surprise

Gambela fireworks

Another time in Gambela for work, after a successful day working successfully on our tick-infested cattle without getting stuck in the mud! When returning to the hotel after the work, we passed in front of the compound where the personnel from the Soviet Union [1] were housed. The place looked like a fortress and its gates were usually closed. That afternoon, however, the gates were open and we had a chance to see that there was, for a change, some movement but we did not stop to ask!

After my usual afternoon walk among the Nuer kraals nearby (a hung-up from my time with the Maasai), I went back to the hotel for a well deserved shower. As usual, tired, we decided to have an early dinner as we were departing early the following morning.

One of my walks among the Nuer cattle in the neighbourhood of our hotel. note that each animal is tied to its peg, ready to spend the night.

Regarding our muddy showers, we soon learnt how to handle them. The trick was to have plastic water bottles with holes punched at the bottom that we would hang from the shower head and, in this way, rinse ourselves from any remaining mud (sometimes we needed two though!). Apart from that, the rooms were comfortable and well-kept and the food adequate, all considering the circumstances.

Gambela hotel.

That evening as usual there were four or five dining customers and there was the habitual choice of either a piece of chicken or a beef cutlet, both with chips. We felt that our teeth were up to the challenge that particular night and asked for the latter that, as expected it took a while coming. That night, the importance of this issue was soon forgotten.

Suddenly we heard a few loud explosions nearby that shook the windows of the dining room to a point that I was convinced that they would shatter. “We are under attack!” I immediately told Mabel and we moved under the table, in case we were hit! Of course, we were not the only ones that did this and soon, all dinners were looking at each other in wonder through a forest of table and chair legs!

Although the heavy explosions did not happen again, there was intense shooting noises from what seemed to be heavy guns as well as the pop-pop-pop of the ubiquitous AK47s. In the middle of the confusion, we saw a pair of fast-moving legs going through the entrance door and that, after a few minutes, came back to announce something in Amharic that made people return to their food!

We imitated them while trying to find out what was happening. A waiter came and kindly explained to us that we were not under attack (relief!) but rather we were hearing a celebration by South Sudanese people stationed nearby. When asked about the reason, he replied that the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) had captured an important city (Kurmuk?) and the news had just arrived. Now we understood the movement we had seen earlier at the Soviet compound!

Knowing that we were not the target of the shooting we hurriedly finished our, by now cold food, and withdrew to the safety our room! While walking in the open we could see the green lines that the tracing bullets were drawing in the dark sky. As they seemed that they were being shot from places nearby, I decided to get my torch and go for a walk to investigate from a safe distance.

Perhaps one hundred metres from the hotel I found the first group of excited revellers (some probably drunk already). Lots of dancing was going on around a battery shooting in the air. Not being a weapons expert, I recall the battery I saw being a twin-barrelled gun that a recent search indicated that it could have been a ZU23 anti-aircraft gun. Satisfied my curiosity and after confirming that the atmosphere was one of celebration, I returned to the hotel.

Celebrations went on for a long time and I was wondering the amount of ammo that was being wasted and I fell sleep, while thinking how crazy the situation we had been through was as well as the futility of wars.

[1] Nick-named the “Popovs” mimicking the sound of the AK47s’ shooting!

Season’s greetings from Nairobi

Christmas 1986 and the new 1987 were approaching and a group of friends (us included) hatched a novel greeting cards plan. Instead of buying the cards as we did every year, we would make our own. The design was straightforward: we would pose like a bunch of Kenya settlers.

After some discussion on the idea and some other options, we stuck with the original one and we only needed to wait for the cost of the project. Soon we had a couple of quotes from printers and it became clear that our homemade cards would actually be cheaper than buying cards as we used to do in those days. So we decided to go ahead.

To be credible, the project required careful preparation. We needed to look like settlers, not only with the proper clothing and accessories but also ourselves. For the latter the men grew special moustaches, beards and longish hair while the ladies appealed to ancient haircuts!

Initially the costumes were an issue until someone mentioned the Kenya National Theatre. So a delegation got the Director to agree and, after a long selection session we borrowed the necessary items for a few days.

The next issue to be resolved was the location for the shooting. Again, several options were contemplated such as house gardens, Nairobi National Park and the National Railways Museum. As Nairobi was linked to the railways and we all enjoyed steam engines, we decided that we would pose by an old steam engine for two of the cards and at a garden for the remaining one.

When all was ready we realised that we needed a photographer! We found a professional photographer that was happy to take several pictures at each of the chosen locations so that we could select the best pictures. He would also develop them with a sepia tint to give a vintage feeling and add further credibility to the end product.

A Saturday morning, we gathered at one of the friend’s house where we had breakfast and posed for one of the pictures. Afterwards, we all traveled to the Museum. Our appearance created some commotion as it was not usual to have a group of people dressed in old clothes to visit the place! However, once we explained the reason for our weird looks, we were sold tickets and given the go ahead for the pictures to be taken.

A couple of days later the photographer brought a few samples and we agreed on three of them after examining all the pictures taken and ordered the cards. Unfortunately, I only found one of them.

Christmas card circa 1986 copy 3

In the picture a young Bushsnob is seen with a rather abundant beard (second from the left) and his wife Mabel (third from the left) both seated.

We shared the cards and the bill among ourselves and sent them to friends and relatives without giving details about the picture. We expected some rude or funny comments about our looks but we were disappointed as we did not get any!

It was only months later, when we went on home leave and asked our families and friends about the cards, that it became clear that they had not realised that we were on them!

I recall having to use a magnifying glass to confirm to several of them that indeed we were in the pictures!