How to Ride the Bus in Khartoum

            Before coming to Khartoum I was warned about its bus system. Khartoum is a rather large city that spreads across The Nile. Walking in the heat long distances isn’t really an option. So we turn to transport to get around between neighborhoods. Amjads and taxis can be quite expensive. Rickshaws aren’t allowed to cross the bridges and aren’t allowed in certain crowded neighborhoods. And so I introduce you to the buses. With no set schedule or routes the bus system is something I’ve been cautiously attempting recently. And let me tell you I don't hate it. 

The advantages are that buses are incredibly cheap maybe just one pound for a ride. Taking two buses to Khartoum center and paying 2-4 pounds seems well worth the effort when a negotiated amjad could easily run you 30-40 pounds. Also buses run on all the major roads so finding them isn’t very difficult at all. Some guide books have attempted to detail the bus routes but I don’t think these are extremely helpful.

So how do you actually do it? How do you use the bus system when there are no written schedules, routes, and the stations are half parking lots with a few scattered signs in Arabic and half literally in the street? Well it’s not for those looking for the most efficient and timely experience, but this goes hand in hand with Sudanese culture. This being said I still think that Americans could learn a lot from the Sudanese bus system.

Disclaimer: This is from my very limited and personal experience riding a handful of the same routes a dozen or so times.

The easiest way to get a bus is at a bus station, but you can also “catch a bus” if you know gesture correctly and know where its going. Bus “stations” are very spread out sometimes even include the road and side streets. The only way to find out where the bus is that you want is to ask people. Because I don’t actually speak Arabic this normally includes gestures repeating the place, repeating places near the place, and sometimes having had a Sudanese friend write the place in Arabic on a note pad. If youre in the wrong section at “the station” someone will point you in the right direction. Often times someone will even say come with me and will ask around for you till you find the right bus. It common for people to even go far out of their way to help you. So that’s the big secret on how Sudanese navigate a bus system with many routes leaving and coming at different times…they talk to people. For someone with little Arabic this is the main challenge. Luckily, Sudanese are generally happy and patient to help.

If you’re on a major road you can catch a bus. You have to know the hand signal and listen for what the guys are shouting. Once you’re on a bus the bus attendant who stands in the doorway will snap at the front of the bus. It’s time to pay him when he snaps at you. Paying in low bills or coins is the best but I’ve seen people pay for one person with 10s 20s and even a fifty. Often times they collect all of the money before divvying out change. The process of paying by handing and passing money up and down the bus is something admittedly would never work in America, but it is refreshing that people are so trusting and honest so it works in Sudan.

There aren’t really set bus stops. To “request a stop” you snap or hiss. People snap at you to get your attention; its not rude. Even my students snap at me in class. A lot of time for men the bus won’t even come to a complete stop and the guy has to jump out.

Riding the bus has been a mix of good and frustrating experiences for me. To independently get between places without relying on a taxi feels good but sometimes it’s just not realistic. Sometimes buses just don’t go where they say or go over a different bridge than you thought. Sometimes there is no good way by bus to get somewhere. I’ve tried to adapt the Sudanese attitude when it comes to these otherwise problems…its really Ma Mushkila I know I’ll get where I need to go eventually.   I know that sometimes I have to let it go and hop in a rickshaw or amjad. I remind myself “hey youre in a foreign city” Its ok. But I do still laugh when I think about when I told a man I wanted to go to “Khartoum Itneen” (Khartoum 2) and he told me he didn’t speak English I just stared at him. “Khartoum Itneen,” I repeated.

*Note for concerned family I frequently take the bus with Rachel or a group of friends and we almost never ride after 8pm really because they stop running as frequently

White Girl Goes to Africa, Isn't Trying to Save Anybody

Let’s get one thing straight. My experience in Sudan is entirely shaped by the privilege that I’m a white woman. This privilege has affected my time here so far both positively and negatively. It is interesting because at times socially acceptable behavior for being white and at the same time a woman are at tension with one another. Sometimes there isn’t space for being a white woman.

