Religion in Sudan

Religion in Sudan – as it relates to the Dinka

Some background information for you

Sudan is a Muslim country, with Muslims making up somewhere in the range of 70% of the people. The government that has been in power since 1989 has consciously based its administration - to varying degrees over the years - on Islamic values.





Photos: Muslims in Sudan












It is estimated that 20-25% of Sudanese follow a form of animism which is the religion of their ancestors. This leaves about 4-10% as Christians, though these numbers vary greatly depending on who you talk to. The people of the north are predominantly Sunni Muslims with most of the Southerners practicing the traditional religions or Christianity.


Traditional Religions- Animism

I often read that a majority of South Sudanese practiced animism and was never really sure what that meant exactly. With a little research I found out that animism is considered to be the original human religion. (I’m not sure why they had to specify “human.”)

The word ‘animism’ derives from the Latin word anima, meaning soul or breath. It is usually applied to any religious beliefs which recognize spirits or a spirit world inherent and controlling within the physical world. This religion is fairly common among aboriginal and native cultures. Basically animists acknowledge that there is a spiritual realm which humans share with the universe. With this as a basis, I can see how other religions grew out of this.

Dinka Religion

The Dinka have traditionally practiced a religion dominated by Nhialic (Sky) who is God and speaks through spirits who take possession of individuals. Sacrificing of cattle plays a big role in the religion. Since 1905, Christianity has made strong inroads into Dinka society and it appears to me that they practice some form of animist, polygamous form of Christianity. Most Dinkas I met consider themselves Christians and quite amazingly, the pictures of Jesus are the German stringy blonde-haired version. Most Dinkas I met also have a deep hatred for Islam, which at various times has been forced on them – only to see them reject it. Somewhere on this blog I describe Sharia law. Okay, back to the Dinkas.

They have one main God, the great universal spirit Nhialic, who speaks through spirits which take temporary possession of individuals in order to speak through them. The sacrificing of oxen by the "masters of the fishing spear" is a central component of the Dinka. They are the self-elected intermediaries between the people and the gods. I’m sure it’s no surprise to yo that cattle play a significant role in the religion. They are sacrifice to God as substitutes for their owners.
Some men and women are also believed to have extraordinary powers. In some cases it is feared that these people have the capacity to inflict harm on others. The concept of the sorcerer exists among the Dinka but it something that they fear from members of other tribes. Illness is sometimes blamed on a sorcerer. I’m really no expert on this – or anything else - but I know that these beliefs vary from tribe to tribe.

Christianity

Though Islam is the religion of the majority of the population, Christianity has a long history in Sudan beginning in the 4th century. It flourished until the 14th century when Islam virtually wiped out any signs of Christianity .


Christian missionaries began to show up in Sudan in the late 19th century, though Archibald Shaw, a missionary of the Church of England, (known simply as Shaw – and later by his given Dinka name, Matur) is credited with bringing Christianity to the Dinka. He spent many years in Malek – the site of the main leper colony in Southern Sudan (see below for some information about leprosy).

Christianity spread primarily through the cities and did not reach the villages until the 1980’s. With the outbreak of the civil war in 1983, many villagers were forced to move to the cities and were converted. One of the triggers of the civil war was the imposition of Sharia law on the south which has as tradition of fending off the Islam. The south Sudanese defended the area against the Ottoman Turks (who ruled Sudan) in the 19th century and repulsed any attempt to be converted to Islam. The civil war came (see the History section) and according to some sources it sparked an explosive growth of Christianity. In some ways, the English language and Christianity are symbols of resistance against the Arabic speaking Muslim north.

Today, Sharia law only applies to the Muslims in the North. In spite of a policy of separation of church and state, the teaching of Christianity to Christians in government schools is part of the curriculum, as is Islam to Muslims. Go figure.

Sidebar – Leprosy.

When I was in Malek and passed the Leper colony I realized that I knew nothing about the disease. In case you’re curious, here’s a brief description. I was particularly confused about whether leprosy was contagious or not.

Leprosy has a long history which I will not go into, but it is interesting to know that it is mentioned in the Old Testament. It also goes by the name Hanson’s Disease and is a chronic infectious disease cause by a bacteria. Today, it can be treated effectively with drugs, but if left untreated it causes severe disfigurement. It is almost never fatal.

Leprosy has instilled fear in people for centuries. The stigma attached to it has forced those infected to be shunned by family, friends and society. Today it is primarily found in only 11 countries of which Sudan is one.

Throughout the ages, it was thought to be a highly contagious disease. People believed that you could get it simply by touching an infected person. We still do not know exactly how the disease is transmitted from person to person. Some theories postulate that it is through nasal droplets released through sneezing. Only a small percentage of people who absorb this bacteria actually get the disease.

Photo: Leper as seen through a car window

Reflections and Sharia Law

From journal entries……..mostly ramblings and possibly some repetitions. No one is reading this anyway, so I’m not sure why I’m explaining……..

Written in early September –

My experience was not Africa, nor even Sudan. It was the Dinka experience in a part of South Sudan, but it seems to me that there is an African consciousness, especially a sub-Saharn African consciousness. It is a consciousness born out of common experiences – colonialism by white Europeans, being black in a white world or at least a world in which whites dominate (thought whites are a minority in the world), civil wars, dictators, corruption, disease, poverty, weather, famine, pollution, artificial borders drawn without consideration of tribe, race, or religion or some sort of combination in line with ordering at a Chinese restaurant.

Though on such a different level, the sense of resignation reminds me of the psyches Red Sox, Cubs and Brooklyn Dodger fans who lived on hope for the next year – and when things were going well expected something to go wrong.

There is an accepted level of corruption. There is also an almost immunity to death – a numbness from years of fighting. There is a thin line between the military and the government. There is one letter separating the two – SPLA/SPLM (Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army/Movement). This is the conflict in the mind between pride and helplessness – the latter leading to an attitude that they must wait for the NGO’s to do something. There is resignation that there will be corruption – yes, I repeat myself.

There is a certain love for what the West can offer their children, yet the fear of what it can bring back. Remember, the men have a good thing going here – no cooking, cleaning, or bringing up the kids. Yet, does this division of labor between the sexes go with the desire for progress? Does anyone really know what they mean by “progress?” And if they do, is it really worth it?

They are centuries behind and trying to make a technological, social, and personal leap – often skipping the steps in between (for example: land lines for phones or broadcast TV), as well as jumping on any “new” thing that is offered to them at an affordable price without pondering the consequences – or learning form our mistakes. Will Africa become the dumping ground for antiquated technologies or products which can no longer be sold in the West because they have been proven to be harmful or dangerous? Is Africa the promised land for those who have run afoul of the FDA or the EPA? With few regulations in place, investors can open up factories that spew black smoke into the sky and pour poisons into the rivers. It seems so logical that Africa should embrace clean technologies and have only the most energy efficient factories built, but the exact opposite is happening. It took until this past year to finally phase out leaded gas – something we did decades ago.

Okay, was I before this modernization rant? Oh yeah:

There is a certain love for what the West can offer their children who have gone and lived abroad, yet there is also a fear of what they will bring back. Will they except the women’s expectations of equal treatment or of monogamy?

And does anyone ask the question – will they be happier? Will they opt for IPods or hospitals? Cable TV or schools? Will any of these advances lead to better nutrition or peace? Who is determining the priorities?

