A day in the Life.....

A day in the life of a Sudanese man named Longar.

As seen by Andy Dunt

Longar wakes up next to his son as the first light appears. He stretches out on his mat, his son still curled up on the dirt next to him. The fire is now burnt down and only a few embers remain. He looks to make sure all his cows are still nearby. This is how his son will spend the rest of his life, under the stars next to the cows.

Mary his wife has already begun her daily routine and is off to collect more wood to stoke the fire. She has a headache and a fever this morning (probably another bout of malaria) but she gets no relief or sympathy, she must carry on with her daily tasks for the family to survive. The eldest daughter has seen around 10 dry seasons in her short life. She is also up milking the cows, before the young calves have there feed. The youngest daughter of 8 years picks up the little sleeping boy from the dirt and puts him on her hip, that's where he will stay the entire day 

Longar loosens the leather rope that is fastened to a stake in the ground and releases around 20 head of cattle to pasture for the day. He will go and look for them in the evening and make sure they all return safe. It is dry season now so the rest of his cows are at the cattle campabout two days walk away.

As it is dry season there are no other crops so they must eat the sorghum they have collected. Mary takes it down from a high wooden structure where they keep it off the ground so it does not spoil. She put a few hand fulls into a bowl and grinds it over and over with a stick until it becomes a flour like substance. It is then eaten with a gooey soup made from okra. This family like most others will eat only once a day, yet for guests they manage to cook up some chicken to complement it.

The Goats and chickens are released from there tukul, where they have been protected from the hyena's. They will roam around all day under the watchful eye of the eldest boy who is reaching the age for his initiation. Initiation occurs between the ages of 5 and 7 and during this time the boy has his bottom six teeth removed. During this initiation the young boy can not show any emotion. The Dinka people are a fierce tribe and any sign of weakness will look bad and ruin the family name.

After the food has been eaten Mary goes to collect water to wash the dishes. She is lucky and lives in the best spot in the village which is only 200 metres from the hand pump. Other families will walk up to 4 kms to get water. Those who are to far to walk will just dig down and drink the dirty run off water in the ground.

In the afternoon and evening we recline in Longars tukul on a woven mat (the place of honour) with about 8 other men. Lyrics blare from an old cassette player but nobody understands them. The men erupt in laughter as I tell them that I have only one wife and that I sometimes do the dishes. They are a proud group who have a different set of ethics, but still have the basic desire to be accepted by the community. Without a superannuation policy and with a high mortality rate having a large family ensures you a good future and a seat as an elder.

As the sun reaches its highest point, I watch as Longar ventures outside under the big mango tree where they hold the villages court hearing. Men from miles around gather together to bring there disputes before the 5 chiefs and elders. Today a man who has clearly had too much Sorghum beer (which looks and tastes like muddy water) hold up his club and challenges another man who has not paid the agreed upon number of cows to marry his daughter. Others  apologise profusely for his behaviour to the elders. Off in the distance some men slap down these domino type pieces of timber in a game I could not understand and no one could explain to me.

I joined in with a group of teenage boys although they would be considered men as they have been initiated and have large scars on their forehead's. I try to play a game where there are holes in the ground and you pass these seeds around, I clearly cannot understand this one either as they slap me on my back push me out the way and laugh at the white guy they call Morteer (hard worker). 

Everyday these boys seem to play these games and the men chat under the tree, the boredom of the dry season and the hunger in there bellies is evident. They long for the rain to come which will bring with it the rest of there family, there cows, more food and reason to celebrate. Female relatives of Longars drop off grass that is bundled and carried on their heads. He is preparing to build another tukul as this year he will search for a second wife.

As the sun began to set Longar and I set of with spears in hand to find his cows. People stop what they are doing every where as I greet them "che ye bak", which means how has the morning found you. My father and I are the first white people to sleep in the village and they laugh at our attempts to fit in. 

Whilst we walk through waist high dry grass Longar tells me of the war. Although he doesn't recall a time when there village was over run, the fighting was always happening all around them. During this time he was seperated from his wife and two daughters and became a refugee living in Uganda. He stayed there for 5 years and whilst there did his primary education. On his return to Malony he began a school where he could pass on what he learnt to others. The school consist of three classes which meet under a tree most days. He was very proud as he explained to me that by himself he had made every brick and motivated the community to build the mud brick structure that I slept in. At the age of 34 he shared his dream with me of being able to go to secondary school and how pleased he was that we had come to help. 

As the sun set and the cows were safely home we sat in the dark, the men sang songs and banged on a drum with a torn skin. Mary brought us an evening meal and boiled some water for us to bathe. "Wa ben yook" till we meet again, we said as we headed off to bed. As we got onto our mattress and spread out our mosquito nets we lied down on something familiar, even civilised. The wood was in front of the doorway so we new the chickens would come in tonight. We lay listening to the cows, goats and bats and waited for that moment at about 3am when the sweat would stop and we could fall asleep from sheer exhaustion only to get up the next day at daylight and start all over again......