We were told before arriving in Sudan that the only entertainment in Khartoum is parties hosted by German Club or American Club. Both are diplomatic-type affairs that are exclusive and in order to gain entrance, you must be on a list. Jason tried to get us connected before our trip, but with no luck. With no promising leads, we decided to work Friday, the equivalent of a Sunday in Muslim countries. With Jason pricing conditioner, he ran into an expat who turned out to have a bit of connections. Ivana said she felt bad for new people in the country, so made a few calls, and our names got on a list at the US Embassy Rec Site.
Our day instantly changed from a marathon tour of spending seven hours in consecutive supermarkets on a day-off, to grabbing swimsuits and setting off for a pool party. Christian, a Political Officer at the Embassy hosted the grill out, complete with burgers, beers, an intense game of pool basketball, and a late-night showing of Old School.
Alcohol’s attendance at the gathering was, while not the most interesting aspect, but well, the most educational? The complex has a walk-in cooler stocked with every type of alcohol imaginable. In a Muslim country that prohibits alcohol, this was shocking to see the level to which the rule is avoided. The cooler, painted beige like the surrounding buildings resembles a freight container. However, this shipping container has a keypad on the outside. Shipments are made constantly to the Embassy for office supplies, furniture, and whatever else the staff needs. The containers are never inspected, and so out of the thousands of deliveries the US Embassy gets, it’s apparently very easy to import one more container of “furniture.”
Diplomatic parties were once a huge ordeal. Up until New Years Eve of 2007, hundreds of people would come to parties thrown by Embassies in Khartoum, most notably by the US Embassy. That night, however, one lower-level diplomat was murdered along with the driver as they drove away from the party. Ivana witnessed the scene as she drove by the site just minutes after the shooting. Parties on a large scale stopped as a result as they became smaller and attendance more tightly controlled. The message had been sent.