The other night we heard there was a football (soccer) game at the nearby stadium. We asked our Sudanese friend if women could go and he said “Yes ma mushkila” (no problem). Ok great. So together joined by two British guys who had arrived less than a week ago we set off to the stadium.  It is far too hot to play during the day so it was a night game Mars (which is short for something I never quite caught) against Khartoum 3.  Inside the stadium we stopped to take a picture and soon found a crowd of people also wanting a photo…with us. By now I wasn’t really surprised people have starred and even once stopped a friend at tea for a photo, but I hadn’t gone celebrity status till this.  While this could have been an uncomfortable amount of attention in this instance I mostly found the attention funny. The people were soooo happy we came to the game. We made it to the stands where the two guys were whisked off among the crowd and a band cheering and singing. They lifting the boys up on their shoulders and hoisted them around for a while. The rest of the game we watched by the band and cheered when Mars overtook K3 3-1. We even enjoyed a cup of tea during the game. It didn't escape Rachel or I that we were the only women football fans in the entire stadium. The only other women were the sita chai (tea ladies) serving tea.

Did I mention we sat with the band?

Going to the game might be my favorite experience so far. It also opened me up to an important lesson that most restrictions on women are societal norms and not written laws. They are more about social acceptance than what is permissible and what is forbidden. I honestly can’t even do the subject of gender differences justice yet but am going to give it a shot to show my first impressions. Who knows in two weeks or more time I’ll look back on this post and just shake my head.

Kawaja Sudanese Football Fans

There is still a lot I’m learning about Sudanese women. Sad truth is I've only probably talked to a couple dozen or so Sudanese women so far so you can imagine how little my knowledge is about the subject. I did talk CC: football game to one very educated Sudanese woman  who spent some years abroad in Dubai. I wanted her to know I wasn’t trying to say “Because there were no women there Sudanese women must be oppressed” As a white woman who has been in the country for one month and talked to a dozen Sudanese women I have no place to make that statement.

Space is very gendered in Sudan. At night when we would go to an outside restaurant on the side of the street to have some ful (traditional Sudanese meal of refried beans and oil) we noticed there were only men. Even when we went for a big meal at a friend’s family house the women ate together in one room and the men ate in another (and the khawajas ate in another).  Women won’t have tea on the side of the street, but they’ll have it on Nile Street. Generally, more men than women are out and about in the markets. You won’t see groups of women in the market shopping together but you’ll see groups at the indoor shopping mall. At any public space you would find more men than women. This doesn’t mean I never see women in the market or that women “aren’t allowed.” I have even seen, on multiple occasions, a woman ride the bus by herself at night. I have heard a story of a women volunteer who traveled to a place outside Khartoum where she was only allowed to go to market on Sundays and had to be accompanied by a man. I’m still trying to learn what is socially acceptable in Khartoum. Something hard to decode for an outsider is women’s clothing decisions based on where they are going and how they are getting there.

There is a law I’ve been told about that women aren’t allowed to stand on public buses. If all the seats are taken a man is supposed to offer his seat to stand or the woman must wait for the next bus. I’ve seen both of these situations occur. I’ve also seen a group of young women standing on a bus. Women also aren’t allowed to wear pants at public universities.

In my conversation with my Sudanese friend I tried to explain to her that when I told my friends or family back home about the game they would immediately think “something must be wrong if there were no women” “Why aren’t women allowed?” and that there is some injustice “Women must be oppressed in Sudan”. And I can’t say with 100% confidence that they are wrong, but from where I stand it’s not my place to make that judgment.  But Ryan…you might start, women in “these types” of societies have been brainwashed by their “traditional” culture and will never be over to overcome it alone. STOP.

Sudanese women are smart. Some of the few who I’ve met are very educated and have traveled abroad across Africa and to other countries; they know when society is screwing them over. My friend hypothesized with me “Maybe Sudanese women don’t like football.” “Maybe they don’t go because they don’t want to be looked at,” she gestured and I knew she couldn’t find the right words in English. Women shouldn’t have to feel uncomfortable in public space. Yes I agree with you, women in Sudan, the United States, everywhere shouldn’t feel fear in public spaces just because they are women.

