A Day of Rest in a City of Action

Although it is Saturday in Sudan, it is the second day of their weekend with Friday being their religious day of worship and the streets are much quieter than an average weekday. It is a day like all others in many respects with the temperature in the high 30's and virtually no breeze.
Today is a rest day during this rather exhausting visit. The children of the family of Wageeh William (shown left sstganding in front of their parents) are in school as the Christian schools have Friday and Sunday off, but not Saturday. A normal day in this household means catching the news on TV in the morning via satelite (BBC preferred here although I have found Aljazeera to be very good as well. ) The morning Khartoum Monitor paper highlights more news about the upcoming referendum in the south and the peace talks that are nearing completion in Darfur. The paper also has headlines about Justin Beiber winning 4 awards at the Music Awards ceremony earlier this week and that the Black Eyed Peas will be performing at the Super Bowl (which does not appear in tv here - no one interested in that when soccer is being played). We will be breaking bread shortly for lunch at the Wageeh William homestead with a group from Germany and then . . . . don't know yet. It is a dayof rest. Tomorrow we head of on a flying adventure with Sudan Airways to Port Sudan for a couple of days with the reborn YMCA there and then back to Khartoum to complete the visit, write up reports, and a few more visits to Khartoum YMCA progams.
Stay tuned - we may not be as regular with postings, but we will be back! Mona just got back from school so I better return her internet stick to her.

All Good Things Come to an End. . .

It is well past midnight. The morning papers are being delivered to distribution outlets for early morning risers. The streets of this city of 5.5 million are completely deserted and streetlights cast their beams on a city of silence. Businesses are closed tight and not even a spot of light radiates from the rolling metal doors that conceal the shops. This is Khartoum after 11:00 pm any night of the week. Only the rare red tail lights of cars coming from the airport are visible. No headlights as drivers leave their headlights off at night except to give signals to other drivers to get our of their way.

We have just said good bye to three of the Four Westerners - Nancy, Helen and Kim. The first stage of our visit to Sudan is over and now they leave to rejoin with their families and colleagues back in Canada, full of new experiences, emotions, learnings and wonderful new friends.

But today was not without its own adventures. A meeting this morning with a group of YMCA volunteers and staff in a remote part of the city who are providing a unique and well used service to the community in which they exist. This is a school for adults and it has had its own experiences with ups and downs over the years as it has tried to exist. Today just coincidently happened to be their graduation ceremony, so 20 or so students graduated and received their certificates. We learned much about how a group of dedicated teachers have made a significant impact on the quality of life in their community.

Following a video Skype call late this afternoon for us but at 9:00 am back in Sudbury, we visited the Khartoum YMCA Young Adult school in downtown Khartoum. Here over 1,000 students a year in a school supported by the YMCA's of Northern Ontario receive an education that will prepare them for a job. YMCA schools are well respected in Khartoum and employers have been known to state that a YMCA education certificate will get you a good paying job better than a university diploma. This school has been operating for close to 20 years and has directly enhanced the lives of close to 20,000 Sudanese of all religions, all colours and both sexes during this time. Personal health and HIV/AIDS education is a standard part of all programs.

After supper, we headed off to a traditional Sudanese wedding which seemed to be a favorite activity for well over 1000 persons who attended to give well wishes to the bride and groom. Then it was off to the airport to say our good byes.

Stay tuned for more about the impact of this visit.

Unfinished Business

In a few hours, Kim, Helen and Nancy will be leaving Sudan to return to Northern Ontario and their respective YMCA's. The visit has been full and it has been memorable for a host of reasons. Meetings with community members, YMCA members, YMCA Board members, staff, students, CIDA officials and embassy officials have filled hours of time but have also provided information and plans for the future.

But, we are not finished yet. There is still one full day of activity and meetings to go and a lot of unfinished business to try to wrap up. We have visited programs of the Khartoum YMCA and have tried t learn more about the Sudanese culture and the city of Khartoum.

Today we met with the Board of the YMCA and learned a great deal about the Khartoum association and its operation. (Picture above). It is a vibrant and growing association that has overcome a myriad of obstacles over the years to become stronger and more effective. The meeting place was Khartoum's newest hotel (picture above right) shaped to resemble the sails of a large boat.

