5 Ramadan Myths Busted

Based on my brief Ramadan experience

Obligatory waiting in traffic amjad selfie

I wanted to write at least one more post about what my life has been like since Ramadan started because I thought it’d make for an interesting post. Ramadan is a holy month in Islam where people fast during the day time for 30 days. Fasting is from sunrise to sunset; no food or drink, not even water. This year’s started off with some major confusion surrounding when it actually started. You see the Islamic calendar relates with the moon’s cycle. So for weeks I’ve been asking when Ramadan started and gotten different answers. I must have received no less than 5 contradicting messages from people the Saturday before it started. “Google says..” quoted one non-Muslim friend. Well Google was wrong.

Let’s look at some other Ramadan in Sudan myths and misconceptions. And by myths I mainly mean the wrong assumptions I made about Ramadan before I knew better.

Everyone is fasting. WRONG For starters children and elderly don’t fast. Some families have kids “practice” a day or two as they get older. If you are traveling or sick you also don’t have to fast. (Shouldn’t this have ended the World Cup Muslim players fasting controversy?)  When girls are on their periods they don’t fast. Although they have to “make-up” days throughout the year before the next Ramadan (same for those who skipped due to traveling). In the end, fasting or not fasting is a personal decision.

Everything shuts down during Ramadan. WRONG I think I got this idea from the fact that on Fridays everything closes for people to go Mosque. I told some friends that I was planning on doing a big shopping trip before Ramadan started to hoard food. They looked at me and started laughing and then told me stores would still be open. While some stuff is closed, a lot more is open than I thought would be. Groceries and little shops all stay open. Schools running classes (like mine) stay open. We were really surprised to still have good attendance this past week. Restaurants open at night. The buses still run. Life continues as normal. If you have a job you still have to go to work.

The hardest part about fasting is not being able to drink water. WRONG Well, maybe for some it is the hardest part, but a general survey of complaints has yielded many more about smokers being antsy wanting a cigarette or coffee-drinkers with headaches from being unable to get their caffeine-fix.

People lose a lot of weight during Ramadan. WRONG Well again, I don’t have scientific evidence on this but I recently saw this article. Overeating is apparently a big problem. Some people try to take 4 meals in the span from 7:30pm-4am. I can’t imagine working out or running in Sudan when I could drink water (although there are gyms and clubs which residents frequent) but its safe to say during Ramadan the physical activity is even more limited.

It’s going to be really challenging to feed myself during Ramadan. WRONG Since Ramadan has started I think it’s actually the best I’ve eaten in the last 4 months. Since our usual cafeteria and fast food lunch places aren’t open and due to general interest, I’ve really taken up cooking a lot more meals. And no I don’t mean Ramen noodles. I’ve made some great lentil and chickpea soups and salads and then used the leftovers to make my own falafel (sans food processor BTW). I literally whipped up dinner for my entire household two nights last week. WHO AM I? The second part of eating awesome during Ramadan has been the amazing Iftar dinner’s I’ve been invited to. Iftar is the meal around 7:30 here that breaks the fast. There are some special foods eaten for Ramadan and the meal is always taken on mats on the floor. Dates and ful ( slow cooked fava beans) are a must.  I think the most important ingredient in an Iftar “breakfast” is the whole family or community coming together. Many families eat outside in the streets. The purpose of this is so if any traveler is passing during the time fast breaks they can be invited to join.

Outside our window at  4pm vs at 7:30pm. You can see the tea ladies' chairs stacked in the parking lot during the day. They set up right before fast breaks. You can see in the second picture the groups of men eating on mats on the side of the street. Some days we can see as many as five different groups just from our back window.

Above and below are examples of Iftar meals. They both include some Sudanese signature items like dates and ful. Above also includes moola and garassa which I've discussed previously, salad, and powder sugar covered zalabiya for dessert. Below in addition to ful and dates shows some yogurt dip, temiyah, salad, rice, and french fries.

After dinner we got to play with a puppy, so clearly that was the highlight of the evening.

Take-Aways/Sahfari*

So it’s July. I’ve made it. In 20 short days I’ll be leaving the place I’ve called home for the last 10 months. In the last month or so I’ve thought about what I’m going to “take-away” from this experience. Its even more refreshing now that some new volunteers have arrived and asked me these questions and what to expect. I’ve thought a lot about how I want to “talk about Sudan” with friends, potential employers, and strangers. I’m definitely searching for a balance.

