Things I Learnt about Sudan Today.

So today I met a few new Sudanese friends and they told me all kinds of interesting history and information about Sudan and this is what I remember to share:

Sudan gained it's Independence in 1952, before it was colonized by the British (surprise, surprise) who brought the religion of Christianity. The civil war has been ravaging the country for 60 years 1955-present. The civil war is a result of clashing regions of Sudan, the north which is predominantly Muslim and the south which is populated with Christians. The Muslim influence comes from Egypt which ruled for Britain due to their close location to Sudan, many of the soldiers etc being Egyptian at the time and then ruling alone after Britain left. Many Egyptian men came into Sudan during their time of rule and chose African wives whom they had children with. As a result the Northern part of Sudan now has many Muslim, African/Egyptian mixed children. In my understanding their Arab status is considered Superior and they consider themselves more Arab then African. Another reason Egypt wants to keep such a strong hold on Sudan is because of the Nile River which runs through Sudan. The Egyptians want to control how the Sudanese use this water because they have so much invested in it for irrigation. Sudan, and a few other countries (Uganda etc) signed a contract with Egypt in 1933 that said that they could use the water but not build dams etc and if their were floods Egypt would compensate the people. Except the countries are regularly flooded and never compensated.

Because of the north and south's total difference in belief systems it causes great conflict. For example if Christians go into he capital they can be arrested by Muslims authorities who have made drinking illegal due to their religious beliefs.

In 2011 a referendum will be held and the Sudanese people will be able to vote for whether or not they want the country separated. The men I was talking to desperately want the boundary to be draw so that it would be safe for them to go back to their homes. They were driven out of their homes because of the civil war and into Kakuma for four years! If a boundary were to be drawn then the Sudanese people would be somewhat more protected and secure on the North and South.

They also spoke to me about naming. The men in Sudan have names starting with "Me" that is a male beginning, where as female names start with 'N' or a male's name with the M dropped. The second part of the name means something. Melaku for example means 'angel', and Melajab means something like a very valuable bull (the colors of a very valuable bull- white and black), so when he was born his mothers dowry probably included a bull. And Malaju means foreigner, so he was probably born outside of his community.

Melaju and Melajab were telling me about wives and dowry in their country. Melajab told me that dowry is a precious gift appreciating the value of the woman, talking to me almost lovingly touching my leg and smiling gently looking into my eyes as if to hypnotize me or melt me like butter with his talk of my womanly value. Melaju on the other hand spoke strongly about his belief in progress beyond dowry. Because dowry causes a lot of problems in a relationship. Men often feel that they have the right to beat their wives, and women feel in debt to their husbands. If the couple feel inclined to divorce it is very rare and there is then the dilemma of what to do with the dowry. Divorce is also very rare among the people of Melaju's small traditional community. If a husband and wife want to divorce the community gets involved, and disapproving, try to persuade them to resolve their differences and stay together. Also if men and women separate it is a lot harder for them to get second husband/wives. If the two must go to court witnesses (community leaders) come forward and present all information about the dowry etc. Everything is mental, there are no documents. Therefore it is very rare to divorce!

End.