While driving through Khartoum's famous fruit and vegetable market, we saw much of the older Khartoum - unfinished buildings and amazing outdoor stall after stall of fresh fruit and vegetables.

We finished the day with a relaxing evening with Rejean Halle and his wife at the Coptic Club in Khartoum. Rejean is an official with the Canadian Embassy and has recently started a two year stint in Khartoum. Tomorrow we move away from the policy and administration side of the YMCA and move back to the programs.

Stay tuned for more.

We Learned a Lot Today

It was a hot Tuesday. The sun had no mercy as it blasted its rays down on the parched and lifeless ground. Piles of garbage caused our vehicle to swerve so it could remain on a relative flat but unmarked roadway through the mud and straw dwellings that housed hundreds of thousands of internally displaced persons from the Nubian Mountains, Darfur and war-torn Southern Sudan. As the Land Cruiser slowly rolled through an everlasting human obstacle course it appeared as though half the population was under thae age of 15.

It was not difficult to tell when we were approaching the YMCA school in this area called Gabarona. (meaning "forced to relocate"). Children were milling about the entrance of the school a school with the huge metal doors and high mud and straw walls. There was excitement in the air as we parked the vehicle and started to walk toward the doors of the school - believed to be one of only three schools in the entire resettlement area. The five of us carried in huge bags of brand new clothes which we were scheduled to hand out to the 315 of the 370 students of the YMCA school.

As we walked through the doors we were met by a noisy group of students all seated under the straw matting above their heads and waiting for something they could not understand. Why would these white-skinned people from so far away come to visit OUR school? But the apprehension soon got forgotten as they burst into song - songs of happiness and songs giving thsnks. The faces were smiling. The voices were strong and clear....and giving English their best shot.

Some were 12 year olds, much more knowledgeable and experienced than their younger brothers and sisters. Some were babes in arms - in the arms of their older sisters - some only a few years older than themselves. Some had sandels on their feet but most did not. Some were wearing relatively clean clothes, but most were not. Some were sure that something good was going to happen in the school that afternoon, but some were not.

When the singing and the words of welcome were spoken, the distribution of the new clothes to every child in the school began. These were not someone elses discarded used clothes, but brand new clothes still in ther cellophane wrappers. Some had experienced something new to wear before today, but most had not.

As the children squeezed their newly acquired clothes close to their body, they slowly returned to their newly painted benches and began singing thank you songs in the same rough English we had heard when we had entered. It was emotional - no doubt about it. It wasn't the new clothes that were important today. The clothes were just another attempt to help these young displaced children gain some dignity and self-respect...to help these children realize that there is more to life than parched earth, mud and straw huts with one room for large families, questionable water that came from old oil barrels welded together on donkey pulled carts, piles of garbage with paths cleared through them to get from place to place, and people out there somewhere that forced them to move further out into the desert every time they seemed to make new communities in which to live.

There are others out there somewhere that care that they can walk and play in good clothes, that they can respect themselves and each other, that not everyone out there is determined to treat them as less than human and that they can have access to a basic education that will allow the more determined of them to go on and realize that their dreams may actually be possible. And they will.

Now that we have seen the value of the program and seen the depth of the need, and that we can help, will we?

We all learned a lot today, and we were taught by young children.

Being Culturally Correct.

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Pictured above - the modern day skyline of Khartoum, a series of comfort stations along the highway outside Khartoum, the Acropole Hotel where we stay (the oldest hotel in Khartoum), and the birthday cake ceremony at a children's birthday party)

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The weekend in Arab countries is comprised of Friday and Saturday. Yesterday (Sunday) was a working day in Sudan and everything that had been closed over the weekend, and before that for several days because of the holiday, were open again. The women in our group spent several hours yesterday with a group of women in a Sudanese shop learning about Sudanese customs, women's rights issues and in general, women's concerns. While learning from each other, Helen, Kim and Nancy agreed to have henna tattoos while in the shop. No men allowed in this shop, so the talk was frank and animated. A sideline fact learned was that if a woman has henna tattoos from the wrist up, she is not married. If she has tattoos on her hands, she is married. Otherwise, henna is meant to be private. A visit to the offices of the Khartoum Monitor (An English Language Daily newspaper) proved to be enlightening as while the offices were relatively small for the size of the paper, the staff were working on modern equipment and producing Khartoum's largest English newspaper. Alfred Taban, the Editor in Chief and Chairman of the Board of the newspaper is the vice-president of the Khartoum YMCA and very active with the organization.

