Khartoum catches it’s tempo early By :Abdulaziz Ali Omer

Khartoum catches it’s tempo early
By :Abdulaziz Ali Omer .
The author left Gedaref where the falling rain to the the Nile-kissed khartoum .After 7 hours ,the bus entered Mina bari –the arrival port in the evening. Some where outside a voice proclaimed my name from inside a taxi far from the haggard crowd of passengers . That was Abdulgadir , my host, guide and relative who broke my reverie . He drove me into the heart of Khartoum as he loved to put it. The lights became dim a head as I caught the scent of a river. I asked him where wee were and he told me that we were passing through the Nile bridge. He turned on a sudanese song to reduce my apprehension about sea and chatted nostalgically about life back in Gedaref, our home town in East Sudan. Eventually , we got home safely . I couldn’t resist having snooze after sweet mango juice and frugal supper. Next morning, he woke before to flick water on my face to make me alert. As we drank tea in the veranda, I noticed a headline that said “ Khartoum is a city that yawns early” I decided to make that the topic of my journalistci trip. Milih means salt and also afree lift. As a Sudanese who love milih,I took Abdulgadir, my host as a driver. I asked some persons why in fact Khartoum yawns early. “This is Jamhouriya street in middle Khartoum “ my guide commented. Shazali, a Sudanese mechanic joined us on the window of taxi to say there was none of the usual buzz which he witnessed many years ago. We went past the abandoned Colosuim cinema on a road leading to the presidential palace. There by coincidence , we met Hassan, a sixty year old man. He seemed preoccupied with pre-oil affluence of Khartoum . “In the past sudanese people could buy a house in middle Khartoum ,but these days most of them establish their homes in the remote sprawling parts of Khartoum. They are compelled to go home early due to the scarcity of transport. “ He said.
My guide wanted me to see one of his friends so he took me to a company in the private sector , a place on the Nile . when we arrived , one of girls whose skin was the colour of milk but had more splash of coffee received us with a cosmetic smile. One of work colleagues began to humor her as he caught sight of missing teeth . “If you pull away another tooth, you would be un-marriagable!” Sudanese claim they are african. But do they what is traditional Africa? In conventioanl Africa marraigeability is linked with the quicker pace of going to river and subesquent home chores done in the same pulse. Excuse me. I am going outside. I said to my guide and his friend. Outside, I inhaled the cool breeze oozing from the Nile it self and picked up some green peppers and mangoes from beside the river. I slept until my guide tapped my showlder to hand me a ticket to Gedaref . “You must travel now. Your sister is lying sedated in hospital after she bled in a 2-month pregannacy” he told me. Thus, I concluded my visit to Khartoum earlier than expected.
A week latter, after my sister regained her health and vigour, I checked my e-mail. I found many messages. One of them is from Dr, Motal Giraishab, the director of Community Development in Khartoum . He summed up the reasons of Sudanese dreprivation from evening’s entertainment in the ineffiency of transport system, being workahloic , economic stress and the cremonial restriction around 11 pm . He invoked the year 1983 in which Nimeiri introduced Sharia law as the inception of the decline in evening recreational life. .
Khartoum is located at the confluence of two rivers .we hope tourism will take off around their banks to achieve material well-being and relieve people from economic insomania.
Abdulaziz Ali Omer is an English language teacher in Gedaref in East of Sudan.