A farm on Tuti Island overlooking Khartoum

I’ve really been thinking about the way I view and define violence, development, and freedom while I’ve been here. I hope to continue to challenge my and other’s definitions with different cultural interpretations.

Rachel and I have spent countless nights here debating lots of etymology used in International relations and development. The one we could never quite get over was “Developing vs developed country.” Although far better than the other category option of “Third-World,” I think our community of practice owes it to work out better language than this.  It’s problematic. I’m sure there have been far more articulate arguments made about this issue and I urge you to post them in the comments section below.

Some pretty terrible things happened to some people while I’ve been here. For security I’ve not shared those stories on this blog. I’m not going to whitewash those truths when I come home, but at the same time I don’t want my experience to become throwaway anecdotes which minimize some truly horrible  problems in Sudan or make it about “how rough I had it” (EYEROLL) or something that perpetuates or plays into the stereotypes of Sudan which Americans have.

Nile Street at Sunset

I think it’s very hard to simply say any statement saying “Oh well Sudan is like this…” “Sudanese people are like this” The same way when my students ask me about America and I tell them I can’t generalize about all Americans. I’m going to try to take that lesson to heart. 

Ok here are some more pics of what I've been up to this month!

Nas with notepads - a monthly spoken word event

Hanging with some fun ladies for mougrib tea

Henna- a beautiful Sudanese tradition for women before they get married

One of two Mexican restaurants in Khartoum "Amigos" describes itself as Tex-mex

Goodbye dinner at GAD!

*Sahfari (Sah-FA-ri) is the arabic word that is used to get food "to-go" it means take away. Easy to remember because its like  going on a safari

Kassala for Beginners

"Kassala, Mashallah, Humdallah"

I feel I must backtrack and offer you all some description on my wonderful trip I took to Kassala (Cuss-a-lah) in the East of Sudan back at the end of March. Honestly I’m so incredibly grateful that Rachel and I found the time to travel.

Sunset over Kassala

Our journey to Kassala  began very early in the morning. Luckily our friend helped us navigate the bus station at Mina Burri. It was a pretty hectic scene, so we were happy to find our bus and attempt to go back to sleep. The bus ride from Khartoum to Kassala is 8 hours. The buses are large coach busses, with tvs and AC. Ours was decorated with orange fringe, fur, and beading everywhere.

We arrived and were met by our good friend and fellow volunteer who is teaching at the University of Kassala. Even though he, himself, had only shortly just arrived he would be our tour guide while we were visitng. Also another friend arrived the night before from Port Sudan.

First glimpse of Kassla on the local bus into town

The first thing I noticed about Kassala were the mountains. Beautiful rocky mountains that do, indeed have, as my guide book described, an “other-worldliness” way about them. The second thing I noticed was that it was considerably hotter in Kassala. The heat hit me like a wall getting off the bus. This was back in March too, when I was still asking Sudanese friends when it would get hot again. Well, I had my answer.

The heat was bad like, bad-bad. But the scenery and company was too good.

View of Mountains from the University of Kassala

The center of Kassala has plenty of juice stands. They were round or hexagon shaped and reminded me of touristy food or lemonade stands in beach towns. Much to our surprise Kassala seemed much cheaper than Khartoum. Not surprising was that Kassala was much smaller and had much fewer people who spoke English. I also saw people of different ethnic groups and tribes that are less present in Khartoum. Of course we saw many Beja men, dressed in their classic uniform, a jalabiya with a vest over it and Rashida women who distinctly dress in black velvety robes/gowns with red beading and their veils covering their mouths.

Teapot gated entrance to Totiel 

During the trip we visited Totiel, at the base of the Taka Mountains. This is a frequent spot for honeymooners and other Sudanese on vacation. Many coffee and tea huts are set up or even carved in at places at the base of the mountains. The have painted the rocks and decorated the area so it is quite festive. My favorite part of Kassala was having coffee and popcorn (served together like in Ethiopia) at Totiel while watching the sun set over the town. We also people-watched looking at the newlyweds, the women in their finest beaded tobes with beautiful henna on their hands and feet. We tried to assess which couples seemed the happiest and which women were fairing the best in their clunky wedged high heels on the mountainside. The next day the members of my group were determined to climb part of the mountain to see Eritrea on the other side. I was determined not to pass out from the heat just from being outside.* So, I passed. I didn’t pass on drinking from the well at the base of Toteil. The well is said to promise good fertility (here’s looking at you, honeymooners) and that visitors will return to Kassala.

