My trip to Washington D.C and Florida (August 2008)

It has been three years since I left Gaza and the sanctions against it continue to prevent me from going back home to Rafah. It was late July when I decided to spend my annual leave. My dream was to spend my vacation back home with my family and friends but I had no hope that the borders will be opened anytime soon. Therefore, I thought if I can not make it home, at least I might make it back to my “home away from home”. It was a blessing that I was able to get a visa to US, and I decided to go to D.C and Florida.

It was an eighteen hour flight from Khartoum to get to Washington D.C. The flight was so long for me, not because of the long time it took, but because I was looking so forward to getting there after one year of being gone. Finally I got to the National Airport in D.C, and I took the metro to the centre of the city where everything looked familiar to me. I had a feeling that I have never left there. I felt that I was a way only for one week or so, it was a very nice feeling though.

I am not a tourist in D.C, as I lived there for about two years and have already been to most of the tourist places in the city. The first thing I wanted to do, after I woke up the next morning and had my breakfast, was to go to school. American University is my home; it was the place where I learnt new things, found friends and had a great time. It was my academic and social life. I took the bus and went to school; it was a great feeling to walk in the quad again and to meet my professors, supervisors and friends again. I did this for two weeks; I spent most of my time in meeting friends. I also celebrated my birthday in D.C. with some of my best friends. It was so nice and I had a good time. The only tourist place I have been to in DC was the Capitol. Oh, and I finally had Mexican food, which I missed so much.

After two weeks in D.C, I flew to Orlando, FL for a week. I have been to Cocoa Beach, NASA and Disney Land. Cocoa Beach was a relaxing place, where I enjoyed swimming in the ocean and watching the lightning. I did many enjoyable things: went on a kayaking tour in the lagoon, watched manatees and jet skied.

At NASA, I was really impressed by the highly advanced aeronautic technology of the USA. I actually learned a lot. My trip there put a new lens on my eyes to see the entire globe, and to see how we are only small part of the whole solar system. It was great to see REAL rockets which had been to the moon, and how the launching process takes place from earth to the International Space Station. I also have been to the point of launching the rockets. I also got to do the simulation of the space shuttle launch.

Disney Land was amazing. Starting from the Magic Kingdom building, passing through different exhibitions of nice articulated arts, you feel the whole city is a toy. After waiting for an hour, I managed to take a photo with Mickey Mouse. I liked the adventure land and “It’s a Small World.” I also liked how everything in the kingdom reflects the place in that everything there tells you that you are in Magic Kingdom like the cups, napkins, ice cream, etc.

At the very last day of my trip in Orlando, I just soaked myself in the swimming pool and the hot tub. I just needed time to relax before my eighteen hour flight back to Khartoum. My visit to the US was so relaxing and enjoyable.

My trip to Indonesia- March 2008

I have been to Indonesia for my leave where I spent one week. I have been to Banda Ache, Sapung Island and Jakarta.

There are more than 1200 islands in Indonesia. Banda Ache is located in the Northern angle of the island of Sumatra, which is considered as the largest island in Indonesia and the sixth largest island in the world. Ache has been hit by Tsunami, 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, which was a massive disaster to the whole area. About 170,000 Indonesians were killed, and more than 500.000 became homeless. You can realize the massiveness of the earthquake when you see a big boat over a house in the middle of the city and when you see a huge power station which was based in the ocean and the waves kicked it out 5 km from its base, and now it is in the city. Tsunami earthquake made the biggest catastrophe in the world.

Banda Ache is still recovering from Tsunami, and you can see it in the eyes of its people. Everyone you meet has a story to tell; some has lost members of their family and others lost relatives. Two months a go, the alarms on the beach turned off for some reason, and the people got very scared and got started running towards the city thinking it is a second Tsunami. I could not understand how the people feel when they see the remains of Tsunami every morning.

I went to Sapung island, which is few kilometers a way from Ache. I had a feeling that I am in Hawaii. The view is amazing; coconut trees and many hammocks are all over the beach. It is a real place for relaxing and having fun. There are little wood houses built over the ocean with little hammocks in the terrace of each room with an ocean view. It is just terrific.

In Ache, I hanged around the city, thanks to my dear friend Gavi whom I know from Washington D.C, I went to the market, rice farms and rode an elephant, which was a lot of fun. I felt that the people in Ache have good hearts, and always smile. They always ask about my nationality, and I was impressed how acknowledged they are about my home. The majority of the people there are Muslims, and that could be the reason. Further, Ache is recognized as Shariia Law area, every woman has to cover her hair as part of the law. No Alcohols are allowed in the province. The most interesting things I experienced in Ache are the grilled fish, avocado juice and the SPA of course. Literally, I had fish every day.

After five days in Ache and Sapung island I flew back to Jakarta. I spent two days with three old friends of mine (Eli, Katrina and Evim) whom I met in Japan in 2001. You came to realize how small this world is when people meet again after a long time. We all together had a wonderful grilled fish dinner “again” over the ocean. Jakarta is a beautiful city and I was really impressed by the high architectural design of the houses, building and the hotel. Globalization is part of the city, you see Starbucks, MacDonald’s, pizza hut..etc everywhere.

It was a magnificent time, and I strongly recommend it for vacations.

My trip to Darfur- February 2008

I have been to Darfur last February for three days to supervise our activities there. I was very excited to go, because I want to experience work conditions in Darfur. Our radio program “Salam Ila Darfur-Peace to Darfur” is one of our main projects in Sudan. We produce a radio program for the Internal Displacement People, IDPs and their host communities. We provide health and educational information through the radio that helps the IPDs to sustain their lives in the camps.

It was a two hour flight from Khartoum to get to the Southern State of Darfur “Nyala” through a WFP flight. Two of our staff has been waiting at the airport, then picked me up to the hotel. The hotel is in the center of the city and very simple with basic services. After a two hour rest, I hanged around Nyala with my colleagues. I did not feel scared at all, because it was very safe, as most of the fights were outside the city then.

I received a warm welcoming. People usually shake hands several times as a sign of more respect. I was very impressed by the hospitality of people; I have been to several restaurants and juice shops where they did not charge me for anything because I am a new guest to the city. The people are very simple with good hearts.

Goats are the main source of the economy in Darfur. Therefore, the lamb is very cheap; you can find many simple restaurants along the street for lamb barbecue. You can get a very good meal for about $5 and a cup of fresh warm milk for less than $1. Other delicious homemade food in Darfur are date’s caster, rice and milk.

The visit was very important as it was the first time to meat the whole of our staff face to face. I want to admit that it is hard to manage a project in distance whilst you don’t meet your staff. The meeting was very productive as it based for building bridges of confidence between me and the staff. I got to know them closely, and I opened the door for direct communications. The value of the visit/meeting showed its result later.

I was planning to stay for a week at least in Nyala, but some urgent issue took place led me to cut my visit and to return back to Khartoum without being able to go to the camps.

I really liked it there, and planning to go there again soon.