Sharia Law

Those who want to impose Sharia law feel that they have the answers to these questions. They believe that the Western influence and modernization is taking the country down an evil path. They also believe that their view is the only correct view. It sounds insane at first, if one considers how Sharia Law is implemented (see below for a definition and description), but can it be that they truly believe that putting these restrictions on the people of Sudan is truly necessary to save them from hell?

When I was in the Israeli army (I was drafted in 1989 and served 4 months in the Gaza Strip), I developed a friendship with a man who I would have never spoken with in another setting. Eliezer was a right-wing rabbi of a West Bank Jewish settlement. During basic training, he slept in the cot next to me and after a long day, we would hug our M-16’s (having your weapon stolen was punishable by 6 years in prison) and discuss the political situation in Israel. At that time, the first Intifada had begun and I was on the political left – believing in a two-state solution. I firmly believed, and still do, that the Palestinians must have a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, but let’s leave that discussion for another time.

Eliezer and I could not agree on anything. He believed that the Bible was dictated by God and that it was written that Greater Israel included not only the West Bank, but Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan as well. I have had discussions with right-wingers before and most have not turned out very nicely. The argument can be reasonable until we reach a certain point where the other person’s eyes become glazed over and they simply declare that what they believe is right because God said it was. There was no point in continuing the discussion at that point. But with Eliezer, it was different. I got to know him and saw that he was such a gentle and loving soul.. He made me understand that we were both aiming for the same thing – peace in the Middle East and that we both genuinely believed with our hearts that our solution was the correct path to take. A political opinion which I had always seen as irrational and fanatical began to make sense to me. I did not agree with any more than I did before, but I understood where he was coming from. It was not from a militaristic or imperialist point of view, but from love. He truly believed that only when Jews will inhabit (or occupy) the Greater Land of Israel will there be peace. That only when there is a religious (as opposed to the current secular) government in place will the Messiah come. He truly believed that his beliefs would save me and the rest of the world.

Once again, the power of religion. The power of belief in God.

Though I do not believe that the political leadership’s goal of imposing Sharia Law is genuinely a humanitarian venture, I do feel that there are many Muslims who believe that the only way to save the world from soulless consumerism and spiritual emptiness is by embracing the words of the Prophet Mohammed and living life according to the law as prescribed in the Koran.

I simply try to understand. I recently came across an interesting observation in the Introduction of Jessica Stern’s fascinating book: “Why Religious Militants Kill – Terror in the Name of God.” She writes: “It is important to point out that empathy does not necessarily imply sympathy. To empathize is ‘to understand and to share the feelings of another,’ without necessarily having feeling of pity or sorrow for their misfortunes, agreeing with their sentiment or opinions, or having a favorable attitude toward them – the feelings that define sympathy.

What is Sharia Law?

Sharia law is the traditional Islamic law and moral code that prescribes how Muslims should conduct their lives. Its scope is quite broad – actually it’s beyond broad and more in the range of all-encompassing – covering the criminal justice system, financial institutions, and almost every aspect of one’s personal behavior. Sharia means “the way” in Arabic and it is the expression of God’s will according to Muslim belief.


Pictured on left: Dr. Hassan 'Abd Allah al-Turabi commonly called Hassan al-Turabi is a religious and political leader in Sudan, a strong proponent of Sharia Law.

Strict interpretation of Sharia law includes stoning women to death for bearing a child out of wedlock or any fornication-related crime, amputations of limbs for theft, and lashing for drinking alcohol. Sharia law stipulates that men and women must dress modestly, refrain from drinking alcohol, and pray five times per day. Banks are prohibited from charging interest.

Each country’s degree of implementations varies, with some countries only following certain aspects of Sharia. Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Afganistan (during the Taliban era) were in the strict-interpretation school of thinking and Sharia was the supreme law of the land.

The laws often favor men. For example, if a woman is raped – and especially if she becomes pregnant - she can be subject to stoning unless she can provide four witnesses to the rape.

Human rights organizations all over the world have urged that Sharia law be interpreted in a manner that is in accordance with international human rights standards and the conventions of international law. This has not been easy to enforce.

The Nile

Most of the remainder of the trip was along the Nile, so I thought you might want some information about this majestic river

The Nile is the longest river in the world. Sudan is the largest country in Africa. Let’s hear it for superlatives.

The Nile’s source has been a mystery for centuries and I’m still not clear when they say that Lake Victoria in Uganda is the major source of the river, though the Ruvyironza River of Burundi is regarded as the ultimate source of the Nile. In either case, it’s one long river. From Lake Victoria, it runs north through Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt into the Mediterranean Sea – a trip of about 3,500 miles. If you measure from its remotest headstream, as they say, it’s over 4,100 miles. (The Amazon is the next longest, followed by the Yangtse and Mississippi Rivers. The Mississippi River is 2,340 miles long, but if you include the river system from the headwaters of the Missouri River it reaches 3,710 miles – in case you’re interested in how the Nile compares to our great river)


This long river is actually called the White Nile until it reaches Khartoum, the capital of Sudan. There, it is joined by the Blue Nile – which flows from somewhere in Ethiopia – and the Blue and White Niles merge into one unified Nile, reaching a state of total Nileosity. The White Nile through Sudan is filled with humongous crocodiles that regularly take the lives of locals washing their clothes, bathing, or getting water. The crocs grab a person with their large powerful jaws and drag them into the water and drown them before eating them.
There are a few areas along the Nile where the UN has constructed barriers in the river which keep the crocs out and allow safe use of the river. The hippos are also quite amazing.

New Yorkers often refer to the Nile as Da Nile, which can cause mass confusion when a New Yorker makes an emergency call while drowning in the Nile– Their plea for help may be interpreted as: I am drowning in “denial.” Their would-be helpers might simply tell this person to seek intensive therapy. Who knows how many lives have been lost due to poor diction? I should make one of those plastic bracelets to remember those whose fate of being born in Brooklyn and having gone for a swim in the Nile has cased them their lives. Then again, I may be in denial that I have lost my mind.

Sunday morning at church

Random Scenes from Juba

I'm lucky that he's on my side


Fiddy Cent has made it to Sudan


Can't get enough of those AK 47's


A cool bug


Me and the Sultan of Malek at Uncle's Compound

Photos from Juba

A leper photographed through the windshield of a car


One washes their hands before eating. Aduei shows how


This is a typical car repair shop


The Queen of Juba


Another Roadside Attraction

From Juba to Bor

Written: August 12

What a Long Strange Trip It’s Been

This posting should have been placed above the Nile posting, but the blog will have its way with me.

As we last left off, I was being blackmailed by a corrupt police official who reminded me of Claude Raines’ character in Casablanca. Let’s call him Claude. During the civil war with the north, our dear Claude was working with the North up in Khartoum and was not fighting in the bush with his fellow Dinka (against the North). He had betrayed his fellow Dinka. He is assigned to the police headquarters in Juba and is not liked by his fellow clansman, though he is trying to gain reacceptance. I’m not sure how his little scam with me was going to help his cause, but he did not get away with it. When Aduei’s family heard about this, they were embarrassed and angry. It turns out that the concubine was behind all of this. Let’s call her the Witch for now (since this is how she is referred to by the family). She had held onto my papers and then informed Claude to come and get me the day before I was leaving. In this way, I would be desperate to get my papers approved. The anger of the family towards her was quite strong. She has been ruling Uncle’s household and many believe that she is a witch – not only for her unfriendly and nasty disposition, but the fact that many believe that she has cast a spell on him. She is from the Shilluk tribe and they are known to practice witchcraft – or so I have been told. They also have kings, which the Dinka do not, and it is blasphemous to worship anyone but Christ himself.