Coffee hut on Totiel

The well

Toteil coffee huts empty which would fill with people before the sunset

How I creepily took a pic of honeymooners

The pot is called a jebana

Coffee  is also called Jebana so you order a "jebana fi jebana" served with salty popcorn and incense 

 We also visited the Khatmiyah Mosque also located at the base of the Taka Mountains.

Our other time in Kassala was spent checking out different souqs (markets), parks, and walking through some mango farms to the Gash riverbed. 

Stopped to splash ourselves with water from an irrigation pump in the mango grove

 Of course when a family found us wandering around in their farm they offered us, to rest with them and their kids got us some fruit.

Overall it was a wonderful trip. Even in the heat it was nice to get out of Khartoum, explore nature, and see different cultures. I highly recommend it for anyone traveling to Sudan. 

*Also contributing was my lack of mountain climbing footwear and clothing. Have you ever climbed a mountain in a skirt? You can assume it's not a great idea. 

Teacher Musings and How to Deal with the Heat

I realized I haven’t given a life update in some time and so it’s probably only fair to write about what I’ve been up to. A lot has happened! I moved from Bahri (Khartoum North) to Manchea*, a neighborhood in center of Khartoum. I moved because Rachel and I received a new university placement at Comboni College. We live much closer to Nile Street and “all the action” Khartoum has to offer, though we do miss the tightly-knitted neighborhood of Safia and our favorite neighbor Haj Safie at times.

Our  kitchen where our signature dish pasta and Mish** tomato sauce is made

Camboni College has a really interesting history. It was started as a primary school by missionaries but has since scaled up.  It is named after, Daniel Camboni,  the first Catholic Bishop of central Africa, who worked as an Italian missionary The school administration worked with the Ministry of Education and now offer 4 Bachelor’s programs in some sort of public/private partnership. They also offer "after-school" English, Spanish, and Italian short-term courses. There is a church at the Souq Arabi campus and all the secondary students wear lavender blouses and headscarfs for girls, with black bottoms. It is pretty amazing that their campus is located right around the corner from “the big mosque” in the center of Souq Al Arabi. Many students of all different backgrounds attend classes at Comboni. The classes I teach are short-term private classes which are small and grouped by level. They are much more manageable than my 80-100 group of rowdy 17 year olds at Bahri University. This has had a huge effect on my feelings about teaching and my spirits in general.

We haven’t been without problems, but overall the administration of the school is the most organized I’ve been involved with or potentially heard about here. Our coordinator is an incredibly bright young Sudanese woman who splits her time running the short term courses for Comboni and running an oncology clinic. She speaks fluent Italian and English and is taking Spanish courses. Honestly regardless of the frustrations we have, this woman runs a tight ship and is an inspiration.

The terrace across the street from Khartoum University where I taught my private class

I was also teaching private classes associated with Khartoum University that just wrapped up in April. If you’ve been following the politics there, I’d add it finished just in the nick of time although I’m saddened by the university’s closure. I really enjoyed this group of students. At the end of our class we even took a class trip to Jebel Aulia, about an hour south from Khartoum on the White Nile, to have a picnic of fried fish.

Students exploring the dam

Boat ride on a fishing boat by our picnic spot

We have decided to hold our own English club on Nile Street twice weekly. Nothing like having a hot cup of tea on the side of the road in 100°F heat. I can’t actually believe I got this far into discussing my life without mentioning that Summer is killing me!

A spot along Nile Street by the "India Bridge" to Bahri

Nile Street!

It’s hot hotter even hotter now. Always. There isn’t much else to say. The heat has made many of the volunteers, including myself, more anti-social. People don’t want to leave their homes, which is fair. Staying in seems to be one of the best ways to cope. I feel like I should have learned more tricks of the trade by now, but really, I only have a short list with a few of the lame ways we have coped with the heat.

1.)    Drinking water

2.)    Putting our sheets in the freezer

3.)    Standing in front of the fridge while it is open

4.)    Multiple showers daily

5.)    Drinking more water

6.)    Holding a water bottle like it’s a baby.

7.)    Naas Pizza delivery (ah-mazinggg BTW)

Like I said not a very impressive list, but hey, I think we’re doing alright, for ourselves. 

The glory that is Naas's "Ethiopian Pizza"

*Currently polling the English spelling of the neighborhood as I've seen it Manchea, Manshiya, and Manshia.