In the evening while discussing the events of the day and Sudanese culture and modern day changes in lifestyle, we were standing by the shores of the Blue Nile when a pick-up truck full of about 15 members of a family pulled up. The family excitedly walked down to the riverside and proceeded to throw dates into the water. We were told by our host that this is an ancient tradition in the area. Before a couple get married, they go to the Nile with their families and throw dates in the water to symbolize the riddence of past evils and things that might have negative impact on the new couple. As they walked back to the truck, all were smiles and very happy and Dr. Wageeh asked which of the group were the future couple. Everyone laughed and finally one woman who was holding a young boy told him there was no wedding, but a circumcision. The ceremony of the dates is used for more than one occasion. We subsequetly discovered that some local and very illegal alcohol is made from dates. Sounds like it could taste more like prune juice.

We were also told that recently a group of rebels from the Darfur region were able to pass through the outskirts of the city and proceed to the government buildings in Khartoum. When asked how they were able to get so far into the centre of the city without being stopped, we were told that they were all wearing a special leather medallion either on an armband or as a necklace.This special medallion was said to make people invisible when worn, meaning they could not get shot. They believed this is why they were able to make it to the government buildings. Old beliefs and new learnings provide for a fascinating situation in Khartoum and affects our project through the adult school downtown where annually over 1,000 students graadulate with most able to secure a job to support their family.

In some extra available time we had during the day, we were able to visit the ancient pyramids of Meroe, north of Khartoum. The weather was very hot and the wind blew the sand in the desert into our clothing and our hair. As we looked at the ancient hyroglyphics on the walls of some nearby temples from time before Christ, we noticed a considerable difference in the way women were portrayed here and in Egypt. In the ancient paintings and sketches on the walls of temples and tombs in Egypt, women are generally protrayed much shorter (and thus smaller) than men. In Sudan, women are portrayed equal in size to men.

Family togetherness is a major Sudanese cultural feature. We attended a birthday party for four children of one family that are Sudanese but who have been living with their parents lately in Austrailia. The importance of celebrating childhood birthdays with the extended family is so important, the couple came back to Khartoum so they could have a huge birthday party for the whole extended family. Another Sudanese custom - things usually don't stgart on time and they just about alaways go late into the night. This children's birthday party officially got under way after 10:00 pm and was starting to break up about midnight. Whew!!!

Getting familiar with the Sudanese culture is critical to the success of our project with our Khartoum partners. A trait we have been becoming increasingly aware of while working with our partners is the importance they place on working effectively but having fun while doing it. It is important to learn how to do things properly, to have fun while doing it and to remain enthusiastic about the work you are doing. The Sudanese are good at this and have been teaching us a lot. They keep their families together and support each other in times of hardship and difficulty. They add features to their work that keep their spirits high and their goals strong. The YMCA choir is an excellent example of how the YMCA can work hard at providing an excellent education for over 1,000 adults and close to 500 children with very limited resources but also provide an outlet for members to celebrate and produce something that keeps their spirits high and their goals strong through music. The YMCA choir has recently recorded a song that is being played on the radio in Sudan and will soon be on television as well. It concerns the ujpcoming referendum in Sudan which is predicted to result in major clashes and disruptions to life in the country. The song is about peace in Sudan and was written by a university professor and performed by our Khartoum YMCA choir.

Stay tuned - more to come.

We are Known by the Mark we Leave. . .

"What are you doing, mister?"

"I'm painting the door to make it look good"

"Why?"

"Someone important is coming"

"Who?"

"You!"

It may have lost a bit in the translation, but such was the jist of the discussion a volunteer at the Gabarona YMCA school had with a young student trying to sneak a look at the improvements being made by a group of volunteers from Gabarona (across the Nile from Khartoum on the outskirts of Omdurman). The volunteers were from the community who just wanted to help the four of us and Dr. Wageeh William, President of the Khartoum YMCA on a day when the 370 youthful students were on a holiday. This has definately been a highlight of the first several hours of our Khartoum visit and we are anxious to return on Tuesday when we will be joined by some key officials from CIDA and, of course, 370 kids. The school, believed to be one of only 3 in an area of over 100,000 persons displaced from Darfur, the Nubian Mountains in the north, and the war-torn south. The children were more than excited as they congregated outside the school gate laughing and impressed with their images on the screens of our digital cameras.

