[Original by Miki GOTO (January 11, 2023); Translated by Y. Miki/F. Farina]
This article was written just before the outbreak of the recent armed conflict in Sudan.
Hi everyone! My name is Goto and in charge of the Sudan project. I joined JVC last May and made my first business trip to Sudan in November 2022.
Mona, our local staff member, gave us warm welcomes at Khartoum airport in the capital when we arrived. We had only been talking through the screen at Zoom meetings before, so I was able to finally meet her in person. We arrived at the office smoothly, thanks to her having taken care of my concerns about purchasing a SIM card and arranging a car for me. I had heard so much about Mona, but what a thoughtful staff member she is! I was very impressed.
We met up with Imanaka, our local staff member at the office, and he was supposed to show us around the area. The moment we walked outside, to my surprise, there was a protest going on right nearby, and for the first time in my life, I was exposed to tear gas smoke. It was quite a shock, instantly I started to cry and my eyes, nose, and throat hurt! We left there right away, but the tears didn’t stop for a while, and we were just stunned. In fact, on the way from the airport, there were marks and wreckage from the previous day’s protests where something had been burned. I felt as if I had been baptized from the first day and felt very raw. After such an impactful incident, we greeted Mr. Ahmad, a security guard at the building where the previous JVC office was located, who lives in the neighborhood. We were supposed to just greet him briefly, but I found ourselves being escorted into his place and given some juice.
This drink was sweet and tasted like strawberry syrup. I personally liked it.
I thought that was the end of it, the next came glittering tableware, and I spontaneously said, “Oh, wow!”
The coffee was very tasty with a subtle taste of ginger spice and the food in the picture is sesame seeds stir-fried with sugar and perhaps something else. It was also a perfect match for coffee! I couldn’t stop eating it. From the very first day, we received such wonderful hospitality, and I was like “This must be the Sudanese hospitality that is talked about, to let Japanese visitors like us whom they’ve never met before into their place and welcome us so warmly?” I was impressed for the second time. The tear gas damage was blown away in an instant.
On another day, we had lunch at a restaurant near our office, and when we were about to pay the bill, the cashier told us, “The guy at the next table already paid!” We don’t even know the name of the person who paid for our meal, even though we only talked with him for a word or two.
Mr. Ahmad is pouring some coffee for us. He lives in the building under construction.
When I tried to pay for the juice I drank at the stall, the lemon juice vendor said, “You are our guests, so you don’t have to pay for it!” and waived the juice fee.
When I was walking down the street, an old man spoke to me enthusiastically in poor English, “Sudan welcomes you Japanese!”
In front of the men-only mosque, while waiting for Imanaka who went to see inside, a tea-serving man brought a chair for me and gave a cup of Shai tea, saying, “Please have a seat here, and I will give you some Shai tea too.” To be honest, I was disappointed because I wanted to see inside the mosque, but the warmth of the man and the sweetness of the Shai healed me.
When the bus was full of seats and we had to take out jump seats, other passengers naturally gave us seats quickly.
In Kadugli, South Kordofan, where JVC conducts activities, we were invited to attend the wedding of a local staff member’s brother unexpectedly!
At the entrance, the groom warmly welcomed us by saying “Totoro” with a smile.
A stylish-looking juice shop with a water fountain. The man in the picture on the right who is talking with Imanaka also participated in the sit-in demonstration and he told us about the tragic situation at that time and the aftereffects of his injuries that still persist to this day.
I was like, “Totoro…? That Totoro (*)? I know when Japanese people go to Southeast Asia, we are often called Ajinomoto (MSG), but in Sudan, it’s Totoro instead? Wow! Ghibli indeed, such a worldwide famous.” I thought to myself.
I asked people and they said that what I had misheard as Totoro was actually “Tafaddal,” which he said like “Here you go”, “Please come in!” (lol)
At the wedding party ceremony. They invited the performance group, and everyone sang and danced in a lively atmosphere. Women were very gorgeous in their colorful clothes. With all due respect, I also danced with them.
As we entered the venue, everyone who passed us said, Tafaddal! I was so touched by the warmth of the people who accepted us as foreigners who had suddenly shown up there.
The people in Sudan showed kindness to us, strangers and foreigners, without asking for anything in return, even though they could not afford it themselves at a time of high inflation and frequent demonstrations today.
That was my first business trip to Sudan, and I was actually quite nervous, but I received warm hospitality in many places and came to like the country of Sudan and the people living there so much. Of course, I don’t say I saw all sides of the story because of my short stay, and I may have just happened to be lucky that I didn’t have any bad experiences. During my stay, I still heard many tragic incidents, including demonstrations, violent incidents, and people taking refuge at the bus stop in Kadugli due to armed conflict. Although the country is still close to violence and conflict, and the gap between rich and poor is still pretty large, I believe that the straightforward kindness of people here is still one of the charms of Sudan, which is as strong as the pyramids.
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(*) “Totoro” is the name of a character in a famous Japanese animation made by Studio Ghibli Inc.
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