Launching Into the Unknown

Our friend John owned a large car and his wife, Deborah, drove their children from Omdurman into Khartoum to school every day. They needed fuel regularly, so they hoped this new regulation would be an improvement. At 11:00 a.m., John drove over to queue up, but found he was 100th in line. By the time he reached the station, the pumps were dry. The following day, he watched to see what was happening before 11:00. Sure enough, around the corner, cars were parked at right angles, facing in the opposite direction from the station, any direction except in the station’s. At 11:00, they turned around and formed a quick queue! The next day, John did the same, and got fuel. This regulation didn’t last very long because even fewer people went to work. People coped with the many frustrations and inconveniences by telling jokes. The many shortages were fertile territory. One joke I heard goes like this:

A man queued up for several days to get a bottle of cooking gas. Having obtained that, he queued for sugar, then for gasoline, and again for bread. This pattern continued until he came to the end of his patience. He was determined to kill President Nimeiri for causing all these shortages. When he arrived at the palace where the president worked, the guard asked him to state the nature of his business. He said, “I have come to kill Nimeiri.” “Oh,” said the guard, “just stand in that queue over there.”

Another joke told of a man who went fishing and caught a Nile perch. But when he got home, he found he had no knife to clean it, no charcoal to heat it, and no oil to cook it in. So, he returned the fish to the river and threw it in. As the fish swam away, the man heard the fish call out, “Long live Nimeiri.”