Sex and the Single Catholic – an ADD sidenote

The mixture of Catholicism and Dinka traditions does not bode well with the containment of the HIV virus. Aversion to birth control of any sort combined with the practice of polygamy and many partners in general is then mixed with the total taboo on speaking about sex. Though it is said that ther there is no premarital sex – it is forbidden, it is actually quite common. But now worries here – any problems arising from these dallyings is cleared through the transaction of a specified number of cattle. There is no illegitimacy – only children born to women whose partner wants no part of her and will not get to claim the child as his – though six cows can give him claim and let this child be counted in his own personal census – and more children is more status. There is also no such thing as homosexuality among Dinka – end of discussion. According to every Dinka I have spoken with: “There is no homosexuality among the Dinka, there never was, and there never will be.”

A story I heard yesterday. A young Dinka woman came back to Sudan for a visit after having been in Canada for five years. While in Canada, she discovered her lesbian nature and when she returned to Sudan and informed her family of this, she was kidnapped, taken to Bor and will be sold to a tribe who practices human sacrifices. She is obviously possessed and a disgrace to her family. It is in environment that modern medicine and democracy will try to flourish. It is a challenge that will take at least a generation and is dangerous for anyone to stand up and preach otherwise. It is certainly not something that should come from a Kawaaga (foreigner). If a woman stands up from her rights, it is the spreader of this gospel who the husband may come to exact revenge. (Since returning to the US, Aduei has reported this human rights abuse)

Back to the narrative – we finally got on a UN helicopter. Aduei, her aunt, and myself. This privileged was obtained as a result of connections. While most Sudanese must endure a one to two day “boat” trip up the Nile – packed with people, animals and goods, we were flying to Bor in about half an hour.

Oh, I get so sidetracked – the person who booked this flight will remain unnamed, especially since he helped us. In multiple visits to his house I learned that he is a very high ranking army official and his house had full time electricity, courtesy of a generator – with cable TV – servants serving food, and a large bottle of Johnny Walker Black resting under the table. We visited during the day at various times and I was originally just told that he is the guy that will book our flight. I was shocked when I found out that our flight was free and funded by my own tax dollars as a humanitarian mission. On the various occasions that we came by, he was always home – it’s strange, but so few people have jobs, and those who do, are rarely there – and all sorts of high ranking officials would come by and “chill.”
I later learned – man, I’m not sure whether I wrote about this already, or just thought about it in my head – that there is a new law in South Sudan: Any foreign business must have a local partner – and of course, it is the people with the connections who become the partners – and they are paid handsomely for their connections – like a quarter million dollars for a half a year…….there are some people getting very rich here – while others scrounge for their next meal. “How does it feel to be on your own…..like a rolling stone…..a complete unknown….” Sorry Bob……”scrounge” brought you to mind.

Back to the story – this is becoming less linear than “Catch 22” – but at least in “Catch 22” you can figure out where you are by the number of missions that they were required to fly. Did you know that the original title of the book was Catch 18, but that same year Leon Uris came out with a book “Mila 18” and so the publishers changed it to “Catch 22.” Sounds better anyway.

So, through connections, Aduei, her aunt, and I get to ride a UN helicopter at no cost, since our connector has us registered as going on a humanitarian mission. Now, Auntie is a member of the South Sudanese parliament and has some business to take care of with the Governor of the Bor district. She never really made it clear why she was with us in Bor, but I think she thought it would be good to take advantage of the helicopter ride. So, here’s how it goes: She’s a member of Parliament, but lives in Kenya. I assume she is intending on returning to the Bor area that she is representing. She is a widow and a woman can represent the district in which her husband’s family lives – regardless of where she may reside. So, she may have never lived in the area, but if this is where her late husband came from, this is where she is considered a resident. Where she comes from means nothing – it’s all about the husband. Anyway, while she was living in Kenya, dead hubbie’s family put her name on some slate and she was elected. She came with us and didn’t say very much. Actually she didn’t smile very much either.The UN helicopter was an old Russian chopper with a Russian crew that leaked water, as sweat poured out of us. To make things clear, it was the helicopter that was leaking water, not the Russian crew.

Rising above Juba and flying along the Nile, I truly understood what they meant by the bush. Seeing it from above was incredible. Green, lush and wild with only occasional cleared areas for compounds of huts. Quite beautiful.

We got picked up by some people and loaded onto the back of a pick-up truck and dropped off at a hotel – actually, a grouping of tents, but we’ll call it a hotel. I have pictures of all these places, but the internet is much too slow to upload them and will have to wait until I get to Kampala in a week or so…….this hotel is a series of tents, a hole in the ground toilet – which we will get to later – and they bring water for a “shower.” Food is served on some sort of schedule which varies from day to day and it is frequented by all sorts of military types – It is the top of the line hotel in Bor – actually, it is the only hotel in Bor. There is nothing like walking around to lots of machine guns which I have gotten used to by now.

Ready to Update the Missing Weeks, But First Some Thoughts (written last month)

No photos, no maps.....just one long ramble.....read at your own risk

I have been trying to get myself to update – and finally – complete the description of my two months in South Sudan and my progress in setting up a school in Malek. It has not been easy. I am referring to notes taken while I was traveling. With no electricity to charge the computer, I resorted to the age-old traditions of pen and paper – and for some reason, I am having trouble getting onto the computer to post on the blog. At this point, probably no one is reading, but I need to do this for my own sanity – which seems to be slipping from my grasp with each sleep-deprived day.

I have traveled extensively over the past thirty years (maybe to make up for a childhood spent almost exclusively in Brooklyn – with an occasional trip to the Empire State Building or Haydn Planetarium), but no trip, no experience has affected me as this first foray into the African continent. Trips to other continents may have blown my mind, but I eventually returned to my life and the re-entry was more-or-less seamless. I was wowed when I motorcycled through Vietnam in 1995. Vietnam opened my eyes to another culture and helped broaden my perspective on the war and on the world in general.

But this is different.

Sub-Saharan Africa is powerful. It is raw. It is fertile. It is extreme. My experiences are based mostly on South Sudan, but I have the sense that there is a feeling that permeates every country in this region with only differences in degree. I was only in Uganda and South Sudan and my sense of Africa is based on that small sample, mixed with many conversations with Africans who have traveled the continent, as well the readings that I have been devouring since I’ve returned.

For me, this was the farthest I’ve been from Western culture and sensibilities. Though, now that I’m back, it makes be reevaluate any ideas I have about my own culture. I find that with each sleepless night – lying in bed absorbed in the images, smells, and memories of South Sudan – I feel more and more helpless. Seeing the aftermath of war and listening to the tales of death, rape, destruction, and slavery, I am shaken to the core to the degree in which people can hate and the power of the oral history of the conflict that is seemingly genetically passed down from one generation to the next – an oral history, with all its complexities and nuances understood and internalized by many as a blind passionate hatred for all things Arab or Muslim.

