after it rained

malakia after it rained and the sun had just begun to come out.

heidi and i made it to central sudan just as the rainy season had begun. this was amazing for a few reasons, not the least of which was the fact that in eight months in sudan, i had only seen rain once up until that point.

one afternoon the sky turned a familiar gray -- familiar, i mean, to those who have lived in portland, ore. for any amount of time -- and just opened up. we ran into the living room and listened to the drops smack the top of the tin roof.

when it was all over, one of the cousins came to get us. he held his hands to his face made a little click with his finger. it was time to take some pictures. so we did. and here they are. this, by the way, is my last little bit from malakia. next up: kadoogli.

by the by, i've switched to flickr. here's hoping the pictures will show up as i've color corrected them from here on out.


some donkeys, with their water drums in a flooded field.


the cousin who wanted to show us what things looked like after the rain.


the central market.

making music and coffee

a traditional coffee ceremony in malakia, dilling.

almost as soon as heidi and i had arrived in malakia, helawa, the woman who would put us up for the next few days, asked us if we'd like to share a cup of coffee or tea. coffee, we said, would be great.

in sudan, coffee is served strong and spiced with cinnamon and cardamon. grounds are cheap and easy to come by and a cup of coffee is just a boiling pot of water away. but in malakia, things, it seems, work a little bit differently.

after we'd decided on coffee, helawa went into her kitchen and came out with a small fire pit, a pestle and mortar and fresh beans and spices. she set about roasting the beans right in front of us and then grinding them with the spices. nearly an hour after her offer, she served us fresh coffee. the next day, she promised, we could do it again but she'd bring around the neighbors and her sisters.

that's exactly what happened. helawa and five other women gathered to perform a traditional coffee ceremony. they roasted the beans and ground them up and all the while they sang. have a listen to what making coffee in sudan sounds like:




the coffee is roasted over a coal fire. you have to keep the beans constantly moving or they'll burn.


once the beans are roasted, they're ground along with some traditional spices.


the pestle and mortar became the drum beat for the songs.


while the coffee is brewing, the women sing and the cups are clanked along to the beat.


the coffee is served in a traditional pot with bits of twigs that act as a filter for the grounds.


the children don't get to drink the coffee, but they do get in on the singing.