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The “Tea Lady”

I do not know if you are familiar with the term  “Tea Lady”, but if you visited Sudan you probably know what I am talking about.
Tea Lady, in short, is a mobile coffee shop!  it is composed of small box which contain the necessary equipment to make tea, tea with milk, coffee, and hot hibiscus. They use coal to boil water.
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Most of the ladies providing this service are of low socioeconomic status and illiterate. Women displace by conflicts in different wars in Sudan constitute a high percentage of this population.
Generally, Tea lady has a low social status in Sudanese community specially in Khartoum. they are quite often associated with prostitution. The Federal Ministry of Health HIV programme considers them a special population group which deserve unique identity when reporting  HIV in Sudan.
Most of the time they are bullied by local council  trying to get rid of them. They are always at risk of being sexually harassed. The lucky ones are those who managed to secure a spot inside building such as government offices or universities where they can not be pursued by local councils  .
It is profession which mainly dominant by females, I have not seen any man serving tea in Sudan except in a bus station in Gadarif state in Eastern Sudan. it was not a unique case but in the same place there were three other men who sell tea. I wonder what do they call them, “Tea Man”?

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