**My googleing in English failed to produce a good picture but for all intensive purposes Mish is like yogurt veggie dip

The 7 Types of People Who Volunteer in Sudan

Who Actually Goes to Volunteer in Sudan?

The following are a few traits that are true about most people who come to volunteer in Sudan:

•          Has a genuine interest in travel or learning about different cultures than their own
•          College educated 
•      Doesn’t know exactly what’s next for them in life
•          Has volunteered in the developing world before
•          Doesn’t speak Arabic
•          Did not wake up one morning and have some sort of epiphany about saving the world
•          Owns a copy of the Bradt Sudan Travel Guide

Sunset over Hamed al Neel Omdurman

Declaimer: These are loose caricature profile descriptions, in real life many of my fellow volunteers have characteristics from several of these categories and perhaps some don’t fit into any of these categories, despite my catchy title. Even I don’t fit into all the statements above, this is my first time volunteering, and just because I’m able to give an outline of “who” volunteers, it is much harder to encompass “why” people volunteer. People’s motives are personal and in many cases too complex to fit into a nice short categorized description. 

Building on Tuti Island

The 7 types of people who volunteer in Sudan are as follows: 

The Arabic Student

     The Arabic student arrived to Sudan with two suitcases. One with clothes and supplies and one with books.  The Arabic student declines invitations to hang out at a pizza place with fellow ex-pat colleagues opting for meeting local friends for their cousin’s wedding (the 4^th wedding they’ve been to this week). They throw Arabic phrases in all their conversations even those with their kawaja (white) friends. The Arabic student even buys a jalabiya (local dress for men) or rocks henna on their hands (local tradition for women) and doesn’t shy from talking to people in the street.

The World Traveler

     The world traveler is deeply interested in gaining a new cultural experience. The World Traveler has been a passport holder for as long as they can remember. They’ve camped in the desert, meditated with monks, and became a tour guide in Cairo. This isn’t their first time at the rodeo of working in a “developing country.”  They are interested doing the “touristy” stuff in Sudan to check items off their bucket list, and also meeting and enjoying the company of the Sudanese people. The world traveler can cook cuisine from many countries thru some creative improvisation with local ingredients and gives great small gifts from their past travels. The world traveler has great advice.

The Long-term Volunteer

     The long-term volunteer is a quirky but awesome individual.  One day he/she found an ad in a newspaper calling for volunteer teachers in Sudan and the rest is history. They can’t help themselves but keep coming back with a month trip home every couple of years. Even though they have lived here the longest they aren’t self-centered or conceited in the least bit. They are always willing to share advice, jokes, and stories. They maneuver otherwise sticky situations gracefully with a huge smile, decent Arabic, and a spring in their step.

The Recent College Grad

     The recent college grad is looking for a break, trying to push off the “real world” or seeking unemployment by choosing to come to Sudan for a “meaningful” gap year. The recent college grad probably studied international affairs, history, or anthropology.  In school they specialized in terrorism, women and forced migration, or peace studies. They would like to find work in their government’s Foreign Service, international development, or apply to a graduate program in conflict resolution. The recent college grad expected they’d be living in a hut but is cool with the modern conveniences of Khartoum.

Peter Pan

     Peter Pan is a white man who came to Sudan because he is lost. He talks about his plans to start a business, he is destined to be a social entrepreneur, but never will because then he’d have to grow up. He thinks it’s such a shame that Sudan has let itself go since the British left. Peter Pan complains about how frustrating the Sudanese culture of being late, laid back, and unorganized is but ends up acting this way as well. Peter Pan is a charmer. He fancies himself a number of things. He works the system.  He’d rather “live like a king” in Sudan. Peter Pan doesn’t want to settle down in one place just yet and probably will stay in Sudan until he secures his next gig in Thailand or Argentina.

The Ex-Corporate Lawyer

     The ex-corporate lawyer is a nonsense risk taker who decisively knew they had to make a change in their life and quit their fancy high-paying job at a law firm.  The ex-corporate lawyer is head strong and unafraid of new experiences. They went back to school and decided they wanted a job with more meaning in life. They are the “mom” or “dad” of the group planning socializing time, encouraging volunteers step out of their comfort zones, and making sure everyone is healthy. The ex-corporate lawyer has a strong moral compass and is assertive in stating their opinions. . They throw themselves into their teaching job like they would any work they had done back home,  and plan lessons extensively which can be frustrating when as happens people are late, buses take wrong turns, and classes are cancelled but their enthusiasm ensures that they make great Sudanese friends.