And I remember.

Was the Middle East any different from this – where children are brought up to hate the “Other?” Don’t we otherize in America each and everyday?

On the show “Lost” there are the Others on the other (where else would they be?) side of the island. They are mysterious and feared – and definitely not to be trusted. Is our entire history a tale of otherization? Must we always find someone to fear? To hate? To feel superior to?

Are there any aspects of our lives where we do not otherize? On a personal level – at school, work, or on the streets? On a broader level, do we not otherize religions, cultures, races, and civilizations? What is this all about? Are we hard-wired to feel this way, because if we are, then are future is much darker than I had thought.

It may be the antibiotics, the post malarial funk, the insomnia, or the culture shock. It may be the onset on insanity………but I have never felt so helpless about being able to add something to this world – or even know where to start.

When a person is dying they say that his life flashes in front of him. Maybe when a person is dying to understand a culture, all of history flashes before his eyes. Not sure what I mean by that, but I liked the juxtaposition between the two “dyings.”

On so many occasions in Sudan, the roots of so many isms flashed before my eyes – and I understood, if not agreed with, why they had to happen. I could see why they developed – the need that they filled, the solution that they offered. Colonialism, Communism, Capitalism, Despotism, Catholicism, Hinduism, Judaism, (why isn’t Islam an ism?). Add to this democracy, authoritarianism, dictatorship, and theocracy. Some of are social systems, some political, and of course some are from a force whose power seems to transcends all – a force which has bred Otherization and given moral justification for almost any imaginable and unimaginable action. A force whose goal is to bring peace and love, yet has been turned against itself to produce horrors so antithetical to its original mission. A force used to control, unite, and turn one against others who disagree. That force, of course, is religion. I ramble on about this a bit more below.

The exploitation of the poor is something that can’t grasp in my brain – Not only from the pharmaceutical companies and huge corporations – this subject has been covered in some excellent documentaries (“The Corporation” for one), but from local merchants and leaders. I will never forget the sight of local war lords selling United Nations grain to some of the poorest people on this planet – the bags which are donated by the UN and have stamped in large letters on the sacks: “NOT FOR SALE – FOR DISTRIBUTION ONLY.” …..and the sight of portly politicians sitting in restaurants spending the equivalent of one month’s salary for the average Sudanese on imported chicken and beer. More on this later in the blog……………

And in the end, I wonder if we are basically good as a species. Is man good? (It’s interesting, I am using the term “man” to mean “people” but with some thought I wonder if our societies had had more power in the hands of women, if things would have turned out the same. Would a child-bearing gender make the same global decisions as men? I have no answers. I wonder what you think.

I really wonder whether we would kill ourselves without some sort of government. I understand so clearly why religion was necessary, as well as the belief in a figure greater and more powerful than man/woman. But I don’t understand how we’ve taken every religion, which always preach peace and solutions to better oneself, and turned them into vehicles of power, war, and destruction. How by accepting one faith, we must otherize all other religions. Why must we be superior and have THE answer. “There is only one right answer and I have it and in order to save you, I will make you see the light even if I have to kill you in the process. If everyone followed my religion, there would be peace and I won’t stop killing anyone who gets in my way to spread this cure. And by the time everyone is either dead or on my side, there will be factions within my religion and the others will now be among us – no longer “us” but now others to be converted, tortured and killed. “Others” who are innately inferior. Being an “other” by definition – or by my definition – makes you inferior.” Ramble finished….too much coffee – writing this in a café and I have to keep ordering or else I feel guilty for taking up this whole table.

Tangent:

When I first went to live in Europe in ’78, I was awed and inspired. I fell in love with the culture and wanted to return – a feeling that has never left me. When I returned to the States after some years I saw America with a very critical eye. I saw America in relation to the world. Those were times of intense dislike of America – and in some way – Americans. I came back feeling that something was missing from my culture - I missed the cafes and the time that people took to eat, drink, and make love. I became far more critical of our foreign policy, though while still in Europe, I felt that I needed to defend the country of which I carried a passport and allowed me to leave and return as I pleased. I noticed things that I had taken for granted until then and explored parts of our society which were going on while I sleepwalked blindly through and around them. They were just the way things were – nothing more and nothing else. It took going to another culture to be able to begin to look critically at my own culture. It’s sort of like when I learned French in high school. I only leaned to verbalize and really understand English grammar after I started learning French. There were so many elements of the English language that just were – they sounded right. I had no idea that I was following any rules, nor did I really care…………

From Today's News - This is in the area where I spent three weeks this summer.

People from the Dinka tribe look at the camera in Juba, southern Sudan, where the peace talks regarding the Lord's Resistance Army is taking place.Unknown gunmen killed at least 38 civilians in a string of attacks in southern Sudan, regional government officials said on Thursday. REUTERS/Jiro Ose


Gunmen kill at least 38 in south Sudan-officials

By Kamilo Tafeng

JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) - Unknown gunmen killed at least 38 civilians in a string of attacks in southern Sudan, regional government officials said on Thursday.
Click to learn more...

The south is hosting stop-start peace talks between neighbouring Uganda's government and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels who have long been accused of committing atrocities against villagers in lawless parts of the remote region.

Uganda's military said it suspected the LRA was behind Wednesday's killings, but the rebels denied it.

Southern Sudan's Interior Minister Paul Mayom Akec told a news conference armed men killed 38 people, including women and children, and burnt cars in several attacks on roads between the southern capital Juba and the eastern banks of the Nile.

"It is not my immediate desire to talk about the identity of the attackers ... no matter whoever they can be, in order for us not to jeopardise the ongoing peace talks," Akec said.

South Sudanese Major-General Wilson Deng Kuoirot, who heads the talks' independent monitoring team, said 41 people had been killed in ambushes witnesses told him were carried out by young, dreadlocked men and women in "shabby-looking" fatigues.

"Our forces are doing everything possible to find out who is behind these killings," he told Reuters. The victims were mostly shot in the head and left in their charred vehicles, he said.

A Ugandan military spokesman in Kampala, Major Felix Kulayigye, said he suspected the LRA launched the attacks.

"We have known all along the people we are dealing with here are simply thugs. Now the world can see," he said by telephone.

Negotiations have stalled in recent days as both Uganda's military and the LRA accused each other of breaking a landmark truce signed in August that aimed to end 20 years of war.

An LRA spokesman in Juba, Godfrey Ayoo, denied they were behind the attacks: "We are not the ones who did it," he said.

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni was due in Juba this weekend to meet mediators, whose efforts had been hailed as the best chance of ending one of Africa's longest conflicts.

Two decades of fighting have killed tens of thousands and uprooted nearly 2 million more in northern Uganda.

The LRA, which was once supported by the Khartoum government as a proxy force against its own rebels, set up bases in the south in the mid-1990s, from where they staged raids into northern Uganda and terrorised local Sudanese communities.

The Juba talks -- the latest in many attempts to end the LRA insurgency -- were plagued from the start by profound mistrust on both sides, which spiked earlier this week with the military and rebels both accusing the other of attacks.

A U.N. spokeswoman in Khartoum confirmed ambushes on two roads around Juba on Wednesday, but had no immediate information about casualties. A U.N. bulletin said all road movement was suspended around Juba for the next 48 hours.

