HX Report
Irishman in the Middle East
It’s the weekend
Posted on November 8, 2019
Climb a tree!
In August 2014 MB found himself in Sudan, compliments of a wedding invitation he received from a young Sudani friend. MB took the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. Sudani friends organised for MB to visit an area called Soba with his camera, just outside the capital city, Khartoum.
It was the middle of the day when MB arrived with his Sudani friends. Most of the Soba male inhabitants were missing, having travelled to the city in early-morning to sell vegetables or bottled water in markets and street corners.
By Westerns (or many other) standards, Soba is extremely poor, with the inhabitants living a subsistence-level lifestyle. The houses people live in are not far removed from the houses their sheep and goats live in. But regardless of the relative poverty, most inhabitants that MB encountered had a smile on their faces, especially the children.
MB caught the kids in his below pic at their favourite tree.
So this weekend, MB suggests that you go climb a tree, if you can.
And be damn grateful for the hand of cards that life has dealt you.
Foto Friday – The Shisha Hut
Posted on November 17, 2017
MB has posted some pics from his August 2014 trip to Sudan in recent posts. For this week’s Foto Friday he gives you one of his favorite pics from that trip.
YSL and friends had just taken MB on a tour of a very poor shanty town (maybe not the correct term but MB can not think of better as he types) on the outskirts of Khartoum called Soba. It was then time to smoke some shisha in a nearby shisha hut. MB is not a smoker. Never was. Never will be. But on this occasion, he puffed some shisha with YSL and friends just to be sociable, and thankful for the effort they had all made.
The shisha hut was just that. A hut with a frail timber frame and some bamboo leaves (or similar on the outside. And some light paper fabric on the inside. The AC was great!
Weekly Photo Challenge – Experimental
Posted on November 15, 2017
Foto Friday – The Best Days of our Lives
Posted on November 10, 2017
All kids love a tyre! Khartoum, August 2014.
International Women’s Day – Minus 1
Posted on March 7, 2017
MB screwed up the countdown to the International Women’s Day. Yesterday’s post read ‘Minus 3’ and today’s reads ‘Minus 1’. ‘Minus 2’ has never materialised and has disappeared into the fourth dimension or some such place where things that don’t exist reside.
For ‘Minus 1’ MB gives followers a shot of the bride at her wedding party from an August 2014 wedding that MB attended to Khartoum, Sudan.
Fallout
Posted on April 16, 2015
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. So said Mr Newton. Read More
A Week Of Women – Day 2
Posted on March 15, 2015
The Henna Lady
MB went to a wedding in Sudan in August 2014. One of the many wedding parties that takes place as part of the overall wedding festival is the Henna party. There are two separate parties in truth – one henna party for the bride & one for the groom. Each party is like a wedding party in itself. Food, music, dancing and loads of family & friends in attendance.
At the end of the night when the music stops and the crowd drifts off, close family members and close friends remain on to receive a decorative henna tattoo on the hand (men) or hand and arm and a lot more elaborate for the ladies. The procedure involves placing some henna oil on the hand. A portion of henna mud is then held in the palm of the closed fist. Oil & strips of henna mud are then dressed over the knuckles as shown in the pic – where MB’s white Irish skin is visible. The lady who did MB’s henna was an aunt of the groom, and a superb job she did. Following day MB had and orange coloured tattoo which turned jet black over the following 48 hours.
The Unifying Force
Posted on October 30, 2014
The FIFA Ballon d’Or (World Footballer Of The Year) nominations for 2014 were recently announced. The kids MB met last week dream of making that list some day. Read More
It’s All Positives
Posted on September 30, 2014
What a week that was. And we’re only half way there! Read More
Sudan – Reality
Posted on September 25, 2014
Sudan – Wedding (more!)
Posted on September 18, 2014
First & foremost, let’s start with the band.
MB shot this short very blurry arty video to give you all a flavour of the music and crack at the wedding in Khartoum – where the Blue & White Nile rivers converge (zero relevance to the wedding or the music ladies – just geographical knowledge). Listen also for the high pitched shrieks from some the ladies present at approx 50 seconds – called ‘ullulation’. They are doing so to honour the bride or groom:
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