The birds are laughing in Rumbek

It is early morning and I am waking up to the sounds of Rumbek, Sudan. Goats scamper around bleating and maa-ing with one another in the compound. There is a soft breeze coming in the window of my little house with the roof made of dried grass and straw. The door is cute and tiny and I ALMOST have to duck to go through it. The most remarkable sounds, come from the winged creatures, the birds, bursting into conversation with their morning songs. There is one that I call the "tfaddalu" bird. In Arabic, "tfaddal" is the word for "please". This bird's song sounds as if it is saying "tfaddalu, tfaddalu". There are also hyena birds that sound like they are cackling with laughter. Every now and then I will hear the ding of the bicycle bells as they pass by.

We arrived in Rumbek 2 days ago on the tiniest plane I have ever been on. It felt like we were inside an MRI tube and it was almost claustrophobic for me. By my eye measurements, I bet it was only 4 ft wide by 4.5 ft tall. That means even I couldn't stand up! Tim and I were in the very front, and we had no side windows, but we could see everything from the pilot's perspective, all the gadgets and controls and we could even see out the very front window. We landed on a dirt airstrip and now here we are!

Rumbek has a nice small town feel and compared to crowded Juba, I like it much better. There are more trees here, ancient large ones with twisted roots and curled branches, the kind you would imagine to see in Africa. Lots of people are riding bikes and the ground is a dusty red and fine as sand. On the weekends there is a drum circle in the town center.

One interesting event that happened while we were here was the disarmament (sp?). All of the soldiers and policemen went around the town, starting very early in the morning, and searched people's homes for guns. We are told this is all a part of the peace process here in southern Sudan. Only policemen and army men are allowed to have guns. When we were headed out to one of the villages, a huge crowd of army and police blocked our way and they had to check our vehicle to make sure we had no guns. I was sitting in the front and it definitely made me a little nervous to be surrounded by a huge crowd of uniformed soldiers carrying big guns. I wish I could have taken a photo, but I would have been in trouble if I were caught b/c photography can be quite a sensitive issue here.

Today we attended a choir competition at a Catholic church. I hope to post a video clip from it sometime.

We are learning that Barack Obama is quite well-known and popular among Africans, especially Kenyans. After being introduced to one fellow, he asked us, "So how is my son?", referring to Obama. They are quite familiar with the political situation in the U.S. and are following the news on Obama quite closely.

In Rumbek, there are lots of Dinka people. For the Dinka, almost everything in life revolves around their cattle; marriage, wealth, conflict, etc. When daughters are married off, the dowry is paid in cattle.

Alright, the blog post is getting a bit long so I will stop here. Hope you enjoy the colors, textures, and faces of Rumbek...