noticed.

I remained on my hands and news, taking slow breaths. I could tell the worst was over. During this time, the man who had given me the tumbak was horrified. He was squatted next to me and kept saying to me in his limited English "I'm sorry", "I'm a bad man".

So, I was trying recover from my tumbak and at the same time console this poor guy who nothing but the best of intentions. He bought me Pepsi -- which actually helped. (Sudan is the second country I have been to where Pepsi is far ahead of Coke.)

Within 15 minutes I was sitting in his office again feeling fine. He took another ball of tumbak in his mouth, then asked me if I could help me program the automatic redial on his phone. After replacing the batteries, and re-writing some of the manual for him, his automatic redial was set, and I was down the road again :-)

The night before I left for Khartoum, I slept on the roof of the Amir Hotel, where many of the other guests were also stretched out. Did I mention that it is hard to socialize with women here. In the hotel - men only, at the Teacher's union - men only. In fact, when I met my teacher friends that night, they told me that the police had stopped a man and woman walking together to ask what their relationship was.

Sudan is complicated. The people are fantastic - generous and honest; religously dedicated, accepting of foreigners, and yet they are hungry, they are tired of the war, and many desire the freedoms they know they do not have.

So, back to the roof. I didn't sleep much, but lying there feeling the hot desert wind, I stared at the stars above and at the sliver of moon which was so appropriately in the shape of the moon on mosques and other Islamic symbols. I'm not a young kid, but I felt like one with the excitement of visiting places that so few others have ever seen.

This was a dream coming true -- in a sense a dream that I had never had. I never thought about Sudan specifically. I just dreamt of Africa, and the rest has been good fortune in discovery.

At 5am I threw my bags over my shoulders and walked the 1km to the police station where I loaded up the bike to get an early start to Khartoum to beat the heat.

I headed out of town at 6am where I saw my first street sign in English in a long time: Khartoum 411km.

The road was pretty good asphalt and I was able to make good time. The drivers were driving me crazy (just like everywhere) as they vehemently flashed their lights to tell me my headlight was on (U.S.

bikes are required to always have their headlight on -- no off switch.).

[Note: I wrote the above 3 days ago. There was a lot more, but then, a power failure hit and I lost everything else I had written. Usually, I am a little more cautious, but I hadn't experienced any power failures in Sudan and had let my guard down. I later learned that there had been no power failures because they were giving the students national exams. Once the exams were over, the power supply became as erratic as in the rest of Africa.]

The ride to Khartoum was comfortable almost until I arrived -- that is, it didn't get too hot early on. The irony of the drive was that trucks or busses that were going to attempt to pass a vehicle, would pull back when they saw me coming from the other direction. This is ironic because in Sudan there is plenty of space on the shoulder of the roads. Whereas in Kenya, the drivers had no compunction about forcing me off the road -- which would send me into the bush!

I was almost to Khartoum when I spotted a lone motorcycle headed the other way. We stopped and spent the next 30 minutes trading information and stories. He was a New Zealander on a Yamaha Tenere and he had come down from France.

[Power failure number 2! Damn. I only lost 10 minutes worth of work, but I can type a lot in 10 minutes!! Sorry, I'm giving up on naration -- bullet point from here on out.]

* Khartoum - hot and flat -- which makes navigation a little trick; bordered by the Blue Nile (Ethiopia) and the White Nile (Uganda)

* Couldn't reach my friend that I met at the border. Checked into an expensive $24 hotel -- long story, but glad to have air-con and TV for once.

* Went to the American Club only to discover they were having a "Latino Party" that night--you know I was all over that one. They had a DJ -- not too many DJs in Sudan.

* No beer to be found here -- never really missed until until I knew I couldn't have it.

* Man on motor scooter pulls me over and invites me to his house. I have delicious meal, meet his family and friends, then his mother paints my hand and foot with henna -- I wouldn't let her do both

hands and feet. (Yes, as I type this, the tips of my left hand are a dark burnt orange-red :-)

* Crashed the bike on the streets of Khartoum. Totally dumb. I was riding around with my friends and punched the gas and hit some sand on the road and went down hard. Got some nice road rash on my hand and knee and bent the forks/handlebar a little. We'll both be fine. I was a bit of a mess with blood and gravel mixed with my henna ink --

second time I had a bunch of Sudanese standing around staring at me in an embarrassing situation. I should be charging for these shows.

* Found my friend and moved into his home. His nephew was the DJ at the Latino Party--talk about strange coincidence!

* Visited the Save the Children center in Khartoum. The Director of International Operations happened to be in town and we had a great chat! Unfortunately, their budget for Sudan has been drastically reduced because of the political situation, but the need for funds remains. I'll write more on this when I have time and more reliable computer situation.

* A note about Muslims. In America, in my humble opinion, Muslims are for the most part, an unknown quantity -- the subject of some unpleasant stereotypes, curiosity, and fear. In my short time here, I have found people here to be warm, generous, completely accepting of me although knowing that I am not of their faith, and not trying to convert me. I'm afraid, like with so many groups, the extremists have done a terrible disservice to the majority.

* Finally, a special THANK YOU to Getty Wagaye who allowed me to stay at his parents' home and gave me all kinds of courtesy and help while I was in Ethiopia. (And to Brook who gave me a tour of Addis!)

I have so much to tell about Sudan after having been here only a few days, but I'm dripping sweat and I know the power is going to go off again -- so you'll have to wait.

Thanks for all the supportive emails.

Jim