After a smooth entry into Sudan and registration at the hotel, we had a brief opportunity to enjoy a meal ane then join a group of YMCA board members, volunteers, CIDA officials and Canadian Embassy staff at the home of Dr. Wageeh as we were warmly welcomed back into the extended YMCA family in Khartoum. Delightful music by the YMCA choir and instrumental presentations by Dr. Wageeh's three children set an amazing tone of acceptance and working together to help solve issues they are dealing with in their community.

We were fortunate to pay a visit to the home of Cirisio Soka, an artist who carves amazing pieces of ebony from the raw product as part of Dr, Wageeh's business. In the photo above you can see one of the pieces as he holds it for us to photograph.

Today we began to experience what the Y does extremely well - engaging the community to make a better community for everyone. Today we had a vivid demonstration of how the perfection of the mark on the wall identifying the YMCA program is nowhere as important as the mark it leaves in the lives of the people it engages.

Stay tuned for the significance of dates in the Nile.

The Four Westerners Appear in Camel-Lot

Not only did we ride the dusty roads to the pyramids of Giza but we did, in fact, find ourselves amongst the camels resting themselves by the big famous rock piles. Then we found ourselves atop the mighty dromidarys, as our true ambitions to rule the world as mighty pharaohs became the better of us. Residents of the area and visitors from afar trembled as they witnessed the mighty four westerners taking rule of the world from atop their beasts. Then my camel spit on the ground, gave me the eye and a frustrated sigh, kneeled to the ground and shook me off. Once we were all brought back to earth, a couple of our group thought it was important to pay the camel attendents every time they asked for a tip, so there was sure to be a lot of celebrating in camel town that night!

The pyramids, a sail on the Nile, lunch and a meeting with Samy at the Y in Cairo highlighted the day before driving to Alexandria and having supper with some Y folk from the City on the Sea.

TUT, TUT, TUT. . . DON'T GO IN THERE!

Yes, a visit to the world famous Cairo Museum was on our agenda, but as the YMCA van slid between vehicles, policemen and hoards of people in front of the pink museum, we were told it was closed today - it was Tuesday! So on we moved. Seeing the museum and especially the mummy room had come to a dead end.
Wednesday, we were hosted by Magda, CEO of the Alexandria YMCA which opened on the holiday for our visit. This is one of the most progressive YMCA's in the world in its leadership role in the community. We visited their resident camp outside of Alexandria itself and joined a rather large group of Christians and Muslims in a good old-fashioned campfire type program. This is one of the first ventures of the YMCA into resident camping . We headed back to our accommodation at the Y residence before being picked up to go to a huge YMCA formal party to celebrate the end of a very successful summer of activity. This kept us goinguntil about 2:00 am when we had to leave the festivities to finish packing to drive back to the Cairo airport just 2 hours later.

Despite several attempts to access the internet in Alexandria, we were unsuccessful as our bloggery has suffered slightly from lack of connectivity.

Thursday and we are now in Khartoum after a smooth process through the Cairo airport, the skies of the Sahara, and the Khartoum airport. We are now set for the second stage of our adventure. A quick rest at the hotel and then off to a reception for us by a number of YMCA and Canadian Embassy staff later this evening. This is the beginning of it all for the four of us.

What an Eye-full

Somewhere between Sudbury on a cool fall morning and Cairo on an average fall day is a brief stopover in France - Paris! Now our five hour stopover was reduced by complications getting out of the CDG Airport in Paris, so the four of us jammed into a very nice cab and hoofed it down to tower territory so we could at least say we saw part of the world that people would recognize on our way to Egypt and Sudan. Granted, we only had an hour, but it was enough to satisfy our sense of adventure and exploration and we finished it off by consuming fresh crepes on the banks of the Seine.