(Additional reporting by Opheera McDoom in Khartoum, Francis Kwera in Juba and Daniel Wallis in Nairobi)

(c) Reuters 2006. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by caching, framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.

This article: http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=1551452006

Last updated: 19-Oct-06 19:36 BST

Comic Relief Between all the Writing

My wonderful MacBook has a built-in camera that allows me to take photos. This was a big hit in Sudan. Here are a few photos from the UN office in Juba. We were learning how to use the special effects.

The Dinka

I spent my time almost exclusively with the Dinka. Until I did some reading and met other Africans in Uganda, my point of view of politics and history of Sudan was Dinka-centric. Most Americans have probably never come across a Dinka, though if you’re a basketball fan, you might remember Manute Bol or know about current NBA player Luol Deng. For you fashionmongers, supermodel Alek Wek may be your Dinka connection.


They are very dark-skinned, and generally lean – unless they are government ministers – in that case they have huge pot bellies. From my experience, they are a very gentle, kind, honest, respectful, and very generous. The only time I ever had saw an aggressive Dinka was when he was drinking. I believe I write about alcohol and the Dinka in the blog narrative somewhere.

They have their own language, thuongjang, which is written with Latin letters though with some variations on the Latin alphabet. In spite of the use of the Latin alphabet, the language itself bears to resemblance to either Germanic (of which English is included) or the Romance languages and was incredibly hard for me to make much headway. It’s also virtually impossible to find a Dinka-English dictionary or Dinka language book.

Something written in Dinka: Kënanyëköl ë Thuɔŋjäŋ, tënë raan wïc Thuɔŋjäŋ bë Kueen Adik ku lagöi ba tɛ̈n ëjɔɔk Thuɔŋjäŋ cök thïn dhiɛl ŋic; ku ye yïŋa kek ke lui thïn. Thuɔŋjäŋ acë lac jɔɔk tëmɛc apɛi, ala nin juëc ku kɔc cë luui thïn aa juëc, aa nɔŋ yiic kɔc ɣer ku muɔnyjiëëŋ.

They treated me incredibly well – welcoming me into their homes and ensuring that I was safe They don’t appear to be an emotional people. Though they are constantly shaking hands, they rarely hug, and never kiss in public. It is common for men to hold hands when walking, though you will never see a man and a women doing the same. Actually, you don’t really see men and women walking together in town. Homosexuality “does not exist” in their world and don’t even try to insinuate that it does. Sex is simply not spoken about. I go into this a lot more at various points throughout this blog.

This being said, they are known to be fierce warriors and are very proud of their fighting and perseverance during the wars against the North.

Some of you have written to me asking for some background on the Dinka, so here it is:

So what’s up with the cows? This relationship between the Dinka and cattle seems to go back almost 5,000 years when they played a key role in introducing cattle to sub-Saharan Africa. After that, nothing would ever be the same for the Dinkas. I’m not sure what they were doing for the next 4,000 years, but since the 10th century they have inhabited an area on both sides of the White Nile, hence they are classified as one of the Nilotic tribes. (Check out the highly informative section on the Nile somewhere on this blog). By about 1500 AD, they had spread to their current location in Southern Sudan.

They are primarily pastoral - raising cattle, sheep and goat, though they have expanded into agriculture in some areas (and politics most recently – quite a natural evolution since bull shit is quite prevalent in both cattle raising and politics). Traditional homes are made of mud wall with thatched conical roofs and men will do the building.

Women do most of the farming, while men clear the forests in order to create farming areas. The boys tend the goats and sheep, while the men take care of the cows. As we’ve seen throughout this blog, cattle are central to every part of their life. Seriously, it’s all about the cows.

Though many men have only one wife, polygamy is considered the ideal for the Dinka. This was actually one of the hardest things for me to get my head around. Men can have as many wives as they can afford to support. There are legends of men with over a hundred wives, though I met no one who had more than a single-digit number of wives. Aduei’s grandfather, though, had over 20 wives which is why she has such a big family. From what I understood, the price of a wife is negotiated with the wife’s family and rarely goes below 30 cows. Once married, a wife is in essence, the property of the man and is treated as such. I asked many men how they can satisfy, both emotionally and sexually, their wives. They almost uniformly told me that to satisfy a wife is not their responsibility, but simply to provide her with children and enough food to raise the family.

I felt a certain detachment between the fathers and their children, especially since it is the women who are home with the children and raising them. This was exacerbated by years of war when fathers were gone for long periods of time fighting in the bush. In addition, due to the war, women make up 60% of the Dinka population and it would be impossible for every woman to get married if men could not take more than one wife..

Girls can be married off at quite a young age, though men often marry later since they first have to be established enough to provide the necessary cows. Families are dependent on the dowries brought in through marrying off their girls. These dowries allow the men in the family to marry – it’s sort of a closed circle.

Though boys are much more highly valued than girls and are assumed to be smarter, the men are dependent on women for everyday sustenance. When I say that women do all the cooking, you must realize that cooking entails going to the river to get water, starting a fire, grinding the corn or grain by hand, going to the market or harvesting from the fields, and finally chopping, grating, mixing by hand and cooking over the fire - making sure that it stays properly stoked. Then these same woman and girls must wash the plates and serve the men who are sitting around doing nothing and complaining that the food is not ready. I felt lie a radical feminist when I was in Sudan – strange, but true. Men claim that they would not know how to prepare a meal if their lives depended on it. I don’t quite believe it, since they managed to eat during all the years in the bush somehow.


It was brought to my attention that even in certain parts of America, many women will marry for money and will live under the rule of a husband - cooking, cleaning and taking care of the kids. The major difference is that in Sudan, it is the parents who will decide who the girl will marry, regardless of her feelings. Many young girls are forced to marry older men as their third or fourth wife, even though they may be in love with a boy their own age.

The Dinka must marry outside of their clan, which is very tricky with polygamy. It seemed that whenever Aduei spoke long enough with anyone, she discovered that she was somehow related to him or her. Okay, not quite everyone. It could also be that many of the people we met, came to greet us due to the fact that they were relatives. In any case, it’s important for Dinkas to know their ancestry to prevent marrying someone from the family/clan. One of the advantages of this practice is similar to the marriage arrangements made by kings in the western world: marriages from another tribe can create alliances between two clans or tribes.

Now, you may wonder, how one traces their ancestry. The again, you may not. In any case, it was a bit confusing to me at first but here goes. The clans are traced along the male line. This makes it imperative for a man to marry and produce male offspring. They were shocked and I think quite embarrassed for me that I had only one daughter. They tried to convince me to take a young Dinka wife – or two - and produce sons so that my line will not die. Actually, being the only male Adler in my generation, has led to my relatives expressing similar reservations about my manhood and my failure to carry on the name. Just one of the many ways in which I’ve disappointed my family and had my manhood questioned. I didn’t let the Dinka know that I often cry at movies or AT&T commercials. Now back to the Dinka. A girl cannot preserve her family’s lineage, especially since her children will be brought up by and belong to her husband’s clan.

