Ghosts and Mysteries.

Ok, I've been alone in the big horrible house for two weeks now and I'm guessing it's starting to affect me. I was reading a horror novel (duh...) when the electricity went out and I heard wierd noises and saw strange shadows everywhere. I've hardly slept at all this past week! A few days ago I first woke up by our maid had opened the bedroom door and was standing there looking at me, I waved at her, turned around and went back to sleep. Later I found out that she apparently hadn't even been in the house that day! The day after I woke up when something invisible was poking at me. So, either this house is haunted or I'm going crazy. No one else seems to believe me. I told Björn and Alessandra about the events and they offered me a bed to sleep in in their house until my employer and his daughter gets back. I'm thinking of accepting since I doubt if I can spend one more night listening for ghosts!

Except for the ghosts I once woke up by the bed was shaking. I tried to be logical and thought that it must have been a minor earth quake, but no one else seems to have noticed it...

Later that day I went to an internet café close by. When I came out of there I saw that the whole horizon was filled with thick black smoke. A gentleman said that it must be a gass station on fire. I crossed the first lane of the big road and stood there watching the spectacle, all the wile standing in the middle of two lanes. Normally one usually looks the way were the cars comes from when crossing a street, but this day I learned to look at all possible and impossible directions before crossing. I was half a meter of being hit by a bus that was driving in the oposite direction. And they got angry with me! With my dear death experience I went home to my ghosts.

Winter is getting close and it's actually quite comfortable at night (only like 30 degrees). Can you imagine that I actually freeze when it's below 25?! If it had been 25 degrees in my bedroom home in Sweden I would have been close to dying from the heat. It's amazing how the body can adapt.

Evening Breakfast and Every day Life

A couple of days ago I was invited to Shabia in North Khartoum where Swedish Cecce lives. It was nice to get away from the city and to see some greeneries for once. She showed me around at the Univeristy and I met a few new people. Then we took a welk down to the Nile before we went to her Sudanese family to have my very first Ramadan breakfast. I can't really understand how they manage to fast during the days, but obviously they're doing pretty well even though they get slow and lazy and blames it all on Ramadan! The word "ramida" means something like "extreme heat" and during Ramadan you will burn away your sins. I have begun to think that maybe they have a point there, I mean, this heat is NOT normal.

It's sad that I didn't get the chance to meet Cecce until now, because her and me are pretty much aloke. I have a great time with her and it already feels like we've been friends for a long time. On Thursday she's going back to Sweden (Please Cecce, come back soon!).

Ramadan Kareem!

Day four of Ramadan, which is a muslim monthly holiday for those of you who didn't know. Everyone is fasting between sunup and sundown, meaning no drink, no food, nothing to buy and nothing to do . As a khawajia (westerner) the rules don't really apply to you, but it's very rude to drink or eat among fasting people until the sun set.

Yesterday me and Björn went to Suq es-Shabi, a market not too far from where I live. It was pretty frustrating because you heard a "Welcome!", "kssss kssss" and/or finger snappings ever five meter you went. But Björn was fun so it was fun anyways. I god hold of a couple of nice tunics too.

There are more Swedes here than I had thought there would be. I mostly hang out with Björn, but also with Cecilia, Ida, Linn and Cecce. It's nice to speak Swedish now and then and to be able to talk about people behind their back without them understanding (yes, I know I'm a bad person, but one has to take pleasure in the small things in the every day life).

My report in Transit, P3, has been moved to October 24th.

Important Me

It's been an eventful week. First of all I can annouce that I got a job. All by myself! By coincidence I ended up on SWERA's (Swedish Refugee Aid) homepage. When I lived in Lund, southern Sweden, I was supposed to help them to start a refugee group, but it never happened. Anyways, on their webpage it said that they have a cooperation with AHA (African Humanitarian Action) here in Sudan. So, I wrote an email with CV, intriduced myself and asked if they possibly needed any help with anything here in Khartoum, and a couple of days later I got a reply from the general secretary saying that they could really use my help.

I think I'm menat to monitor the IDP's (Internally Displaced Persons) return to the Southern Sudan, be their liaison between SWERA and AHA, go to meetings and write reports. They don't have an office here but from what I gather I will be their only representant in the country. In one or two weeks I will get more information about what I will do. I met a woman from SIDA, went to a few Norwegian organizations and will go with them to one of the IDP camps outside of Khartoum as soon as I get a travel permit.

PS. I think I'll be on Transit in P3 on October 7, so keep your ears open! DS