Sunday September 12th 2010

Sunday September 12th 2010


We spent the early part of the day today inside, avoiding the heat and resting. Hamada came over around 4pm with traditional Sudanese food that his mother had cooked for us. It was delicious – beef in some type of a soup/stew, the traditional Sudanese bread that accompanies it, and a salad made from cucumbers, red onion, and tomatoes. The beef is prepared in a large pot and the bread is then cooked over heat and placed on top of the beef in the huge pot. The food is traditionally eaten out of the large pot, with those eating sitting around it and sharing the food.

Over dinner, Hamada discussed politics with us. He told us about the National Congress Party, the ruling party in Sudan and shared some of his frustrations regarding Sudanese politics with us. Hamada explained that the government is dominated and controlled by the older generation, that too many “dumbasses” find their way into power, not because they deserve it or demonstrate competence for it, but because they have the right connections, and that money corrupts politics because it is abused by the politicians. He explained that the ruling party is associated with strong Islamic values, despite the money-stealing and corruption, and that democracy is associated with drinking, sex, and other so-perceived undesirable Western attributes. He explained that when people think about politics, they think about the present, and not the future, in the sense that political consciousness in Sudan is always responding to risks and problems, rather than foreseeing the problems or risks and their solutions, and adopting a pro-active approach. When I asked him about the younger generation and the potential for change, he explained that youth and the youth congress, and younger individuals in general, have very little influence within Sudanese politics and are immobilized by the power of the older generation and the failure to plan or prepare for the future. Women, he explained, are given significant space within Sudanese politics, in terms of ministry positions and other positions of influence, but must constantly struggle against the male dominance, as well.

Hamada previously worked for the training center, which is a National Congress Party-affiliated organization that provides training for politicians in Sudan. They are often sent out of the country for training, and Hamada attempted to bring together young politicians across parties and political affiliations to attend training together. His goal was to bring together diverse viewpoints to open up dialogue and increase understanding across differences, which he believes is central for improving Sudanese politics and building a better future in Sudan. However, he resigned from this position because he found the affiliation with the National Congress Party to be a significant obstacle, regardless of his open mind and ability to challenge the party’s dominant ideology, as he was always associated with this affiliation and found that it was difficult for people to think beyond that. Everyone, he explained, is, in some sense, a politician in Sudan, and everything has a political element to it.

We also discussed the upcoming referendum, scheduled for January 2011. Hamada explained that the majority of both the Northerners and Southerners favor separation, with the Northerners hoping to remove themselves of economic responsibility for the South, and with the Southerners hoping to separate themselves from the North, which they associate with their persecution. Hamada explained that he believes separation would be devastating for the South, as the South is economically dependent on the north, severely under-developed, corrupted in government, and unable to sustain economic independence or development. The referendum will be decided by the Government of Southern Sudan, which means that it may or may not represent the mass population’s wishes.

We asked Hamada about interactions and relations between Northerners and Southerners, and he acknowledged that there is great tension between the groups, especially among older generations. He explained that marriage between the two groups is completely unheard of and does not occur. He himself has many close Southern Sudanese friends, but regrets that his open mind and respect for the Southern Sudanese is not common in the North. He provided examples of the ways in which Southerners are discriminated against, in terms of the job market and throughout society at large.

Later this evening, we decided to take a walk through our neighborhood, to try to conquer the confusion that we faced last night when trying to return home. We walked until we found the end of the bridge that we were repeatedly taken to. Though it is not particularly close to our apartment, we do now know where it is in relation to our apartment. We are still unable to identify our apartment by address or in terms of street names, as streets appear to be either entirely unidentified here or identified at very random and extremely distant intervals. We also walked to a beautiful mosque before returning home. We have not yet taken pictures of the mosque, as we have not yet taken pictures of most things beyond the balconies of our apartment, because we are unsure about what it allowed and what is not. We know that we are prohibited from taking photos of certain things, such as government buildings or officials, bridges, slums and poor people, or pretty much anything else that it considered undesirable or political, but we remain unsure about whether we can take photos of mosques. Because the rules regarding photography seem to be quite strict, we are refraining from photographing when in doubt.

After returning home with a renewed sense of confidence about our ability to actually find our way home, we decided to visit another, more distant, area of Khartoum. We had read about the Souk Ed Dinka, or Dinka Market, and decided to try to find it. We first took a rickshaw, after spending approximately 10 minutes trying to explain where we wanted to go to a group of men who were increasingly growing in size the longer it took for us to explain our destination. They were all so friendly, smiling, and eager to help, but their English was quite minimal and our Arabic pronunciations of the place we wished to go quite horrible. Eventually though, one of them seemed to know where we were talking about and instructed the rickshaw driver where to take us. After travelling some distance, the rickshaw driver pulled over and tried to explain something to us in Arabic. It was clear that he was trying to tell us that we should get off there, so we did as he instructed. He then got the attention of a taxi, and he explained some directions to the driver in Arabic. The taxi then drove us the rest of the way, which we then realized was because the rickshaw was not allowed to drive on the large road that needed to be taken. The taxi driver attempted to have a quite animated conversation with us in Arabic. He was smiling and gesturing, and speaking. We didn’t understand anything he was saying, though we did understand that he really desired to talk to us. The taxi driver stopped where the rickshaw driver had instructed him to take us, and we got off. We spent some time walking down a road, in a somewhat remote area that was full of people. We walked past some huge park, or something of the type, that was filled with people sitting in the grass and relaxing. This was at approximately 10:30pm. Everyone who saw us seemed to be quite interested in our presence, and we were certainly the only foreigners there. Groups of children, mostly boys, were very amused and interested in us, trying to greet us in English but mostly discussing us quite excitedly in Arabic and laughing hysterically. Young men and older men greeted us, asked how we were doing and where we were going, and a few spent a short distance walking with us and engaging in small talk. Souk Ed Dinka seemed to be known in this area, as the Dinka market, but despite the attempts of a few different people to direct us toward it, we did not find it. When we were stopped at a crossroads, a man pulled over and asked us where we were going. When we told him, he told us that we were trying to go to Souk El Arabi and offered to take us to it. He drove us a bit, talking with us about our stay in Khartoum, asking how we perceived Khartoum, and telling us that he would be very interested in being our friend. He stopped after a short distance and told us that we were now in Souk El Arabi and on Dinka Street. We thanked him for his kindness and got out. Though the markets were closed, we walked through the area. We are not certain that this was Souk Ed Dinka, as it did not seem to be where we would have expected it to be according to the map, but it was an interesting area. We then successfully took a Taxi home.