Ancestors are important to the Dinka and if you, Mr. Male, do not produce a son, you will never become an ancestor. (note shift from third to second person for no apparent reason at all). You have a future of oblivion waiting for you when you die. But all is not hopeless, as there are certain fail-safe precautions that may indeed save you. After you’re dead and decomposing, your brother or near relative can take a wife in your name and the children born will be “yours.” This gives new meaning to the concept of a deadbeat dad. But wait, there’s more. If you die before you had a son with your wife, this brother or close relative can take your widow as his wife and all children born to them will have your name.

There is one last option that I’m aware of. If, at some point during your wanderings from family to family, you took a detour and had an illegitimate son, you may claim the son with the fee of six cows. Six cows and he gets your name – or at least that’s what I understood.

I am assuming that the rigidity of this will all begin to break down as Dinka return from the West with “modern” ideas and with improved education and exposure to outside ways of life. There are already rumblings of women no longer wanting their husbands to have more than one wife. From the male side, there are many more educated or western-exposed men who will want only one wife. On the other hand, most young Dinka boys I spoke with are still hoping for a world with many wives, no cooking, and lots of sons. The clashes that so many cultures have gone through await the Dinkas. As of now, lip service is being paid to women’s rights, though when push comes to shove, there is a “not in my backyard” mentality. Sort of like the suburban liberals of the sixties and seventies.

There are somewhere between 2 and 3 million Dinka, making them the largest ethnic group in South Sudan. After the Arabs, they are the largest ethnic group in all of Sudan – the Arabs make up somewhere between 50-70% and the Dinka around 5-8%. As you can see, every statistic here is quite debatable. There has not been an honest census here since 1981, though one is planned for next year. There are constant accusations that the Arab North is always undercounting the Southern Black population – more on that in the History Section of this blog. Anyway, based on CIA figures, there are 41 million people in all of Sudan of which 52% are Black and 39% are Arab. Trying to find numbers that add up to 100% has been daunting, though not as bad as getting real numbers on total North and South populations. So let’s just leave it at that. The point is that the Dinka are the largest ethnic group in the South.

The Dinka refer to themselves as Moinjaang, though most that I met used the term Dinka – pronounced more like “Dinga.” The word “Dinka” means “person” for what it’s worth. They have no centralized political authority and have never had a king or queen. They are broken into clans, headed by chiefs, sometimes referred to as the “masters of the fishing spear.” Both the chiefs and the elders are treated with great reverence. Traditionally these chiefs serve as peacemakers and priests, though this is evolving with the integration of civil law – and is often some of combination of the two.

Their religion is covered in a separate section on religion. I never intended to have all these sections, but I get carried away.

Traditionally Dinka women would remove their bottom teeth as a symbol of beauty, but I only saw this on older women and this practice seems to have faded. Men still dye their hair red with cow urine, though the practice of scarring has not only been discontinued, but is illegal in Sudan. In the past, a boy’s initiation was marked by taking a sharp knife to the boy’s forehead and scariftying the boy with v-shaped marks or parallel lines. This would happen when the boy was between the ages of 10 and 16. These cuts are deep and skulls have been known to cut into the skull. This practice can be quite dangerous and kill the boy on occasion.
During the ceremony, the boy cannot flinch or scream. Doing this would bring disgrace to his family and ancestors and if he moved, a kink in the scars would be visible for the rest of his life and brand him a coward for all to see. And I thought that my bar mitzvah was tortuous.

Singing and poetry are still a big part of Dinka culture. There are different types of songs for each activity of life – from field work to special occasions to preparation for wart. I recorded some of these songs and if I can figure out how to upload them to the blog, you may listen to them. I heard men singing songs about their ancestors, war and peace, Dinka history, and anything else that came to their heads. They were a bit drunk when I recorded them, but there was fascinating dialogue going on between a lead singer who would create lyrical poetry while the others responded. I understand that men often court women with songs about their many attributes. If the women likes the song, she may agree to meet the man privately to talk. I really wanted to see this in action, but did not get the opportunity.

Cows – let me count the ways in which you are significant. Cows play a role in religious practices. They are the highest form of sacrifice in ceremonies. They are also sacrificed to honor a person or guest, as was done for Aduei and I when we arrived to Yei. Cattle give milk and their urine is used for washing, to dye hair red, and in tanning hides. Cow dung is used to fuel the fires and the ash is used to keep the cattle clean, as body art, as well as for making a paste to clean teeth. I did not witness the latter use, but read about somewhere. Cattle are generally not killed for meat, but if one dies or is sacrificed, the meat is eaten and the hide is cured. The horns are used a wide range of practical and aesthetic items, though I’ve seen horns just lying in the road. The skins are used for drums, clothing, and mats.

Their culture fascinated me and it will be interesting to see what elements of their customs remain as they move into the modern era.

Some History of Sudan - Background

Map of Central and North Africa

Today I will be posting some of the writing that I have been doing over the past few weeks about various aspects of Sudanese society and culture. I've included some maps and the photos which I hope will be helpful.


An Overview of Sudan – From Ancient Times until 1983.

Sudan is the largest country in Africa and is about the size of the entire United State east of the Mississippi. The name Sudan means “Land of the Blacks” in Arabic. Sudan shares its borders with 9 countries (Egypt, Libya, Chad, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea), as well as the Red Sea. Today Sudan is made up of 19 ethnic groups (597 subgroups) and 134 languages are spoken - and 400 dialects.

There have probably been people living in Sudan for at least nine million years and there are some who claim that the Nile Valley may indeed be the cradle of civilization. What is ironic is that by 400 BC Sudan was a technological leader with its use of the ox-driven water wheel and that to this day this same device still plays an important role in Sudan’s economy.

Northern Sudan has various relationships with its northern neighbor Egypt for thousands of years. 3,000 years ago, Egypt colonized Nubia, the area in today’s northeastern Sudan. It was probably here that the practice of slavery in Sudan had its origins. (more on this in the Slavery section). I find it interesting that Nubia accepted Christianity in the 6th century and remained Christian until it was colonized by the Moslems in the 15th century.

In 1820, Egypt (as part of the Ottoman Empire) invaded Sudan and ruled until 1885. This was a period of internal unrest and the slave trade increased during this period. For three years, from 1877 – 1880 an ill-suited British general and administrator Charles Gordon served as governor of Egyptian Sudan. Seriously, don’t try to make sense of all of this. Gordon tried to end the slave trade, but was seriously overmatched and lost his life in the process. This was followed by the establishment of an Islamic state that unified this land, which for centuries had consisted of a number of independent nations.




Map of Sudan -
Look in the South for Yei and Bor. Juba is in between the two.


Britain ruled from 1899-1955. Britain understood that throughout its history Sudan has been divided along linguistic, racial, social, economic, and religious lines between the Arab north and the African south. As such, Britain established to separate administrations for the two regions.

On January 1, 1956, Sudan gained independence, though not before a rebellion against the rule from the north broke out in 1955. The Southerners, knowing that independence was coming were afraid that the newly independent nation would be dominated by the North. This civil war lasted until 1972.

An agreement was worked out giving the southerners more power and this led to an incredible ten years of peace.

The Second Civil War –1983 – 2005 - the one that one that is mentioned over and over again throughout the blog.