The Religious Person

     I don’t know much about the religious person because up to now in my short experience I have yet to meet someone who fits this profile. I do think its worth mentioning the religious person due to the numerous stories and instances of this character I’ve heard about. It seems as if the religious person is usually female, very sweet, and means well, but at times finds themselves isolated or at tension with life as a volunteer teacher in a predominately Muslim society and with the comparatively less-religious volunteers.

Khartoum Botanical Gardens 

WhyDev Gets it Wrong: Volunteering to teach English is NOT the new volunteering in orphanages (Part 1)

This is a direct response to a recent blogpost by the international development blog, WhyDev criticizing English teacher “voluntourism” in developing countries. They say “If you want to teach, teach. If you want to travel, travel. Don’t do both. Don’t mix business with pleasure.”  To counter their argument I have a number of points. This got me thinking so much that I’m even going to address arguments not presented in their post as part of a series. My disclaimer is my arguments are drawn from working as volunteer English teacher for 6 months with Sudan Volunteer Programme and that I believe there is room for debate on the merits and drawbacks of English teacher volunteering and voluntourism and that every country, volunteer program, and individual’s experience is different.

What does volunteering to teach English in a development country actually lead to?

English Teacher = Social Worker

First the author makes the comparison of teaching and education delivery to volunteering in an orphanage doing social work. I have no qualms about the criticism about short-term volunteering at orphanages which has anecdotal and through scientific research been proven too often to cause more harm than good to the orphans who became traumatized and re-traumatized from the experience. An English teacher who instructs a class of students for several hours in a day and an individual essentially acting as a primary care giver for a group of young children by feeding, clothing, and washing them, have two completely different types of influence and opportunity to influence a child’s life. Obviously great teachers have the power to make a great influence on their students lives, and a poor teacher to set their students back. I think most people would agree that the risk or potential to do harm as a social worker is much higher than as a teacher. It’s this type of harm that causes orphanages to institute extreme “No picking up” or “No hugging” rules which are put in place actually to protect the children in their care.  I agree that child-based voluntourism is inherently problematic, but we should be discretionary about the differences between someone acting in a substitute parental role then leaving after a month and that same situation with a child’s teacher, camp counselor, or day care professional. Sometimes these roles overlap, teachers are mentors; sometimes our biggest support system, orphans get placed in daycare too, and of course many young children get attached very quickly in almost any circumstance. This requires further consideration, but certainly structurally and responsibility-wise the jobs of an English teacher and social worker are different.

A native speaker teaches an evening class

Unqualified teachers undermine the profession and students’ learning outcomes

          So setting that aside let’s address the other major qualm in the article which is that “education is  an academic discipline and professional practice” which I couldn’t agree more with, and despite this, the requirements or qualifications to join many volunteer English teaching programs require no teaching background, certificates, or prior training. The same criticism of Teach for America by The Onion that we shouldn’t leave the education of our children to armatures, could be made of English teaching voluntourists. Teaching is an occupation and shouldn’t be something someone can chose to do as a leisure activity. However, there is one major difference which is that volunteer teachers aren’t responsible for teaching core curriculum; they’re teaching English. This is why I have come to the conclusion that if done correctly being a native speaker teaching English in a country where English is a second language can, when done correctly, count as a providing a much needed skill and opportunity to practice and improve speaking in which without exchange or volunteer programs ESL students would not get.

         I in fact have been told how much I am needed as “a native speaker” by several English department administrators here in Khartoum. They say the students “know how the clock works, but they can’t tell the time.” Countless students have approached me and said almost verbatim that they “can read and write perfectly but when it comes to speaking they face many difficulties”. This has also led to having to convince time and again students, administrators, and random inquirers on the street that learning English takes time, hard work, and practice and that having a white American teacher isn’t magically going to make them fluent in two months but the sincere desire to improve is pervasive.

          Often times, and in best practice volunteer English teacher teach “Conversation”, or “Speaking and Listening” and occasional “General English” class when other staff are not available. They facilitate English clubs based on weekly discussion topics. They teach public speaking or debate. This type of teaching does not require the expertise taught in a Master’s program in Education. Any English speaker with a B.A. or even high school diploma could be an effective teacher in this setting but surely some sort of training or orientation, in teaching best practices and cultural awareness should be provided by the volunteer program.

