This time I thought I'd put up some pictures I've taken that I think are interesting.
This one is a neat flower I found deep in the bush coming back from one of our build sites. I have no idea what it is.
The next two are the seed pod of the same plant and a budding leaf on the stem. Kinda random images but I like 'em. 
This handsome gentleman is Levi, our Chief Chef. He's from the South, specifically an area called Yambio which is a couple hundred miles to our west, but he has spent a lot of time in the north of Sudan, in Khartoum. He speaks Classical Arabic and only writes in Arabic script. It's really enchanting to see a page full of that elegant script written in someone's hand. Levi LOVES his title. When he was given his most recent employment contract to sign he was ecstatic! Not because of the raise he was given over his previous contract, he made clear. But because he had been bestowed with the title of "Chief Chef". Formalities, titles and the like, are very important to the Sudanese. I'm not quite sure why that is. Maybe it's because, for the most part, they don't have anything else to be proud of. Their country is in shambles and possessions usually consist of only the essentials to sustain life. Only a small percentage of the population in the relative "upper class" can afford such luxuries as the occasional soda or more than one outfit and one spare in their wardrobe. Facts of life in a developing nation I guess. But, nevertheless, worthy of our empathy and inspiring for our work. Anyway, Levi is a FANTASTIC guy with a jovial personality. And he really cares about us. This little guy lives on the leaves of our pineapple bushes. There are a bunch of 'em around because we have a bunch of pineapple plants. But you can only find them at night. Don't know where they go during the day but wherever it is, I can't blame them. I wouldn't be laying around on pineapple leaves in the heat of the sun here either.
Introducing...Richard-Richard. He's a dik dik. Get it? Someone brought him to the compound a few months back and Heather, our nurse, bottle fed him milk for a while. Now he's big enough to eat grass, shrubs and fruit. He loves apples. Such a cute little guy. 
How 'bout a termite mound that has completely engulfed the lower third of this tree. In the Zandi language, this is called a kpoyo tree. The termites in this type of mound are eaten by folks during a certain time of year when they proliferate. I'll have an exciting post to put up when that season arrives. ;o)
OK, let me end this post with a disgusting little creature. This one is called the Goliath beetle. Maybe you've heard of it. It really is enormous. The picture doesn't have anything for scale so I'll just tell you it's about the size of a roll of nickels. We have all kinds of creepy things like this around. I guess no more than in The States but they're new to us whities. 
I hope you've enjoyed this long overdue post. Hopefully I'll get the next one up pretty soon. Love you guys.
