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.

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

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 .