This is the continuation of 'Azra, the girl from Suriname - Part 2'.
If you haven't read that one yet, you can find it here: @angie08/azra-the-girl-from-suriname-part-2
The next day I was up early. After a cold shower, I walked out onto the front patio with a mug of coffee, where Sean's father was enjoying a plate of rice with leftover duck meat from yesterday. I looked at him frowning. It was only nine in the morning. Who ate rice this early? Sean's father laughed as if he had guessed my thoughts. I laughed back.
‘If I would eat like this in Holland at this hour, people would think I’m weird!’
‘I know. Here we don't worry. We eat what we want, at what time we want.’
‘Yes, I notice that things are very different here than in Holland.’
Sean's father chuckled. He and I chatted for a while, when Sean came running up asking if the men felt like going fishing. His father looked up enthusiastically. I looked doubtful. I had never angled in my life and had no desire to do so. But I did enjoy going with the group.
For the first time since I was in Suriname I went to the district of Saramacca, which compared to Paramaribo was super quiet. There were very few cars on the road and you could see houses, but almost no people.
‘The people are either inside or in the field planting', Sean told me. ‘Many farmers live here.’
We drove quite a bit by car, then got into a boat and kept going until we arrived at a spot where they could set up camp. Both the men and the women began angling while the children and I watched.
Later in the afternoon hours we all ate rice and chicken in cardboard plates. Sean's mother and Sabrina had cooked quickly before we left. Sean had brought a hammock for me to lie in. While i lay in it, I stared at the leaves of the trees. I longed for Holland, I longed for my home, for my parents and my friends.
After a long day, I arrived home tired that evening. The next days, I mostly went for a walk downtown alone, trying out a restaurant here and there. I had called Sean a few times. He told me that he was very busy right now, because he was helping with the preparations for the elections. Oh yes, the elections. I had read a lot about them. Out of curiosity, I had also asked Sean a few questions when he came to see me one day and we each had a beer on the bench under the mango tree.
‘How was it that the people had elected the same president again in 2015 when he had performed nothing for 5 years?’,I asked him.
‘In Suriname, elections are held every five years. But in his second reign, the government failed,’Sean said, shaking his head.
He explained to me that the first five years of his reign had gone reasonably well. The misery began after that, when it came out that the government had squandered all its cash and was constantly taking new loans. The country sank deeper into debt and there had even been violent moments in the past few months when people went onto the streets to protest against the government. The Corona virus had put a damper on this. Out of danger of spreading the Corona virus, people were not allowed to gather in large groups. So protesting in unison was not possible.
Most of the people looked forward to the election to be held on May 25, 2020, in the hope that the next government could help them out.
There were several political parties, all of which were busy making propaganda. I had followed the news a little bit in the days when I couldn't cross the street. The making of propaganda had previously been stagnated by the Covid-19 infections, but now that Suriname was Covid-19 free it was getting busier in the streets again and the various groups were busy every day. Sean was also helping out.
Part of making propaganda was also that the groups went to visit people within different regions to place flags on their yards. I thought it was all funny to see all those colors. It seemed like they were competing with the colors. On a whim, I asked Sean one day if I could go with them when they were placing flags. He did.
It became an experience I would never forget. Not only did I get to meet a lot of nice people, I also noticed how others were calling each other dirty and filthy because of politics. Boy, boy!
It was getting hotter and hotter in Suriname. I almost melted from the temperatures, but still preferred to go with Sean instead of sitting in my appartment balcony again. I had nothing else to do.
The days flew by and then the big day arrived: May 25, 2020. Sean would be working that day at a polling station where the people of that region could vote. I wasn't allowed to just walk around the precinct, so I stayed around in my appartment. Every now and then I would whatsapp with Sean to ask how things were going. I watched a little bit of television where they had all kinds of programs so I could see that the day was going pretty quietly in the different districts.
Halfway through the day, the thought occurred to me that none of this really mattered to me. But then again, I had nothing else to do. And after all those weeks I was curious who would win the election. Could they really save Suriname?
In the early evening I dozed off for a while and when I woke up at eight o'clock in the evening, I decided to go out on the street after a shower. Because of the election, there was no curfew today, so I could stay on the street until later. I walked a little way downtown to get some French fries and drinks, then went back to my appartment.
