Khartoum Neighbours

Mohamed poses in front of the sideboard he made me

In February I posted about going out to meet my neighbours across the road. You can read about this here.


The gentleman of the house, Mohamed, is a master carpenter. We'd seen him hard at work in his courtyard, making furniture. I needed a sideboard for my diningroom (none here before as there's never been a woman in this apartment, ha!) so I asked him to come over and meet my husband. He did and during the course of conversation, Grant asked him if he'd make the piece of furniture for us. I had downloaded a photo from the Internet which we gave to him. The two men discussed measurements and the price and soon Mohamed excused himself. He said he wanted to get to Souq Omdurman (the market) to look for good but reasonably priced wood.

This is the exact replica of a model I'd seen on an upmarket UK website

Within two days Mohamed phoned me and asked if he could deliver the sideboard. Two young men duly arrived and carried the furniture up the stairs to our apartment with Mohamed [obviously] warning them in Arabic not to bump it, etc. They placed sideboard where I indicated and I asked Mohamed to pose in front of it.

Now I have storage place for the serviettes, papertowels, table linen, cruet sets and the myriad items needed for a properly-set dinner table!

Grant has just invited Mohamed over again to discuss another carpentry project with him. We need two doors to seal off the stairs. (More about this when Mohamed has completed the job)

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