Do I belong here? Part two

Do I belong here?

Part Two

“Wake up son it is time to go back home; if your father wasn’t tired and has to carry all the harvest, he would have piggybacked you to the green shore of your mother’s house “.

Do I belong here? – Part one

Do I belong here?

Part one

My name is Ali Ismail. I was born and bred in a small village called Ain-Girfa, in the western part if Sudan. To be precise in north the region Darfur. I am Sudanese, yes I am Sudanese. We will get back to the repetition of the last sentence/statement. My Father, Ismail Adam, was a friend, a mentor, and an open minded person. He worked all day in his small farm in our village, with only one break at mid day, were he meets my mum for a quick picnic, I used to call it a romantic get together! They were a perfect couple, my mum and dad, because they married was a result of a deep love and admiration, challenge, struggle and thrive. I am not telling my story in the chronological order, I am following my thoughts, mood and emotions for the headlines, and the big Mo (momentum) to tie strings together.

Movie: Khartoum

Movie: Khartoum

“After declaring a holy war to rid the Sudan of Anglo-Egyptian rule in the 1880s, the fanatical Sudanese leader Muhammad Ahmad (Laurence Olivier) massacres a British-led force of 8,000 and marches on the strategic city of Khartoum at the confluence of the Blue Nile and the White Nile. The British government of Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone (Ralph Richardson) then sends one of its greatest generals, Charles George Gordon (Charlton Heston), to Khartoum to make peace and save the city. Gordon had previously served with distinction in the Crimea, China, India and South Africa. Most important, he had also served as governor of the Sudan in the late 1870s at the request of the khedive of Egypt, instituting administrative reforms, reducing the slave trade and bolstering the economy. However, before Gordon reaches Khartoum with his aide, many of his former Sudanese friends defect to the Mahdi.

Nevertheless, Gordon receives a rousing reception when he arrives in the city in February 1884. Heartened, he meets in the desert with the Mahdi to try to forge a peace agreement, but the Arab leader tells Gordon he is bent on taking Khartoum. What’s more, he means to conquer other cities — Cairo, Mecca, Baghdad and Constantinople — to establish a vast empire under his leadership. Convinced that more war is inevitable, Gordon and the loyal Egyptian troops under his command prepare for battle. Meanwhile, in London, the Gladstone government is reluctant to dispatch troops to support the outnumbered Khartoum forces because colonial meddling has become bad politics. To forestall disaster, Gordon diverts the Nile to create a moat around Khartoum and leads a foray in which he steals cattle from the Mahdi’s herd to supply the besieged city with food. But when the Nile recedes, the stage is set for the final battle that will decide the fate of Khartoum”. IMDB

It is a chance to see the interactions between the colonial power, Mahdi and his people, slave trader Alzubeir wad Rahama, and many more. Of course it is some what bias toward the idea of the colonialists been the saviors and the only path to the righteousness is though them, and the people of the land who were revolting against those exploiters were been described as Daraweesh.

However it is worth a watch. The section about the slave trader Alzubeir wad Rahama is rather interesting. It describes an important part of our history that was brushed by a broom under the carpet by the writers of Sudan history. Those bunch of elites were very selective when it came to what to include in the history books. Their pens must have gone dry fast when they come to mention horrific crimes such as slavery, slave traders and the notion racism.

This film needs to be watch in a similar way when one sees at an abstract piece of art. Look behind the blurred lines to arrive to some missing pieces from the History of our beloved Sudan.

Osama

يوميات قاطن معسكر ٢٦

يوميات قاطن معسكر

(٢٦)

كبر هم عثمان إسماعيل آدم، وهو يستيقظ الصباح على صوت أخته نسيبة تتأوه في الصباح الباكر، ففي الماضي القريب كان واجبه يقتصر على العمل في المنظمة الإنسانية ومن ثم جلب المال لأهل بيته، أما باقي الإحتياجات كأخذ المريض لمستوصف المعسكر، وحل المشاكل، ومواساة الحزين لم تكن في قاموسه، ليس لانه إنسان أناني أو غير مبالي بالناس، ولكن لان الظروف في السابق جعلته الرابع في صف المسؤولية بعد والده وأخويه علي وأحمد. بغياب هؤلاء أصبح هو في المقدمة دون تجهيز او تدريب لهذا الدور الجديد، فالتوقعات كبيرة رغم ضنك الحال، والمقارنة آخذة جزء كبير في تفكيره، فهو من النوع الذي يحاول قراءة ما يدور في عقل الآخر تجاهه، وفي غالب الأحيان يصرف الكثير من الجهد في الوصول إلي ذلك. حاول خلال هذه الفترة إكتساب بعض الطباع التي كانت متوفرة لدى مُلهميه الغائبين من الأُسرة.

ليليات ود عاصمة – ثلاثة

ليليّات ود عاصِمة

ثلاثة 

 

“حمد الله على السلامة يا حاج، والله مشتاقين”.  كانت جملة علاء وهو يحضن والده للمرّة الثانية خارج مطار الخرطوم. بعد ذلك إلتفت إلى زوجة والده سوزان وتجاذب معها أطراف الحديث عن بريطانيا والطقس هذه الأيام، فالطقس من المواضيع التي يكثر تداولها بين الناس في بريطانيا ويعتبر مدخلاً لكسر حاجز الصمت بين الغرباء وحتى المعارف في بعض الأحيان. لم تكن هذه المرّة الأولى التي تزور فيها سوزان السودان. المرّة الأولى كانت قبل ثلاث عشرة عام عندما كان أبناءها في سن الطفولة وقضوا فترة أسبوع، تمكنت من خلالها مقابلة معظم أهل زوجها عوض تلودي، والتنقل بين الخرطوم ٢ وأمدرمان بيت المال. عوض يمتلك منزل في الخرطوم ٢ بالقرب من مكتبة الاوركيدة، عندما قرر السفر والاستقرار في لندن قام بإيجار البيت للسفارة البيلاروسية، ومازالوا فيها حتى لحظة وصوله السودان.