Heron on the Nile
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  Ramadan Futuur Futuur: Ramadan 12  

Another day, another futuur invite. This is fun, friendly and free. This time Eleanor and I catch a minibus into town. We meet some other volunteer teachers at their flat and then catch another minibus towards the south side of Khartoum. We have no sooner set off when Paul's mobile rings. Now, telephones on public transport are an embarrassment at the best of times, but when your dinner host phones to tell the driver where to drop you, you feel that too many people are getting involved.

Eleanor and Katy are invited "inside" to eat with the women. A couple of beds are carried out and some large mats are laid between them. We men sit in a walled yard, behind a minibus propped up on bricks. Jugs of drinks arrive: fruit juices, water and chilled "karkarday" (hibiscus herbal-tea). Serving plates of food follow. We rinse our hands and wait for the starting gun. Everyday it gets earlier as the winter days grow shorter. We eat with our fingers. We eat a lot. Even those who have been fasting are soon full. The beds offer essential comfort as we break from eating. We talk and talk as the sky shuns the afterglow for twilight and eventually darkness. The moon is yet to rise.

Later, much later, after rounds of tea, coffee, and Pepsi, after telling each other how our week is looking, after we should have made a move, more food arrives. That was breakfast. Hours have passed. The moon has risen. This is dinner!

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