Our work is now more fluent and we are starting to see possible plans of action emerge. The last weeks have been frustrating beyond my limits and my body reacted powerfully with irritation over the ongoing helplessness I felt and still feel. But now I realize these ways which gives more of hope as well. The rainstorms of the last weeks have settled and the mosquitoes and flies have taken over. My companion is down with heavy illness to the gut, which is normal for the population to suffer because of the flies and this might be the reason she is ill. We do not quite know. None of us has so far suffered Malaria. The population in the area suffers in the same way and 35 new refugees come every day across the border from Eritrea. “They derive from Somalia mostly, but some also from Eritrea itself. The state of Sudan will take the refugees by bus into the neighbor state, Kassala, to a big refugee camp driven by the UN” says Mr. Mohamed Taha Osman, Branch director of Red Sea State Red Crescent [Sudan is a federation and is divided into separate states like USA]. On top of all this the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is here to evaluate the food stability situation and flood hazards in the area of Tokar where 400 000 people might suffer food insecurity and shortage already or very soon. 
Me and Anine has been visited for a week by Christine Weima Lager, Youth Director Norwegian Red Cross. Our talks and discussions have been resolving a lot of frustrations on the above conditions and we have a stronger focus on our purpose here. It feels far too easy to lose focus in these situations. Christine is also a fellow Norwegian and I remember how great it is to speak my mother tongue on a daily basis again. Thank you, Christine. Our focus as youth delegate is: “The volunteers are the most important resource to train and learn from. Help with the democratic build up in the organization from the volunteer level. Help the volunteers in reaching the people in need, by joining on their activities in the communities”. This is how I orient my focus in my work here.

The market, harbor and the park is still the best places to relax in the afternoons. And further exploration of the enormous market, or “souq” in Arabic, is done on the days I do not mind the flies and the heat so much. Life is, maybe despite all I just told you, very much cheerful, happy and optimistic. I enjoy my life here and the more Arabic I speak the more I enjoy it. All the people I meet here are happy and thankful for life and good health. We could all learn something from them, because all though we might have the educational level, they have the right focus of a happy life. Maybe in long times of wealth we lose a lot of the contact with our day to day “here and now” consciousness. And I believe in “the now” as the moment which contains happiness, whereas the past and future contains regrets and worries.