Ida Westman has recieved a trainee grant from Swedish Mission Council and will be volonteering with Boys Hope Centre in Khartoum, North Sudan during 2005.

Words that describe my first impression of this country is heat, dusty, brown, green, chaotic traffic, hospitality, sand and a charming mixed culture of African and Arabian. You see those men with jellabiyas, the women wearing scarfs to cover their hair and also African ladies carrying big things on their head.

Since the first week have we been working at a place called Boys Hope Center, which is an orphanage located in Hay Yosiph. Everyday we take the local bus transport which is an adventure in itself.

We teach in English and Music in the school for the small boys, but sometimes also at the center where boys between 8-19 are living. Many of the boys are orphans and some have a family who cannot afford their living. Teaching is a new experience for both me and Linn. It’s a big challenge when they don’t know any English and we don’t know any Arabic, but challenges make you grow and be flexible.

It’s a big different in teaching in Sudan than what we are used to back home in Sweden. If you want to make the lessons funny, on my point of the view, by play a game or something more pedagogic, it ends up in chaos. African children learn by repeating, repeating and repeating. Sometimes it’s hard but you learn to be open minded.

In the afternoons, after finishing school we go to the center where we just spend time with the boys. Some days we play football, volleyboll and other days have we been making some Swedish food together with the kids. The guitar I brought has open many doors. They like it so much. Many of the boys want to know how to play but many can also be entertained by wearing the guitarcase , imagining they are a popstar.

Only few of them speak a little English. Because of our lacking Arabic we have to use the body language. It’s amazing to see how they make an effort to make us understand.

Sometimes it’s hard to show an adult role when you don’t understand what they are saying, you just smile and say I don’t understand. But instead of focusing on what I am not able to do I have to focus on what I am doing, give them my attention and show them love, they are in a really need of it.

If it is decided that we are suppose to start at 8.00 am, we probably start at 10. That is the Sudanese time. Mostly there is a schedule but it fails more than one time. So you have to let go of much of the Swedish exactly planning the days. Something we have learned is that you never now how one day here will end.

Working at the center, just being a part of the boys’ ordinary lives, see their smiles brings so much happiness to my life.

Here in Sudan we’ve met another Swedish girl who is working at a Media Organisation. Several times have we followed her to concerts and through that come to know some famous artists. It is very interesting to see the big differences in this town. Be invited to one of Khartoum’s most famous artists for dinner and taking the bus out to the orphanage where it’s very poor has given me a useful experience of the big contrasts this town contains.

When you are in a country like this, that has been in war for such a long time you sometimes feel that what you are doing makes no change. The needs are too many. But a girl I met here said to me, you have to see every smile you receive, from those you meet, as one step to the solution. That is something I try live after, even if I don’t can change everything, I can make a different in those people I meet.

I am very grateful for the chance I’ve got to be here and to get so many new experiences.

Ida Westman IAS Trainee in 2005

Linn Holmgren has recieved a trainee grant from Swedish Mission Council and will be volonteering with Boys Hope Centre in Khartoum, North Sudan during 2005.

The first week everything was so new. The sun was stronger than I had imagined and I thought that every place that we went to looked the same. It was sand everywhere; everything was brown, lots of people, almost all the men in white Jellabiyas and the women in colorful dresses. But after a while you starting to see new things, everything is not brown and everything don’t look the same. You starting to recognize were you are and see that some houses as a matter in fact are white or some of them are green.

Now we have been here for eight weeks. The days are passing by so fast. We are working four days a week at Boys Hope Center. The center is placed in Hay Yosiph. Everyday we are going by bus from Khartoum. It can take everything from 25 minutes up to 2 hours. It depends how the traffic is. But I like taking the bus. It is hot, it is narrowed, the bus is frequently full but you can really feel that you are inside the country. You are in Sudan.

Boys Hope Center is an orphanage for boys and is also connected with a school. Most of the boys that are living in the center don’t have any family or they are coming from families with alcohol problems or very poor families. In the school it is almost 100 boys, from pre class to year 3. Ida and me are teaching in English and music. It is a big challenge to teach when the boys almost don’t speak any English and you almost don’t speak any Arabic. Some of the boys are not even speaking Arabic they only speak there tribe language. But you find ways to communicate and it is such a great feeling when you can se that they understand you and really learns something from your lession and enjoys what you are doing with them. In the afternoons we are in the center and just playing with the boys. 40 boys are living in the center. They are between 7 – 19 years old. We are painting, doing different games, playing football and volleyball, different handcraft etc. Tree days a week the center is open for drop in kids, boys that are mainly living on the street. They can come and just play, get some food and wash their cloths and themselves.

It is so much happy to be at the center. Just to se there happy faces smiling at you. Then you know why you are here. The more time you spend there, you closer you come them. For some of them it has taken a while to open up to you but when they do it is wonderful.

Everyday is an adventure here. You never know how the day is going to be. One example is the first day we visit the school. We were just there to look but they told us to teach in year one. And we hade nothing planed because they didn’t tell us about it. Everything can happen here. You never know when to start in the morning or when you can go home in the afternoons. So you just have to be flexible and do your best. You have to forget your Swedish thinking when you are planning everything and just remind yourself that you are in Sudan. You get tired of it but for everyday I like being here more and more.

Linn Holmgren IAS Trainee in 2005

Andreas Fahlcrantz has recieved a trainee grant from Swedish Mission Council and will be volonteering with IAS programmes in South Sudan during 2005.

The truck, that we were supposed to travel back in, were in some way broke. The whole week we were in Kotobi they tried to fix it. The last day before we were supposed to go back, it started. Yeah! The journey took the whole day. I burned my right arm in the sun. It was hot. It was bumpy. The car got stopped just outside Yei of drunken policemen that claimed that it was to late to pass. But after a while of arguing we could proceed to our goal. Then I was really upset, tired and hungry.

Coming back to Yei felt like coming back to civilisation. It was a relief. After spending two nights in Yei, I started the bumpy journey back to the real civilisation, Kampala. From Koboko, that’s the most northern (IAS) office in Uganda, I went by bus to Kampala. That was a very speciell journey. Not very comfortable. The journey started at 3.30 am (in the morning) and we arrived in Kampala at around 1.30 pm. The journey took us through the Mucharian Falls National Park but we didn’t see any animals because we drove on the big road on the outside of the park. But we crossed the Nile though. That was nice. The journey took about 11 hours. I will not do it again...

Andreas Fahlcrantz IAS Trainee in 2005