No. Just, no.

Generally, women know when they are being oppressed. Women know when they are being treated as second class citizens.  Unfortunately there isn’t much hard data on this topic for the case of Sudan, but there is no doubt in places were civil rights are suffering women are bearing a huge weight of that suffering.  Being an ally to women’s causes which also fly as human rights  is important but I don’t know, actually, talking to these women before you form some opinion on their lives/ culture/ society is better. 

A Night at the Gallery

Statements I never imagined I’d make in Sudan: I went to the most amazing art gallery last night.

            

                            

The oud

     That’s right! It was the opening of the Free Art Center just east of the airport in Khartoum and it was a fabulous event. When I arrived I was greeted by the artist who opened the center. I saw a variety of art different styles of paintings and sculptures. The most delightful part of the night was listening to the live 6 piece classical band featuring a man playing the Sudanese guitar called the oud. It was the best part of the night partly because it was so unexpected but mostly because they were really talented. I have some video but it doesn’t do the acoustics justice. They served bottled water, soda, popcorn, and dates and most of the audience was women.

The program stated the mission of the art center as the following:

Free art center has emerged as an ambitious collective initiative from a group of artists and parents with the purpose of incorporating art in its different forms into our daily lives and using it as an effective tool in the development, advancement, and enrichment of the Sudanese society. Turning art into an active and dynamic contributor rather that a passive aesthetic and inert extra. Art should never be an elite’s luxury. Art should be a public commodity. Art should touch life.

So basically this whole place made me really happy. 

I haven't been exposed to that much Sudanese art and music but I have also attended a reggae concert since being here. Sudanese love reggae music, especially Bob Marley. The audience was packed of moslty men but some women, mostly young people, wearing beanies and rasta colors. There is something very cool about being part of an audience all singing "Put your guns down." Reggae music speaks to a lot of Sudanese. 

First Day of School

     I’ve now been in Sudan for one month and I have barely scratched the surface of this place.  A couple weeks ago Rachel and I moved into our own apartment in Khartoum North. We are getting to know our neighbors one of which is an 11 year old boy named Omer who is very friendly and even knows a bit of English.

Sometimes we watch Bill Nye the Science Guy

     I have started teaching this week at the University of Bahri in Khartoum North. It used to be Juba University before South Sudan became its own country. Right now all of the first-year students are taking a mandatory intensive English course. So I will be acting as a guest lecturer in 16 classes of 40-100 students seeing each class only once a week (teaching  4 classes a day) for the month of November. At first I was really intimidated by the idea of teaching such large classes. The first day Rachel and I sat in classes and observed. What we discovered was that the students had disparate abilities. We also realized that it wasn’t our job to teach from a text book but to give supplemental instruction so students could listen to a native speaker. When we introduced ourselves and said “Hello” everyone started laughing.

     I think my first day I tried to cover too much. I tried to tell the students about my hometown Boston. I talked about the ocean, lobsters, cranberries, sports (including awkwardly trying to explain hockey and how football was soccer), and even a brief history lesson about the Pilgrims. I’d look up and see blank faces and repeat what I had said again and ask Ok? But at some point you have to keep going and push through the lecture. Throughout the week I’ve had varying success. The following is a list of questions the students have asked me:

Are you married?

How old are you?

Where are you from? (after my entire lecture on Boston)

Are you a Republican?

How can you like Sudan if you are from America?

What do you know about Muslims?

How can I get a visa to go to America?

Do you think Sudanese people are lazy?

Tell us about the relationship between the US and Sudan.

How is British English different from American English?

Are you Christian?

     Frankly I’ve had it easy compared to some of the questions Rachel has gotten. The weather is getting better too. As we wait and wait for our ride to school Rachel says, “Look on the bright side its nine in the morning and I haven’t started sweating yet.” So there’s that. Hamdalallah!