I continued to follow the news. The election which was initially scheduled to last until seven o'clock in the evening had been extended by two hours. Many polling stations still had long lines; probably because of all the measures that had to be taken because of the Corona virus. In addition, many polling stations had also opened late. I did not understand. Here in Suriname it seemed like everyone and everything was late. After nine o'clock in the evening, the various polling stations would start counting the number of votes.
Around eleven o'clock some of the ballots had been counted. It showed that the VHP political party had more votes than the rest. Sean was pleased.
‘As long as the NDP led by Bouterse doesn't win!’, he had told me several times in the past period. I was happy for Sean.
I kept following the news until one o'clock in the morning. People were already celebrating, although some of the ballots had yet to be counted and so it was not clear which political party would win the election. Around two in the morning I fell into a deep sleep.
When I opened my eyes again at seven in the morning, the sun was already shining brightly in my appartment. I immediately looked at the television, which had been on all night. Commercials. I sighed, got up to go smoke a cigarette on the balcony first, and then grabbed the television remote. I kept zapping, but none of the television channels were talking about the election. Had they finished counting yet? Who had won? I grabbed my phone. No messages.
Where was Sean? According to his last message, he was at Olifant, the building where people were partying because the VHP had won more votes. I looked at the online news. No messages. A strange feeling, which I couldn't quite place, crept up on my stomach area and I called Sean. Sean didn't pick up. Strange. Well, I'd better take a shower then. After a cold shower, I walked downstairs and sat on the back patio with a cup of coffee. Babbel was sitting there whistling nicely.
‘Goodmorning!’he squealed. I laughed.
‘Good morning Babbel.’
‘Nis! Nis!’,he said.
Nis? What the hell was that? How did he come up with that? I frowned. Babbel often enough repeated things he had heard. So where had he heard it? What did Nis mean? I looked at the neighbor's yard. Possibly someone was talking there and Babbel had heard something. But what did it mean? Well, what did that matter to me?
I was still enjoying my cup of coffee when suddenly my cell phone in my pocket rang. Sean!
‘Hi Sean!’
‘Mark. You called?’
‘Yeah, where are you? I didn't hear from you again!’
Sean was silent for a moment.
‘I'm still in NIS right now. Haven't you been following the news?’
‘NIS?’
I looked up at Babbel. What was that chatterbox trying to tell me just now?
‘Yes, Anthony Nesty Sports Hall. Where they had to take the ballot boxes to. Everything is so chaotic here man.’
‘Ooh..ok ok, take care okay? There wasn't much on the news anymore.’
‘Oh yeah indeed, I heard the television stations aren't broadcasting anything anymore. Probably got the order or something. I don't get it all. You'll hear from me later though.’
I nodded thoughtfully as if Sean could see me through the phone. What now?
I walked around my appartment a little restless that day. I had started to build a good relationship with Sean over the past few months and was a little worried because I knew Sean hadn't been sleeping well for days. And now he had been up for over 24 hours.
It wasn't until later on in the news that I saw some things pop up again about the election. What actually happened? After the ballots were counted at each polling station, they had to be taken to NIS, a sports hall in Paramaribo where all the ballot boxes with ballots were collected. Somehow, something had gone wrong in transporting the ballot boxes. Ballot boxes went missing or still hadn't arrived at NIS after so many hours. Some ballot boxes were found open on delivery which was not allowed. There was a lot of fiddling with the papers. All kinds of things were heard, but no one knew exactly what was true.
Various interviews on television showed how angry and at the same time scared people were that fraud would be committed, which would bring the NDP political party back to power. One man Stephano Biervliet spoke calmly to a journalist and announced that he had no intention of leaving from NIS until the ballots were all counted.
‘The people don't trust the situation. We want to know exactly what is going on’, he said firmly.
It was around six in the afternoon when I called Sean again.
‘Where are you?’, I asked immediately.
‘I just got home. I'm going back to NIS later. We're going to stay on watch there tonight.’
‘On watch?’
‘Yes, we don't trust the situation. This government is corrupt as hell! They can pull off anything!’
‘Hmm...should I come with you?’
‘Do you want to?’
‘I'm going to sit and worry about you anyway. You've barely slept!’
‘Ok fine, I'll pick you up in a little while. In half an hour.’
I rushed to take a shower, put on sweatpants and sweater for convenience, and grabbed my cigarettes, a bottle of water, and my cell phone. Then I sat on the bench in the yard waiting for Sean to pick me up.
Yes, I know, I know. I haven't told you who Azra is yet. But that's only because Mark meets Azra in NIS. So definitely more about her tomorrow! Until then.
