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.

My first month in Khartoum

It has been a month since I have arrived Khartoum-Sudan, time flies. There are many things that I realized, felt and learnt from my stay here, and I would like to share it with you.

The weather is so hot here, even I arrived in the end of the summer (End of August), it is still very hot compared with Gaza and Washington D.C. I feel I was very lucky that I arrived at the end of the raining season; it gets a mess when it rains. Dust is everywhere; you feel you need to take a shower whenever you leave home.

Booming is taking off in Khartoum and life is super expensive. To me, it is more expensive than Washington D.C.

I have settled-down after I found a place to stay, I live in a three bed-room apartment, I live in the 8th floor, which has a lovely view over the city. I live just next to the airport, where I enjoy the taking-off and landing of the airplanes. I found a difficulty to find an apartment, because there is no ‘craigslist’ where I can find an apartment. In order to find a place to stay, you have to depend on a broker, who shows you dirty houses, and then he asks for one month rent.

About my job, actually I like it; I am doing team management, financial management, writing proposals and contacting donors. I also participated in the UN 2008 work plan for Sudan, which is interesting. I attend meeting with other international organizations about procedures need to be taken as a response for different circumstances.















My office is quite big; it is in the downtown and not far from the state castle. There are three people in Khartoum office; me, my boss who is British, and another administrative assistance who is Sudanese. We have a team of about 20 people based in Darfur, and they are divided into research and production teams. The nature of our work is broadcasting educational radio programs for Darfur people, we discuss issues based on the needs of the people such as nutrition, flood preparedness, safety, livelihood, malaria, cholera and water and sanitation. We also have drama programs for children. Each program is designed based on a messaging brief which has detailed information about the topic we are discussing.

I have involved smoothly in the work. I started the first two weeks learning, and listening, with little involvement in decision making or giving instruction. In the later weeks I found myself involved in the actual work. I try to guide the team in Darfur little by little, because I don’t want them to feel that I am coming to make a change in the way they work. I am trying to set an administrative system, which will facilitate our work. My boss is very happy that I joined the team, because she trusted my knowledge and experience of how to do thing ( related to our work), and she is delegating me with more tasks.

















NGOs do not work freely in Sudan, because there are so many restrictions from the government. They chase everything NGOs are doing in Sudan. You need to get a visa to get into the country, you need a visa to leave the country, you need to get a visa to get out of Khartou, and you need a permission to go to Darfur. Getting a registration for any NGO is a headache in Sudan, you face severe bureaucracy, procrastination and delays in all treatments. Oppps, you also need a permission to take photos, even in the streets, markets or where ever. Of course, journalist can never get a visa to go to Darfur, and it is so hard for a journalist to get a visa to Sudan in general.

People in Sudan are very laid-back, and they don’t have great value for time. Sudanese people are generous and very kind as well.

In the morning, you find many people sitting on small chairs in the main streets drinking tea and/or reading news papers. The main meal is the breakfast, which is usually between 10.00 am and noon. The majority of the people have beans with cheese and eggs (fool) for breakfast.

Sudanese people are deeply religious; when it is a time for prayer you see a group of people get together and pray in the street, in the office…everywhere. You can hardly see any girl without a scarf. You are not allowed to bring any kind of alcohol with you to the country, if it is found in your luggage in the airport, it might cause some troubles to you, because the government considers it as an Islamic state.
















Identity is an issue in Sudan, because you can’t identify the Sudanese whether they are Arabs or Africans. Actually it depends on the location. People in the North identify themselves as Arabs, while people in the south identify themselves as Africans.
Nancy is a Sudanese Christian, who is the first Christian I met. Nancy works as a broker, and she is helping us finding a new place for our office. Nancy says that Sudanese do not identify her as 100% Sudanese, because her ancestors were Egyptians. When she goes to Egypt, Egyptians identify her as pure Sudanese. Sudanese hate Egyptians, because Egypt occupied Sudan in (1821-1885), and Sudanese still feel Egyptians as colonizers.
Whenever I am asked about my nationality, they look to me in a suspicious way, thinking I am Egyptian, and when I say that I am Palestinian, then their language, way of looking and attitude change positively, and I feel warm welcoming.

Darfur is an absent issue, people here, at least in Khartoum, hardly talk about Darfur, you can never hear anything about the war in the local T.V or radio. I think the International community is more concern about Darfur issue than the Sudanese themselves.

It is the first week of Ramadn here, and I feel it is real fasting here, where you experience patience. You can learn patience in Sudan in Ramadan because it is hot.

Mohammed Abu Asaker