Then it was back in the cab to the airport and on our way to Cairo and the land of mummies and pyramids. We speedily obtained our visas, got through immigration and customs and were met by John Island Alumni Miriam Nashed and Raymond, the driver. We were sped off through Cairo traffic to the famous Al Horeya Hotel complete with its freshly painted elevator shaft (even covered up the floor numbers so using the elevator has become an Egyptian adventure). Then off to the market for a bit of shopping and some kabobs, and finally back to the hotel after two days of little if any sleep to prepare for tomorrow. Wednesday features a visit to the pyramids, the museum, meeting with Samy at the Y and then a drive in the Y van to magnificent Alexandria. Whew!

Oh yes, while in the market this evening, Helen, Kim and Nancy were mercyless with a merchant and beat him down to an acceptable price on the three items of clothing seen in the photo.

Stay tuned for more in the adventures of the Four Westerners in a Far Away Land.

Our Destination, Our Mission

Reaching from the shores of the Mediterranean Sea to Central Africa and the coast of the Congo, our mission is intended to stretch from Alexandria in Northern Egypt to Yambio in Southern Sudan. Pictured on the left, Sudan imposes as the largest country in Africa. Once considered to be the bread basket of Africa with its fertile lands along the Nile, it is now looking to the massive oil reserves in the south to provide wealth to the country in the future. With the barren desert lands of the north to the jungle of the south, Sudan is a diverse land.

Our mission is to connect with the projects of the YMCA's of Northern Ontario in Sudan and Egypt and too give support to the dedicated Sudanese who carry out the Y's agenda - an active youth exchange with the YMCA of Egypt, an upcoming youth internship with the YMCA of Egypt, and 3 schools in Khartoum, Sudan. Our schools in Khartoum are operated by the YMCA of Khartoum and currently provide basic education and a chance for a brighter future to over 1,500 youth and children a year.

Our home in Sudan is pictured above. If you happen to be in Khartoum while we are there, drop in and say hi.

Two days to departure. Stay tuned for our next posting which will be from Africa.

What to Wear, What to Pack. . . .

As I write this, the temperatures for Cairo are 31C daytime and 16C nights, Alexandria are 27 daytime and 16 nights, and Khartoum are 38C to 42C daytime and down to a refreshing 25C at night. And then you are preparing for mosquito areas where malaria is a concern, so short sleeves and short pants are a no no. So what do you wear and what do you pack for those conditions? And then Yambio, the last destination, is a little cooler, but still at the tail end of the rainy season, so the dry heat of Khartoum is replaced by the very humid 28C daytime temperature of Yambio. Now we are really getting complicated. But all things considered, here I sit with 4 shirts, 2 pairs of pants, 3 pair of Tilley brand socks (that can be washed and dry overnight), etc. Should be enough.
Oh yes, I almost forgot...we return in a few weeks to Toronto and then Sudbury and their weather. Better throw in a jacket and a pair of earmuffs.
Four days to go.

It is Better to Give......

A traditional custom in both countries that we are visiting to exchange gifts. When we visit Egypt and Sudan we arrive back home with gifts that at times are humbling to us as the gifts are often the result of some sacrifice ... but they reflect the value they place in the visitors and what they represent in terms of support and friendship. But what makes a meaningful gift from us to our partners? What represents the value we place in their dedication, their persistence in overcoming obstacles, their belief in what the YMCA should and can do in their communities and their adherence to their mission? When I last asked this question to our partners, the answer was not what I expected. I was told that the most valuable thing we bring to our partnership is not the material things and not the funds we supply, although that is important. The most valuable thing we can bring is our concern and support for what they are doing - giving them more tools to achieve what they have identified as their goals whether information, training or giving them confidence and confirming that what they are doing is achieving results.
But we still need something that they can place on their desk or hang on their wall - that's the custom. They have the soapstone carvings, native art, maple syrup, YMCA memorabilia, etc.
Hmmmmmm. Any ideas?

Making a List...Checking it Twice

Lists of things to take, lists of things to buy, lists of things we have to do, lists of immunizations to get, lists of arrangements to make, and, of course, a list of the lists we need to make. With only 13 days until the jet takes off from Toronto International Airport, the months of planning now gets scrunched into a few days. But we are organized and will be ready! Our Egypt hosts and our Khartoum hosts are just as pumped as we are . . . the Four Westerners will soon be on their way!