How is this possible?

Actually I don’t really know what I expected coming to Khartoum for the first time. The temperature of some +39 Celsius did not feel as I think I expected. The partly clouded sky and the nice fair breeze is obviously to thank for the way the weather welcomed me this afternoon. Due to the early arrival of the plane I had some time to observe the way of life outside of the Khartoum International Airport. I’ve seen some airports during the years, and what I really noticed here was the respectful and calm atmosphere, the politeness and the friendliness, both between the Sudanese and towards me appearing as a pink European with at lot of luggage.

Another thing which I noticed was the type of cars of the NGOs. It made me reflect upon their needs of reliable heavy duty vehicles.

After some time I called Benjamin which happened to be close by and when the driver of UNU came, we left for the hotel.

Arriving at the Acropole Hotel, I bumped into a smiling retired British Naval Commander and learned that his church has established some 300 schools in Sudan, mostly primaries. They are now about to start a new secondary school in Juba. It is definite that we new comers have a lot to learn from those having learned a lot before us. Sudan, with its history, with its politics and with its complexity is obviously hard to understand for me.

When Deputy Vice Chancellor Dr Faisal arrived at the hotel he, Benjamin and my self sat down and talked in the lobby of the hotel. His warm and friendly greetings felt reassuring to me. We talked trough my mission for this visit and agreed upon how to proceed.

Having dinner at Acrpole Hotel turned out to be totally different from what I had expected. Not that I know what I expected, but it for sure was not sitting around a table speaking Norwegian. A group of four from the Norwegian authorities of immigration doing research upon the actual situation in Sudan from the perspectives relevant for the judging of immigration issues knows a lot which is of interest for someone trying to understand what it’s all about. And they generously shared.

My thoughts when going to room 34 was simply: How is this possible? If this day is proved equal to the ones to come, then it is totally up to us to make NUCOOP a story about a successful example of capacity building. Of course my thoughts were optimistic, ...