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.