But all good things must come to an end and in 1983 when the government imposed Sharia law (check out the Sharia section on this blog) on both the north and the mostly Christian and animist south, civil war broke out again. The Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) was formed, with Western-educated Dr. John Garang as the southern rebel movement’s leader. Over the next 22 years South Sudan would be turned into a war zone which affected the life of every person living there. Many children have known only war in their lives – actually many young adults have known only war in their lives with some of them having been soldiers since they were as young as 8 years old.

An estimated 2 million have been killed in the violence or have died from war-induced famine or direct government or rebel policies. Approximately 4 million have been displaced internally as a result of fighting between the Government and insurgents in the south. The fight for control of southern Sudan has killed one in five of the southern Sudanese population. In addition, more than 1 million persons have been internally displaced within Darfur and 200,000 refugees have fled to Chad. About 80% of southern Sudan's estimated five million people have been displaced at one time or another since 1983.

Human rights organizations have reported that that both the government and rebel forces had committed atrocities against the local population. The government had systematically blocked food supplies to the south, attacked villages and driven large groups of people to areas where they could not survive, Many experts feel that this is a very deliberate strategy on the part of the government of Sudan to depopulate large parts of southern Sudan.

The war, though rooted in religious and ethnic divisions also became about the control of resources. The north is mostly desert and the south is rich in minerals more importantly oil, which was discovered by Chevron in 1979. So many of the conflicts in Sudan are about Khartoum’s (Khartoum is the capital of Sudan and when referring to it we mean the North) exploitation of the South’s natural resources without developing the region. For example, the largest gold mines, diamond resources and the only port is Port Sudan where its main oil pipeline feeds exports to the outside world is in the eastern part of Sudan. It is one of the most impoverished areas of Sudan and there has been a separate rebel war going on here (News Flash – as of October 16th, there are peace negations occurring).





As you can see from this map, the North is desert, while the South is lush and green.








Peace Agreement of 2004 and the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA)

A peace deal was struck in 2004 and a year later the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was finally signed two years ago which is designed to bring peace between the rebels of the south, represented by the Sudanese People Liberation Movement (SPLM) and the government of Sudan (GoS). The SPLA is the political wing of the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army (SPLA). This ended 21 years of conflict – the longest running conflict in Africa - which cost the lives of about 2 million people and created close to 4 million IDPs (Internally displaced persons).

The major points of the agreement are that there would be a six-year transitional period (which we are in right now) during which South Sudan would create their own administration and enjoy relative autonomy. An interim national unity government was established and with a complex power sharing arrangement.

Oil revenues are to be divided equally between the North and South. This, I believe will be a flash point when the South votes to secede, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Just note that all the oil is located in the South.

According to the agreement, at the end of the six-year period (2011), the people of the South will vote on a referendum on whether to have a united Sudan or to secede and create an independent South Sudan. I have not met a single person, including the President of South Sudan who believes that there is any chance that the people will vote for unification. Most southerners believe that the North is not living up to its end of the bargain relating to revenue and power sharing. They also feel that, as Black Africans, they do feel a cultural, religious, or ethnic connection to the Arabs in the North.

Many southerners with whom I spoke worry that the North will never give up on the oil and wonder what will happen if Sudan votes for secession in 2011. In the meantime, the North continues to arm militias in the South to disturb the peace and to keep the tribes at war with each other. With Garang’s death, I see no one in South Sudan promoting the vision of a peaceful South Sudan. The Dinka still see themselves as Dinka and not as South Sudanese. The same goes for the other tribes. Until they can see themselves as South Sudanese Dinka or Nuer, the North will always be able to divide and conquer.

The Government Today – Why there are two presidents – and who is the dude that I met with?

Sudan is supposedly a democracy, but in essence is an authoritarian republic. Omar Hassan al-Bashir (from the North) is the president and most of the power is in his hands and in the hands of his political party, the National Islamic Front (NIF) which took control of the government through a military coup in 1989.

As part of the CPA, Dr. John Garang (pictured on the left), the former rebel leader of the SPLA and the SPLM leader (SPLM is the political wing of the SPLA – just substitute the word “army” for “movement.” was sworn in as the First Vice President of Sudan AND the President of South Sudan. Three weeks later, Garang was killed in a helicopter crash in Uganda under circumstances that are still being investigated. After the plane crash, there were riots, but soon peace was restored and Salva Kir(pictured below) replaced Garang in both of the positions that he held. So, the man that I met is the president of South Sudan and not of Sudan.
Both Garang and Kir are Dinkas.

In addition, in order to bring peace between the Dinka and the Nuer (who fought a separate civil war against each other in the 90’s), a Nuer, Dr. Riek Machar was named vice-president. If you are interested in this, you should read “Emma’s War.”

Now that the civil war has ended with the SPLA, another major conflict has erupted in the Western province of Darfur. See the Darfur section for details.

Aftermath of the Second Civil War

The civil war ended only a year ago and signs of the war were visible everywhere that I went. The war took up most of the government’s resources, leaving little money for basic services such as infrastructure, health care, and education.



The civil war has taken up most of the government's resources, leaving little money for basic services such as health care and education in the rest of the country. Sudan is one of the poorest countries in the world, with widespread poverty and deprivation. Its economy is fragile and its infrastructure is shattered. While the government ministers eat in restaurants costing $15 per person, a large proportion of the population lives on less than $1 per day. Add to this that over six million people have been displaced from their homes, the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world.

The South, though rich in resources, is poorer than the North to the point of starvation and malnutrition. The roads are disastrous and buying a car, let alone a bicycle are out of the reach of the vast majority of South Sudanese. There is very little electricity and indoor plumbing is a rarity. It will take years before these problems are addressed, but hopefully before another generation does not have to live without access to basic health services, education, and jobs.


Other Interesting Facts About Sudan

The official language of Sudan is Arabic, though English is widely spoken – especially in the South. Local African languages are also spoken in the South. The language of instruction in schools is Arabic in the North and English in the South.

In the early 80’s Sudan flirted with socialism.

From 1991- 1994 Osama bin Laden was based in Sudan and set up terrorist training camps. There is still an al-Qaeda presence in Sudan.

In 1995, Sudan, Libya, and Chad were reported to be discussing integration after eventual legislative elections in Chad. This never came to fruition.

In 1996 the USA announced the withdrawal of all of its diplomatic personnel from Sudan because they were afraid that the Sudanese government could not guarantee their safety.

In August of 1998, terrorist bombs went off at two US embassies in Africa. Based on US intelligence reports, it was determined that Osama bin Laden was responsible. The US retaliated by bombing a bin Laden training camp in Afganistan. At the same time, President Clinton ordered a pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum to be bombed. It was believed that this plant had close ties to bin Laden and was producing chemical weapons. Since then, intelligence and foreign policy experts have questioned whether the factory was actually making chemical weapons or even connected to bin Laden.

There are newspapers in Sudan, but are all subject to government censorship.

After discovering oil in 1979, Chevron left after some years because the Sudanese government could not guarantee the safety of its workers. The French came and went and now China, India, and Malaysia have stepped in.

There’s seems to be a strong Chinese commercial presence in South Sudan – buses, household products, and oil production are all dominated by them. Quite interestingly, I did not see one Chinese person while I was there.

