Outside the Desert

It has been a while between posts. I have been traveling. And so below are some snapshots of what my eyes have taken in over the past three weeks in three locations that could not be more different.. Roma and then Zanzibar (Tanzania) and then El Geneina, West Darfur to finish off. From the colosseum to diving on the most incredible reef to the large, sprawling IDP camps in the desert.. In Rome (a trip to WFP Head Quarters) I stayed in Ash's flat - which was basically next door to the Colosseum and had a beautiful terrazzo overlooking Roma. It is European summer, the city was alive with an energy, pulsing with tourists, interspersed with stylish locals, passionately conversing over drinks in each piazza, or simply sitting around the edges of an ancient fountain, soaking up the atmosphere.. I love Italians. They are slightly crazy, but they really seem to live life with real zest.

And then The Spice Island of the Indian ocean, the magnificent Zanzibar. A melting pot of Arab, Swahili and Indian cultures. More on Zanzibar soon i promise! I got my Padi open water certificate in the beautiful turquoise waters of the south-east coast of Zanzibar with my lovely instructor, Polar (right).  It was so relaxing, so fresh, a welcome respite from Sudan ..and the phrase that all the locals kept saying began to ring true.."Hakuna Matata"

And then...Back to work... straight out to Far west Sudan, to west Darfur, which borders Chad. I met some women living the the camps for the displaced.. they were lovely. They had been in camps for 5 years. This Little 2 year old girl, was playing with an onion..her only toy that also substituted as a snack to nibble on.. put my amazing travels into perspective.. My life is blessed. 

Inspiring...

I just finished the book "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson. I had heard a lot about him while working in Nepal and of the work that he had done in Pakistan and Afghanistan but it was not until I read of his journey over the past 15 years or so that I realised the impact he has had and also of the kind of person he must be - to endure so many challenges, to keep pushing on.. "Failure: When its Dark enough, you can see the stars."

His story is not dissimilar to the great Edmund Hillary's post-sumimit story in Nepal. A mountaineer who decides to give back a little to the people of the mountains and build schools and clinics. But Gregs story is also very different because he was an American, building schools for Muslim children, in the 9/11 era.. Not so straight-forward. He also stepped into a society with strict moral codes and immediately challenged it head on by striving to educate girls. "You can hand out condoms, drop bombs, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change." - Greg Mortenson.

"If we try to resolve terrorism with military might and nothing else, then we will be no safer than we were before 9/11. If we truly want a legacy of peace for our children, we need to understand that this is a war that will ultimately be won with books, not with bombs." - Greg Mortenson

Ancient Sands

Humans began somewhere in the Horn of Africa but there is also evidence to suggest they may also have begun in neighboring Sudan. It is still too hot to travel up to the Pyramids and Temples of Meroe (standing proud since the 3^rd century B.C.), and so I venture out into the heat one Friday morning, traveling through the deserted streets of Khartoum and step into the once architecturally modern building housing the National Museum.

The stories of the Ancient Nubians and the Kingdom of Kush was laid out before me in glass cases. And while the great stone carvings of kings and mythical creatures belong out among the sands that they were born of, tomb raiders of the present day would not allow them to exist for the curious public eye for long, so I am happy to wander around the displays and attempt to gain some tangible knowledge of where present day Sudan is coming from.

I discovered a whole other world entirely. Intricate stone carvings covered in Egyptian Hieroglyphics, Gold and crystal necklaces with matching earrings, Ivory arm-bands and milky alabaster vessels of all sizes. Such sophistication, such elaborate lives, not to mention the complexity of their views on afterlife and the preparation for the journey into that realm.

I especially love the names; King Natakami, King Piye, King Shebaka, Pharaoh Taharqa, Queen Aqaluqa, Queen Nefertari. Because Nubians were great archers, the Egyptians called Nubia "Ta-Seti," or Land of the Bow. I like that too. But the best part is the ‘Warrior Queens’ stories – one particular one where the one-eyed Queen Amanirenus won the battle against Augustus Caesar and his Romans. Awesome. They were strong and powerful and ruled over all people. Today in Sudan, it is a vastly different female story. But I will not burden the web with popularly controversial opinions on women in Islam.

The Sudan that existed before the arrival of Christianity and then Islam shortly after it and before the precious trade commodities such as Ivory ran dry, was a vastly different place it seems. But perhaps cultural traditions can only last so long before an influence arrives and drives transition. If I turn the page 500 years ahead, this may no longer be a poor country, it may not be Islamic, it may not even be called Sudan. It might, completing a circle, be place where women are acknowledged for their strength and given power akin to ancient times. But I suppose I will never know, I can only turn the pages backwards.

Present day Sudan? Well, I am only just beginning that chapter. If Wealth, Religion, and Politics are the defining characteristics then it is both easy and difficult to read. Sudan sits in at 146^th place, out of 179 on the Human development Index - or to put it simply, a substantially poor country. (Iceland is number one and Sierra Leone is at the bottom). Politics I won’t even attempt to cover here or I will just be in a bad mood for the rest of the day. And while there are no longer kings and queens, there are multiple tribal heirarchy structures and I do hope to be able to learn from them a few things about their country this year. Stay tuned…