Welcome, my friend!

oman, loul and amir in our community bakery


Its been tough for our community this past few day, food is a little bit short for some, but we are trying to be happy here in Darfur. I took a picture here..

Rural poverty in the Sudan

Poverty in the Sudan is deeply entrenched and is largely rural. In 2002 some 20 million people were living below the poverty line of less than US$1 a day. About 19 million people — 85 per cent of the rural population — are estimated to be living in extreme poverty. Most of them struggle to feed themselves and their families and have little or no access to safe drinking water and health services. The United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index ranks Sudan 61st among the 77 least developed nations in the world.

The incidence of poverty varies considerably according to region. In part because economic growth has been unevenly distributed, but also because of the economic and social devastation caused by the conflict in certain parts of the country. Severe inequalities in terms of access to education, sanitation and clean water, to infrastructure and natural resources, income opportunities, justice and political protection exist between regions. For example, health services in southern Sudan only reach about 25 per cent of the population. People living in areas that have been or continue to be affected by drought and conflict – particularly the south and Darfur - are the most vulnerable to poverty.

A rapidly growing population is putting significant pressure on already fragile ecosystems, a situation which has been exacerbated by the displacement of peoples, either by drought or conflict. More than two million have been displaced by the Darfur conflict alone. In addition, erosion, loss of soil fertility and damage to watersheds are affecting resources. Agricultural productivity is decreasing as a result of a lack of technological breakthroughs in rainfed agriculture, and food security and livelihoods are threatened as a result. Malnutrition, tuberculosis and malaria have become rampant. The World Health Organization estimates that 22 per cent of children in the South and Darfur are suffering from acute malnutrition, and the incidence of diarrhoea in children may be as high as 45 per cent in southern Sudan.

Who and where are the Sudan’s rural poor people?

In general, small-scale farmers and herders in the traditional rainfed farming and livestock sectors are more prone to poverty than those in irrigated areas. Those without land are dependent on cash earnings from casual labour, such as collecting firewood and making charcoal. Many depend on humanitarian aid. In 2006 about 2.5 million people in Darfur, and nearly 3 million in the south, east and transitional areas required food assistance.

Isolation is one of the key factors affecting poverty. Settlements located away from main thoroughfares have little or no access to social services and markets. Within rural communities, households without assets and labour power are the poorest – consisting of elderly or disabled people, or households headed by women with young dependants. Women and girls are the most disadvantaged members — less than one third of them have access to education.

Why are the Sudan’s rural people poor?

Inadequate development strategies, slow adaptation to climatic volatility, and erosion of natural resources are the root causes of poverty. These causes have also fuelled the prolonged civil conflicts that have had a devastating effect on the rural population.

Poverty levels in the country are closely linked to the strengths and weaknesses of agricultural productivity. In the 1970s the Sudan, along with many countries of sub-Saharan Africa, began to introduce large-scale mechanized farms and to expand the irrigation sector in a bid to increase crop production, especially cash crops. The new farming systems and land allocation policies displaced subsistence farmers and nomads from their land, and dismantled traditional systems of communal ownership and management that had previously discouraged local conflict. They proved inappropriate for ecologically fragile areas that are much better suited to traditional agricultural methods characterized by livestock herding and the mobility of farmers.

Smallholder farmers are hindered by the limited size of their land holdings, low rates of productivity and an inability to improve their incomes. Because of the lack of rainfall and domestic water supplies, for most farmers the growing season is brief and crop failures are frequent. Pests and disease are problems they are ill-equipped to combat. Existing systems for research and agricultural support are unable to produce and disseminate new technical packages capable of overcoming these problems.

Because they have limited access to credit, distribution and marketing channels, and because of their inadequate technical knowledge and poor skills in production and marketing, farmers find it difficult to break out of the cycle of low productivity and income. Seasonal migration in pursuit of wage labour opportunities on mechanized and irrigated farms and in urban areas has become widespread.

Conflict leads to greater poverty

More than two decades of civil unrest in the Sudan have cost the lives of about 1.5 million people and had a devastating effect on the well-being of the population. Protracted civil conflict in the Sudan generally has its origin in socio-economic inequities caused by neglect of the agricultural sector, misguided land reforms, unfair distribution of resources for development between urban and rural areas and for irrigated and traditional farming, and exclusion of local communities from decision-making. These policies have led to the development of an economy based mainly on export and lease of natural resources, to competition over access to scarce land and water, and to inadequate nation-building.

After decades of internal conflict the Sudan signed a peace agreement in January 2005 and the new Government of National Unity and Government of Southern Sudan have now launched a six-year recovery, peace-building and development plan. International donors have pledged to contribute to the massive costs entailed in reconstructing the country.

Poetry

If you set out on your journey to seek
the treasure of the island of Ithaca,
take your time, walk slowly.

if you see a beautiful woman
stop, fall in love with her.

As you walk to beautiful landscape,
sit down and enjoy the view, the silence.

