This is it!

My six-month mission in Sudan has come to an end! Tomorrow, I will be leaving Africa. I am not looking forward to the long journey (Khartoum/Jeddah/Frankfurt/New York), but Inshallah, I will get some sleep on the planesssssss! This week has been quite busy w/ good-bye dinners and get-togethers, so I am feeling pretty exhausted.

I had a very good experience here. Met some incredible people and really enjoyed learning about the Sudanese culture.
Khartoum; “the city of dust”, where the two Niles meet and the air is hot, think and arid will always be in my memories. Particularly the sight of women wearing long sleeves turtlenecks, socks and gloves under 100F and the fine sand fog that was always in the air, stayed on my skin and turned my clothes to a reddish yellow…

I hope that for those of you who followed this blog, I made the entries interesting enough. I tried! It’s really hard to put into words every little thing that amazed me here! But, with time, I am sure I will get to tell you more stories in person.

Thanks for your support!

Whirling Dervishes

This weekend I went to see the Whirling Dervishes of the Sufi. The Sufi movement is known in Sudan as Tariqas (the way to God). Their unique spiritual practice aims at letting go of personal desires and purifying the inner self to gain a closer connection to God.
We arrived around 5PM and went straight to see the Maqam, a tomb of Sheikh Hamad Al Nil (a 19th century Sufi leader who is worshiped today). Inside, it was just a couple of people praying and lighting incense next to the tomb. Some came to greet me and one lady put some perfume on my hand. They seem happy to have an outsider there.

Then, we went outside and the ritual began. It is a prayer, but to me it looked more like a celebration. It started around 6PM, when dervishes from other communities arrived. -This all happens inside the cemetery by the way-. They formed a big circle and with the sound of drums and repetition of divine names of God, the movements began. Trance is primarily used and attained through whirling around. But I saw some people also inflicting pain on themselves through bites and rolling on the ground. Most participants had a smile on their face though, and when I pointed that observation out to our driver (a local Muslim) he told me: “lady, the word dervish means crazy. Crazy in love with God!” :) At sundown, the ritual ended and the dervishes went to the mosque to pray in a very orthodox Islamic manner.

"I relate, therefore I am"

I have learned that family is central to life in Africa.
The family here extends to relations that most Western cultures, I think, would no longer have knowledge of. Yesterday, my colleague asked me how she would call/refer to, the wife of her brother-in-law’s cousin. She wanted to learn the English word. After I repeated her question in my head a couple of times to make sure I understood it, my reply was: “Nothing. It’s too far removed!” She smiled and said that I was wrong. It’s not “too far removed.” She explained that her brother-in-law was like a brother to her and his cousin was like a brother to him. Therefore, the cousin was also her brother so the woman he married, should be considered her sister. My response was just “Wow!” :)

I feel like a wallet with legs...

“Sister! Sister! Buy this watch from me, buy this raffle ticket, buy this bucket, buy this box of napkins, buy me water, or just give me money!” I am so tired of listening to this every single day! Same people stand in the same street lights and come to me with the same story! Not to mention the “thieves” in the market who have the nerve to charge me USD$5 for ONE onion! :)

The internationals have really spoiled these people... They see us, and dollar signs must go into their heads…

Count down...

I have served 96% of my mission. t’s almost time to leave Khartoum…
I will miss the work and some of the friends I made here, but there are some things (like sand getting stuck on my lips because I am wearing a melting lip balm because of the crazy dry weather and heat), that I just can’t wait to not have to deal with!

In transit...

After a two-week vacation in the States, I am now on my way back to finish the mission. Oh, the JFK-Dubai Emirates flight is such a killer! I watched six movies and couldn’t sleep due to various types of odor, kids screaming and prayer sounds around me. Now that I have done some shopping here in Dubai airport, I just can’t wait to get back to my apartment in Khartoum so I can have some rest!

"What was your Dowry?"

That was the question my Southern Sudanese colleague asked me the other day over coffee. When I explained to her that in my culture, this is not necessary, her jaw dropped! "This is not right!" she said.

She told me that if I got married here, to a man from a Dinka tribe, I'd be worth about 250 cows due to my height. Taller women are expensive! The short ones "cost" about 100 cows.
The "Dowry system" here works in the way that the family of the man pays to the family of the wife. With cows, goats etc.

It is very interesting to be hearing these sort of things from the Sudanese culture. My colleague is as shocked as I am about this dowry/no dowry issue :)

What a world!!!