SG discoers the iPod

Everyone here calls people by their work title, even out of work. So, Jonathan, who is the Secretary General of the Ndu Council, is called SG by his wife, colleagues and friends.

SG is quite a character and chatters to me about his trip to Oxford 2 years ago to study local government at Ruskin College. As part of this 3 course, he was taken to Brussels to the EU headquarters.

Last night I went round to his house for supper. His wife cooks outside on a wood fire, keeps all the food warm in thermos-like boxes, which are then used as serving dishes at the table. Tea too is served ready brewed in a thermos flask. I am usually offered a small can of condensed milk to add to the tea but, tonight, joy of joys, we had lemon instead.

We had cow stew, which is tough pieces of meat in a very rich tomato sauce, served with rice and the local green vegetable ‘huckleberry’. Plates of bananas were then served with bread and tea.

SG then got out his England photos, of Buckingham Palace and the EU building in Brussels. He was so thrilled to have been given the opportunity to travel and is ore and wonder of life in Europe.

Its not difficult to see why. One photo pictured him lying on white sheets in a sparkling Brussels hotel bedroom, I had a minor pang for home at the thought of ‘my clean white linen and fancy French cologne,’ oh and hot water and a flushing toilet.

But this is day in day out. Women get up at 5am. A fire has to be made, water heated for washing and cooking, breakfast made and children sent off to school, all before they go to work or the field.

Ndu has got water and if you have the money to attach pipes from your house to the system you will get water for about half the week. Most people cannot afford the fifteen pounds to do that and take buckets to and from standpipes. The problem is that Ndu is up high on a hill and water has to be pumped by electricity…and electricity is often not powerful enough to get it up the hill. So, no water.

Back to Jonathan or ‘SG’. I invited him round to see my photos displayed on the laptop. He was so impressed and excited with what he calls ‘white men inventions’ so I showed him my iPod. He held it in the palm of his hand, like an injured bird and listend through the earphones to The Cherubs. He is a lively and talkative man, full of fun and love for everyone. The iPod silenced him. I have not seen him look so serene in the week I have been here, then he looked down at the iPod and said ‘I would lie in my bed with this and all my worries would dissolve.

I love my iPod but, its not that good – or did he mean The Cherubs?