          When talking about quality of professional Sudanese English teachers in Sudan I can’t say I’ve been overwhelmingly impressed. I’ve met several English professors with whom I can not hold a conversation with and they are still consistently employed. I’ve witnessed not only teachers who exhibit a poor quality of English but who also exhibit a poor quality in teaching strategies which speaks to the systematic problems with Sudanese educational institutions. I sat through an English class where a teacher, read, 4 definitions verbatim, repeated them with varying phrasing and volume level, to his 2^nd year college students in a class blocked for 2 hours’ time. 

       If your sitting at home thinking "Eh I could do better than that guy, I'd do a great job!"  The example above shouldn't be the measuring stick to which we compare potential volunteer teachers. Students deserve a hell of a lot lot better. And a lot more goes into being a  "good" volunteer teacher in a developing country than traditional teaching and English language skills. They ll be more on that issue Part 2.  

English teacher colleagues and myself

Volunteers undermine local labor

          I’d also make the argument that unlike construction volunteer trips building schools or wells that with teaching as a volunteer you aren’t competing with or replacing local labor. There is no reason, a GOOD Sudanese English language teacher couldn’t find classes or private tutoring, especially for courses on Phonetics, IELTS and TOEFL preparation, and Transcription.

          There is a huge demand for English teachers. Bad teachers aren’t out of work either. This isn’t because there is a lack of quality Sudanese teachers, rather I have been told many have emigrated temporarily to teach in Saudi Arabia or Libya for higher wages and I’d argue higher quality education administration which reflect the two biggest complaints my Sudanese colleagues have about teaching in Sudan.

         Volunteers aren’t corroborating the public education system’s failures nor are they an obstacle to reform. If there was the case that volunteers were teaching in a country which was experiencing teachers’ strikes or a flood of volunteers were putting local teachers out of work it would be a different story.

STAY tuned for part 2 which will address the argument that teaching English is a form of neocolonialism .

The Social Scene in Khartoum: Concerts, Culture, and Dancing

Upon coming to Sudan I was warned that it doesn’t exactly have a vibrant social scene, in the traditional Western sense. I was told of course there arn’t movie theaters*, concerts are limited, and there isn’t exactly night life. My social life in Sudan has proved much of this to be quite contrary. I’ve frequented concerts, parties, and stayed out very late on Nile Street. This can’t be attributed to getting on the inside of the Khartoum expat social scene either, as Rachel and I have happily found ourselves slightly outside that circle. Rather the past couple weeks I’ve had my fair share of exposure to Sudanese culture and entertainment through several festivals. There have been really great events.

First Sudan Film Factory partnered with a number institutions including the Goethe Institute (German cultural institute) and hosted Sudan’s First Independent Film Festival. How great is this? I was lucky enough to get my name on the list for the opening night. On opening night there was a screening of “Faisal Goes West” a short film about a family who emigrated from Sudan to Texas. You can watch the trailer here because I’m about it SPOILER ALERT in my experience and review of it. I loved that the film maker chose to tell this story framing it around the struggle of immigrants and not making it about refugees. There is even a line “Darfur. Yeah we aren’t from there.” It was also super interesting to watch the film as an American in an audience full of Sudanese. In many ways America is still “a big dream” for many Sudanese who I’ve talked with. Rachel and I estimated about 3 out of every 10 Sudanese friends or colleagues have told us they applied for the lottery. The movie does have its cringe-worthy moment where Faisal runs into some guys that jump him. Obviously I don’t want my Sudanese friends to think that if they come to American they are going to be attacked or robbed and that we have become an intolerant society of outsiders in America so yeah my initial reaction was a sarcastic “oh great”. Upon reflection though I think the scene, clearly the climax of the film, speaks symbolically about the difference between perception and reality of the typical immigrant’s journey. Anyway it’s a great film you’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll wonder if there really are still chicken farms in Texas.

          After the movie there was a great performance by Dina Al Wadi a French-Egyptian Singer who wore a hot pink mumu type dress. She even sang some Sudanese songs of which the crowd loved and sang along with. I think she was the most talented singer I’ve seen perform in Sudan.