Malaria and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

The River Nile from Above - Home to many malarial mosquitos



Every Step You Take


Every step is a process and every process is an ordeal. That is the way things are here in Sudan. It took over a month to get to Malek and may take nearly as long to return. There are delays of days or weeks, transportation to procure and customs to follow. You cannot leave a home before the head of the home bids you farewell…….and that may be days away…..so you sit and you wait…….you wait with the others whose waits are infinitely longer than yours…….you sit, you nap, you sit some more….maybe you eat a bit – or take a walk, but nothing much gets done for long periods of time. But there are entire realities occurring behind the scenes. Conversations that I don’t understand and taboos being broken – and spoken. There is a world than I can understand on some levels – but no culture brings a foreigner entirely into its inner sanctums – it’s a cultural Skull and Bones.

Every step is a process and every process is an ordeal – part 2.

Getting on to the internet has been quite a challenge. With beginner’s luck, I met Abot who worked at Catholic Relief Services who gave me free and unlimited access to a fairly dependable network in Yei. Then I found a UN facility in Juba where I just walked through the front door and waved to a guard who upon seeing a white man, assumed I must be with the UN and just let me in.

Upon returning to Yei (I have yet to fill in the missing two weeks in Bor and Malek – this shall come soon) I was informed that Abot was at the head office in Nairobi and I would have to use the privately owned internet shack located about a mile from the compound where I was staying. It is literally a shack with a generator and satellite dish connected to it. I had just returned from my trip up north where I did not take my computer and wanted to type up my notes before going to the internet site. Of course, my computer had no juice left and the compound has no electricity, so I had to take it to an electricity charging place, which is actually a barber shop with a generator and power strip. After five hours, I had to pick my laptop. Then I had to sit down and input my adventures onto the MacBook. So I sit by my hut and begin to write. Within minutes, there are five young men watching over my shoulders, amazed at anyone can type without looking and wanting to try. While they wait their turn on the computer, they attempt to read each word as I type it. Soon they want their pictures taken with the built-in camera. Someone stops by with a bootleg dvd of a Chuck Norris movie which a friend had picked up for him in Kampala and would like to watch it on the computer. We go into the hut and in the dark, we watch Chuck go deep into his mind where he finds the wisdom of his Yoda-like karate trainer which brings him super-human strength and allows him to defeat a multitude of men of all races while the crowd cheers him on. Everyone in the crowd is Asian except for one blonde woman who will fall in love with him. I have no idea how she got there, but she managed to get front row seats in the arena. I fell asleep at some point and must have missed the deeper meaning of it all. By the time I wake up, the movie is over, the guys are just sitting around waiting for me to awaken, but not wanting to disturb me, and the computer’s battery is drained. The DVD is still inside the computer. Chuck Norris will guard the MacBook until I can release him upon charging.

Next day, I go to get it charged. So far I have maybe had the chance to write five sentences……five hours later, I pick up the computer and I’m ready to go…….this time I get a bit more writing done, but there is no one to escort me to the internet shack. If you remember, I am not permitted to walk through the town unescorted – American hatred, Al Qaida, drunken Dinkas………they say it’s safe out there – but just not for me. Hours later –Malek, my designated escort and protector of the day arrives and we walk the mile and the facility is open, but the satellite is down and there is no Internet connection. So we return the next day – we walk the mile in the heat and get there and find out that they are working on fixing the bug and it should be fixed any minute. We settle in – and leave two hours later – without ever having made a connection with cyberspace.

ThIs Time It’s Me Who Has the Bug – or: Why I haven’t updated the blog

Next day, we make plans in the morning to go later in the afternoon to go on the internet. By about 10 am, I’m feeling a bit weak and achy – I must be dehydrated. I send some kids to get me bottled water and by the time they come back, I’m in bed feeling a bit weak. I probably just need a nap. I sleep for about seven hours and by the time Malek comes by and says: “You want Internet?” I am realizing that something is going on with my body.. I take my temperature and it’s about 100°F. I lie in bed and begin to do the Fahrenheit/ centigrade conversions in case things get bad. The calculations keep me focused and I try to remember the formula. I remember how to calculate from centigrade to Fahrenheit: F=C x 1.8 + 32. Not sure why I remember this. I also remember that 37° C = 98.6 F. I begin to drift off into dreamy world of travels through of Barcelona in the winter where I wished the temperature would hit 10° C which was equal to 50°F…then I drifted to summers in Israel where the temperature was always in the high 30’s and when it hit 40° it was time to go sit in water somewhere.

As these thoughts danced around my head, my joints were beginning to hurt and it seemed to be getting very cold outside. No one is coming to disturb me figuring that I’m just tired and want to sleep. I try to get out of bed and I collapse on the floor, my legs too weak to hold my weight…..i find some covers and put them over me………..and it’s still cold……….i put in the thermometer and it’s over 101°…..that’s how many degrees….let’s see 37° is normal, so 38° = 100.4° F, 39° = 102.2, and 40° is a very hot 104° - thank god, I’ll never get there…..or so I thought……………the night went on and I was beginning to talk to myself and no longer trying to move – it hurt to breathe, it hurt to turn, it hurt to pick up my head….the temperature began to climb and my body felt as if someone had beaten the crap out of me. I became obsessed with taking my temperature and watching the temperature climb………101…..101.5 (the oldies radio station, I thought), 102……….102.5 (classical music in Boston)……….103………I was shivering and all alone in the hut…..it felt like there were knives in my neck, back, kidneys….i realized that I didn’t even know where my kidneys were…. somewhere near my liver? ………..my kidneys definitely hurt…… .103.5 ……..it’s freezing here in Africa………I have to pee…….i barely climb out of bed and barefoot, I leave the hut and fall over – my legs are like rubber….i get up, holding the straw of the roof between my fingers……I guide myself to the tree and, holding on to the tree with one hand, get my business done……….i don’t remember getting back into bed, but I remember seeing the thermometer hit 104. At that point, people came into the hut and realized that I was quite ill. They congratulated me and welcomed me to the malaria club. They all told me that they’ve had it dozens of times and it will just go away, eventually. They described my symptoms perfectly. When I described the feeling that it felt like there was a knife stuck in my back that was digging into my heart, they all laughed. “The devil’s spear!”

It seems like I just had a common case of malaria – something that every Sudanese person has had dozens of times in their life. I was taking anti-malaria pills, but when I checked the thermometer and it was over 104°, I had this thought: I would have an impact on what my doctor would tell patients in the future. He had said to me: Take the malaria medicine every day and you should be fine. I don’t anyone who’s gotten malaria with this medicine. I couldn’t wait to tell him, so he could now tell patients: Take the malaria medicine. It’s very reliable and I only know one person who actually contracted malaria - and that was in Sudan.” This is what I thought about as my fever spiked.

With the help of some of my remaining Advils, the fever eventually dropped and I began to heal. It was not a short, nor pleasant process. I’m still feeling the after-effects……….

Back in the US, Back in the US, Back in the USA

Photo: Between Bor and Juba as seen from a UN helicopter. Typical residential setting.


I am now back in the US and am gathering my notes and finally posting them. I am predicting a jumbled juxtaposition of times and tenses as I cut and paste from notes written weeks ago meshed with my comments written while in the USA and in the midst of culture shock and confusion. In the meantime, you should really read the comments of rojocasa whose world is far more interesting than mine and whose writing is superior to boot.

Mosquitos

All is well now, but i was down for the count with malaria. Will write soon.