The Sudan - 6

Its quite a challenge to understand people here. Everyone ive met so far speaks English, but its always a bit tricky to pick out the meaning between broken sentences and accents. And its doubly difficult when the subject is as complicated as Global poverty and Political turmoil. And its even more difficult when you are sitting at a board table with a large fan blowing in your ear.

The first thing that struck me about this particular government ministry was the fact that it was more grubby than id expect and indeed our hosts were rather excited about the new carpet that had been laid in their office; which could have done with a lick of paint at the same time. The second thing that struck me was the lady sitting at her desk playing "who wants to be a millionaire" on her computer - in Arabic!

Im slightly embarrassed to say here how suprised i was that our official meeting around the board table was with 4 women. No reason why it shouldnt be, but i kind of expected here that the meeting would be with men. We spent the meeting confirming plans and expectations for our workshop. It was important to do because the 2 "His Excellency State Minister" of various what-nots are going to be there and they needed to prepare thier addresses.....

Hang on! i wasn't told about this! Im not so sure im up to this!
I spent the day quietly reminding myself that i dont need to know about the detailed content of Sudanese politics or development funding for the starving millions - im the process man - all ive got to do is get these 50 people to play nicely together for the week

We discuss the protocol on who makes his address first and if there is going to be a reading from the Koran, then there should be a reading from the Bible - i wondered if as "who wants to be a millionaire" has been translated into Arabic, has the Bible too?

Everybody is terribly nice and i think a government official who takes such care over the beautiful henna on her hands is certainly the right person to be caring for her country.
My phone rings, but i dont take the call from my mate Hughie, though i'd love to tell him that i cant talk now as Im in the ministry for finance talking strategy on poverty reduction.

Breakfast is a big deal here. People take tea first thing in the morning and then stop around 10.30ish for "breakfast". A tradition breakfast is "Fuul" - a kidney bean type mix with tomato and spring onion with a dash of cheese on top. We all sit around a wok type dish on the board table and dip in with fluffy processed bread rolls. Its very nice and very social. I had a bottle of fizzy orange to wash it down.

Bit by bit things start to fall into place for our workshop that starts on Sunday. There is a lot of organising to do and a lot of expectations to manage. Back in my hotel room after a full day i think i need a snooze.