Then when you reac Ithaca,
if you don't find the treasure,
don't get discouraged,

Your journey is the treasure.

My hair..

The dream of the average Sudanese girl is to marry well and have a lighter skin. Lighter skin is viewed as beautiful (Sudan is not the only one in this case!). We bleach our skins, use lightening creams and use harmful skin-damaging products as long as we become "lighter".
When my mother was young, she lived with her grandmother for 2 years because grandpa was doing his graduate studies in the United States. She was good friends with her aunts because many of them were her age. The result of early marriages of course. Almost all her aunts are light-skinned and so is her mother. My mum got her beautiful skin-tone from her father. She disliked it. It made her feel less attractive. She secretly envied them. One day, she had the most brilliant idea. At least she thought so. She went to have a shower and ended up scrubbing her skin so hard. She scrubbed and scrubbed thinking the black layer will go away leaving a smooth, light-skinned skin tones she always wanted. This didn't happen. She bled instead. She moved on with her life but I don't think she got over it. Ironically, she refused to marry a light-skinned, green eyes Sudanese and prefered my father.
When I was born, I was lighter than her and I had pinkish cheeks. People were amazed at this and my mother was pleased. Later on, I discovered that I inherited her inferiority complex but in another form. It was a typical African female problem. The Afro hair. I was blessed with thick very curly hair. I didn't like it when I was a kid. Mabye because my mother and sister have long straight hair or mabye because my mother didn't like it and she didn't exactly hide that. My family didn't hide this too. I often heard this from my aunts " oh you have a nice skin tone, nice brownish color but you sure didn't inherit your mother's hair". I have my Nubian grandmother's hair, curly and thick. Curls that bounce back. It's African hair. I'm not ashamed of it. Hair represents so much to people. It shows your heritage. But again, aren't my people ashamed of their whole heritage? Why shouldn't they be ashamed of their hair too?
Conversation with mother...
Mum: hey kizzie, we have a wedding tomorrow go straighten your hair
kizzie: why, I will wash it and put some cream. I like my curly hair
Mum: y not straighten it? it will look nice.
kizzie: you go straighten it, I don't like doing so. It doesn't suit me
Mum: well mine doesn't need that, do whatever you want...

Random Thoughts:- Dictatorships and Technology

What does Iraq, Darfur,Burma,Afghanistan have in common? I know you are going to say suffering or people died. but for now, let's stick to "PEOPLE ARE AWARE OF THEM'.

Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are now in the digital age. We have internet, digital cameras,phones with inbuilt cameras and wireless internet, tape recorders,video-cams,e-mail and cellphones.
If Darfur, the war in Iraq happened decades ago, I'm not sure we were all going to know about them and even if we were aware of their existence, very little devices and technology means very little information.
Does the Sudanese government really think people are not going to see pictures of the plight of Darfurians? No way. I can travel to Darfur and take a picture with my cellphone and send it via bluetooth to my friend who can plug in his cellphone usb to his laptop and email it to his friends abroad or even post it to an online discussion board, blog or website.
It's not only communication, even getting there is relatively easy now.
Planes are available to take you to Bora Bora if you want. Cellphones are available so you can make international phone calls to your friends , editors and family in different parts of the world and reveal the situation you are dealing with.
You can have a conversation with a rebel or leader and record it so that the whole world can listen to them.
You can take pictures or make documentaries to spread awareness about security problems, sufferings or even hopeful situations.
You can, you can because it's the 21st century and we've come a long way baby!

How is this related to dictatorships kizzie?

In case you haven't noticed, many if not all dictatorships isolate and alienate their people from the rest of the world. They don't want them to know whats going on in other countries and they don't want the world to know whats going on in their countries!
I remember in the 1990's, during one of the most oppressive years of the dictatorial regime of the national "salvation" government, you weren't allowed to watch any another channel except Sudan TV(yes no dishes allowed!), some people had other channels because they smuggled receivers into the country but you had to keep it quite.
It was very important to avoid being exposed because dictators know their regimes are oppressive, hated and that the international community might take some serious action. That's why they sweet-talk the world, they don't allow any leakage of information or any foreign journalists inside their country. They impose severe censorship, block Internet sites and spread ignorance (ignorance makes you submissive and helpless, education enlightens and makes your voice heard, it truly frees the mind).
Since new technology was introduced , it was getting harder and harder for dictators to keep a secret.
Did Mugabe think the situation in Zimbabwe will not be exposed to the world?
There are blogs, pictures and stories all over the Internet and newspapers.

ok, back to the real world. Technology is not going to end dictatorships but alt east the world will know how people ruled by oppressive dictatorships live and survive. It helps spread awareness and ma bye..just ma bye someone somewhere is going to decide to take action.
As I'm writing this Nicholas Kristoff (NY times journalist who did alot to spread awareness about Darfur) and Samantha power( who convinced Obama to visit Darfur) and Riverbend(courageous Iraqi blogger) come to mind.