El Messelemiya Higher Secondary School for Boys: # 6
Wad Medani
We reach Wad Medani very quickly on the main road and the traffic increases. The area around the bus station teems with people: tall men in white, flowing jelabiyas, and turban-like headwear; women in brightly coloured tobes that cover them from head to foot, leaving only their faces uncovered to survey the stalls on the suq seral (small market) which doubles as the headquarters of the Gezira Public Transport Company.
Next to the bus station is the football stadium and on match days this area of market, bus station and stadium is thronged. Along the walls of the stadium men crouch and urinate, ignored by marketgoers and travelers alike.
The bus journey leaves most people hot and thirsty and the sides of the station are lined with stalls of brightly painted, corrugated iron to meet this overwhelming need. Yellow crates of Pepsi cola stand ready to be transferred to the large fridges to cool. Other stands sell sweet, ice cold lemon juice to thirsty travelers. Small disheveled boys in rags touch your elbow as you drink and are only placated when they are assured that you will share your drink with them.
Between the stalls and the buses, a ditch of water, diesel oil and rubbish provides an unspeakable cocktail for the unwary. Next to the drink stalls, women crouch over charcoal burners and serve tea in small glasses. On the other side, young girls carry trays of cones made from pages of newspapers, containing peanuts.
The more substantial stalls in the market proper sell all manner of bric-a-brac – wrist watches, bootlaces, perfume, Chinese sandals, innards of carburetors, pens, notepaper, and clothes pegs, while those stalls between the suq and the stadium sell mostly fruit, which is arranged in conical piles on the wooden stands.
In another part of the market, small boys kneel and polish shoes for a few piastres. Others sit and roast maize to sell to passers by. Piles of bright green water melons lie waiting to be sold, bleeding bright red under the sun.
Robert L. Fielding
We reach Wad Medani very quickly on the main road and the traffic increases. The area around the bus station teems with people: tall men in white, flowing jelabiyas, and turban-like headwear; women in brightly coloured tobes that cover them from head to foot, leaving only their faces uncovered to survey the stalls on the suq seral (small market) which doubles as the headquarters of the Gezira Public Transport Company.
Next to the bus station is the football stadium and on match days this area of market, bus station and stadium is thronged. Along the walls of the stadium men crouch and urinate, ignored by marketgoers and travelers alike.
The bus journey leaves most people hot and thirsty and the sides of the station are lined with stalls of brightly painted, corrugated iron to meet this overwhelming need. Yellow crates of Pepsi cola stand ready to be transferred to the large fridges to cool. Other stands sell sweet, ice cold lemon juice to thirsty travelers. Small disheveled boys in rags touch your elbow as you drink and are only placated when they are assured that you will share your drink with them.
Between the stalls and the buses, a ditch of water, diesel oil and rubbish provides an unspeakable cocktail for the unwary. Next to the drink stalls, women crouch over charcoal burners and serve tea in small glasses. On the other side, young girls carry trays of cones made from pages of newspapers, containing peanuts.
The more substantial stalls in the market proper sell all manner of bric-a-brac – wrist watches, bootlaces, perfume, Chinese sandals, innards of carburetors, pens, notepaper, and clothes pegs, while those stalls between the suq and the stadium sell mostly fruit, which is arranged in conical piles on the wooden stands.
In another part of the market, small boys kneel and polish shoes for a few piastres. Others sit and roast maize to sell to passers by. Piles of bright green water melons lie waiting to be sold, bleeding bright red under the sun.
Robert L. Fielding
posted by Justice @ 7:41 PM
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