          Anyway I went to an additional screening of another film though the festival screened maybe up to a dozen and generally think the film festival was a success so that’s really great. Additionally there was a Sudanese Cultural Festival hosted by the Sudanese National Museum and co-sponsored by the British Council. During this festival I attended two concerts. One showcased a local Reggae band and the following night a British Dub-Reggae Band (cause apparently that’s a thing now) performed.  I think I’ve mentioned before that many Sudanese love reggae music. At one point one of the nights hosts made the claim that reggae music started in East Africa…a claim which definitely raised an eyebrow or two. The concerts ended at 11 due to a noise curfew or something. While generally I don’t want to put down these types of events I was scratching my head a bit at the fact that a British band was headlining the final night of a “Sudanese” cultural festival. To the organizers’ credit for a few songs some local artists joined the band on stage.

It could have been an off-hand remark but my friend Mohammed turned to me during Dina al-Wahi’s performance and said that because there was such an international crowd she should sing some American music. I get the impression that Sudanese culture isn’t perceived as “special” or “good enough” and was reminded of this again with the British band incident.

     

          As far as entertainment between festival based events (and there seems to be a festival of some sort every month) there are several restaurants that have live-singers on Thursday nights. One of which is a popular Souq Al-Arabi restaurant called Papa Costas. All I can say is I’m still recovering from my experience dancing and listening to the band play everything from “Hotel California” to popularized Arabic music to a Tom Jones inspired take on “Yesterday” and I don’t think any amount of words could fully describe my night there, but it was definitely fun and unexpected.

Finally not to leave out one of the more glamorous nights out I most recently attended a very lovely party at the German residence located at a Nile front property.

*The newly opened Afra Mall has a theater showing Egyptian movies 

The Fabulous Life 4 Months Later

This past weekend marked my 4^th month Sudanniversary. That’s right, it’s been 4 months since I arrived in Sudan. At this point it’s safe to assume “I’m settled” and have established a normal routine. A question my mom asks me a lot is “What do I actually do all day?” This is totally fair. Even before arriving I was told my volunteer hours teaching at the university would be less than 20 per week.  Going from the “busy” life as a college student, to my Summer 9-5 gig, to life in Sudan has been a huge change.

First I’ll directly answer the question, “What do I actually do with my time?”  I currently teach twice a week at my university. It’s quite the trek (a half hour commute to Kadaru), although we are quite spoiled to have a university car drive us to and from our home, but the drive back in the afternoon leaves us zombie-like only alleviated by naps.  Activities at university are equal part having tea, dealing with administrative issues, and actual teaching. Additionally, I am giving twice weekly English classes to the staff of a center for civil society. Eventually, inshallah, I might add another private class in the afternoons.

Besides teaching I have been reading and writing working on assisting some Sudanese students with a variety of applications and graduation projects and also separately reading anything I can get my hands on about the conflict in South Sudan.  Rachel and I also have an inclination to make sure everyone in our volunteer group is doing ok and that new volunteers are being taken care of. So we do spend quite a bit of time with our friends in the program.

I have also tried my hand at cooking! WHAT?! Its true folks, with more time and little variety in our neighborhood I’ve actually become interested in cooking for myself. It all started from Rachel’s encouragement and being inspired by watching a fellow volunteer who was trained as a chef make pasta sauce out of cream cheese and canned cheese (pretty genius). I’ve always seemed to have some mental block to cooking; that it was too difficult, too time-consuming, and too depressing to cook for one person. This meant I was queen of take-out. While I was literally living the “sweetlife” with trips to Sweetgreen and One-Fish Two-Fish sushi at least once easily three times a week  I actually have found cooking much less stressful and more rewarding than I previously had thought it could be.

I think this is because for the first time in as long as I can remember, I have free time and I’m not in the least bit stressed out.  Don’t get me wrong living and volunteering in a foreign country has its frustrating moments, but overall I’m much less stressed out than I was during college. When volunteering in a foreign country it’s easier to accept that a large part of your life is out of your control, what you can control is how you react to otherwise frustrating or stressful situations.  Sudanese culture specifically, is a lesson in patience for any Westerner. If your bus breaks down its “ma mushkila” (no problem).

Some friends I invited over for dinner! 

 Now that I am over the “Can I actually do this?” and homesickness bumps, which was shrug-worthy compared to my pre-departure “Wait. Hold up. I’m actually doing this” moments of freaking out,  I’ve had a lot of time to re-think about what I want to get out of my experience and the rest of my time here. Part of this list includes travel, improving my Arabic (which is still shwayah-shwayah), making more friends, and trying to create a working group or some sort of contribution for my previous life with Banaa.org.

Further Related Reading

On reflecting on post-grad life: Coffee and Stink

On relaxing as a young adult: xoJane