Another day of contradictions in Khartoum

Yesterday was one of those weird days showcasing the contradictions in Khartoum. I needed to collect some cash from Western Union. The money was from an Argentinian online journal, paying me for stories that I had done for it.

I got to Western Union and the electricity had shut down. Power failure in the neighbourhood. Local government doesn’t forewarn or apologise. This just happens. The little office was packed with people all waiting to collect cash.

I met two Eritrean refugees while waiting. One said that he had walked all the way from Eritrea to Sudan’s border town with that country, Kassala. It’s a three-day walk. In unpredictable conditions.

This is the reality of our continent and so many more developing countries. It’s a result of bullshit created by fat leaders who have, like pigs, fed off the flesh of their people. They make me sick. They are corrupt and pathetic. And it unfolds daily in the developing world and in the developed world. Big business does not have clean hands. It talks against corrupt governments but it funds oil refineries, blood diamonds and probably even the flesh trade. Come to think of it, where do all those travelling suits end up on lonely nights in exotic lands? Pathetic.

There is so much injustice that it really makes me sick and angry. I want to express this anger and get it all out of my system. I don’t want to see this kind of world any more.

So we were directed to another Western Union office where we collected our cash. The second Eritrean refugee had been living in Frankfurt, Germany, for the past five years. He was in Sudan for a two-week visit to his refugee family.

They had both left their country illegally and obtained refugee status from the United Nations in Sudan. There is no legal way to flee your homeland at war. It’s not like your government is going to give you a first-class ticket to any other safe part of the world. And yet Kassala hasn’t been the safest town in the world. It has had its conflicts, as well as conflicts involving Eritrea and Ethiopia in recent years.

So with this refugee stamp in their passport, these two Eritrean refugees entered a different dimension — one that is a tag of so many of our brothers and sisters seeking survival. The German-based Eritrean had sent via Western Union an amount of $1 200. He collected it in Khartoum to assist his family.

This is the story of the developing world. Sudan has so many of its citizens abroad and so many of them send money home to relatives. A friend this side told me of all the relatives she has abroad. “Almost every family has someone sending money home,” she said.

But why does this have to be our fate? Why do Africans have to struggle like this? Why can’t we feel secure and build great futures in our lands of birth? Why do we have to struggle with corrupt leaders, greedy people from our own communities who make life hell for the rest of us? I am angered and frustrated today.

It is also Ramadan, so I won’t get too angry. There have again been some power cuts this week. During Ramadan. With heat pushing up to 40+ degrees Celsius. With no coolers. It’s exhausting. And most of the month of fasting is still ahead of us.

The contradictions are mind-numbing, emotionally draining, leading to angst-driven scribbles displayed here. But it’s not enough to fast-track developing countries where corruption is rife. Where the central administrations feed themselves and fail their people.

Large mansions stare at you in certain parts of Khartoum. A businessman invited myself and two associates to share the iftar meal (this is the sunset meal when Muslims break their fast) with him at a five-star restaurant last night. Decadence. Food that would make anyone feel like royalty. Then there was a live singer delivering the sounds of Ramadan. It was a night far removed from the madness that is usually Khartoum.

I didn’t even bother asking how much it would cost if I wanted to have iftar there again. I don’t have access to my Standard Bank account as international sanctions against Sudan have made it impossible for the country to operate effectively as part of the international banking system. And anyway, Sudan got its first ATMs this year. Needless to say, development is crawling in Africa’s largest country.

The only way to get cash is to open a local bank account. Ironically, you need a stack of cash to do that. You then get friends or family back home to deposit money into your account.

Another way to get cash is via money transfer agencies like Western Union. And hope when you go there that the electricity is working.

Don’t take this as a moan, but a reflection of reality for many in Sudan. Yet I am more fortunate than many. I have options. I can leave tomorrow. Neither am I broke. I get a small salary from the aid agency where I’ve been helping out. I have a place to stay. Life is not all gloom.

But the obstacles seem to be getting more and more irritating. I think all ordinary Sudanese citizens are going straight to heaven. They’ve already tasted hell.