Walking Together for Safe Motherhood

On Friday morning, 18^th February, hundreds of people walked together in Khartoum from Faculty of Medicine at Qasr Street, all along Jama Street to Hotel Burj El Fatih. This walk was organized by White Ribbon Alliance-Sudan with the support from Obstetrics and Gynaecologists Society of Sudan, Ahfad University, Salmmah Women’s Resource Centre and UNFPA. Dr. Nahid Toubia, Chair of White Ribbon Alliance –Sudan, a civil society initiative, said that the walk was organized to promote awareness and educate people about safe motherhood and reducing maternal mortality. Dr.Sami Mahmoud Abdel Khair Consultant Obstetrician shared that the Mortality Rate in Sudan is 1017 per 100,000 births, 750 in the North and 2150 in the South. The life time risk of death for a Sudanese woman is 1 /22 in the North and 1/7 in the South, in comparison to 1/10,000 in Europe. Bleeding just after delivery which is unpredictable is the most common cause for maternal mortality. Much more needs to be done for the training of mid-wives, nurses and doctors. Risk of maternal mortality increases with the number of child birth.

Stories of mothers saved have been collected by White Ribbon Alliance members in 60 communities across nearly 30 countries. Each one is a powerful and moving tale of a woman who survived childbirth- because her family, community, or health worker took urgent action to save her. You can become a member of White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood at www.whiteribbonalliance.org

Khartoum Structure Planner Shares the Plan

“There has been a thumping effort exerted in the last 17 years to improve the quality of life in Sudan but our international ranking is decreasing because the world is advancing in a ratio much greater than us” said Dr.Salah Eldin Mahmoud Osman, Executive Manager, Khartoum Structure Plan, Ministry of Physical Planning & Public Utilities of Khartoum State. Dr.Salah Eldin was speaking at Khartoum International Community School (popularly known as KICS).This was the second lecture at KICS Humanities Department Lecture Series 2009-10.

The first lecture of KICS Humanities Department Lecture Series 2009-10 was delivered by Sir Derek Plumbly earlier on 11 October and the subject was ‘The Comprehensive Peace Agreement- Problems and Prospects’. Sir Derek Pumbly the former British Ambassador is the Chairman of the Assessment and Evaluation Committee of the CPA.

‘Making Cities Work – Khartoum State’s New Structural Plan’ was the topic of the second lecture of the series held on Sunday, 8 November at 7:30 PM. Dr.Salah’s presentation  was structured in three parts namely a) ‘Where we are?’; b) ‘Definition of the problems?’ and  c) ‘Changing the Image of the City’.

Dr. Salah discussed the Human Development Indices of Sudan as compared to the other countries. The factors determining the Human Development Index as developed by UNDP are Life Expectancy; Education Index and GDP Index. These basically speak of the quality of life. Sudan is ranked 150 in Human Development Index with a value of 0.531; life expectancy at birth of 57.2 years ; adult literacy rate of 60.9%; and GDP per capita of $2,086 (Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2009). The human development index gives a more complete picture than income. The example of Vietnam was an interesting one because although the income level is low the human development index is high, a score better than Egypt and far better than Sudan. On the other hand Guinea had high income levels but low human development. The Human Development Index of Madagascar (0.54) is higher than Sudan (0.52) although the GDP Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) of Madagascar is much lower at $900 compared to that of Sudan at $ 2086.

Good quality education is the key factor to boost the Human Development Index. Dr.Salah added that Sudan was far behind in IT Strategy compared to countries like India and very low in scientific publications compared to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Morocco although the leading academicians in these Arab countries were Sudanese.

While defining the urban problems, Dr.Salah shared the statistics of Khartoum state which is 1% of Sudan in terms of area (22000sq.km) but hosts 32% of the population with 10.8 million people. Khartoum state hosts 90% of the industries in Sudan with 20% of the population in this 5000 sq.km expanse. The population density of Sudan is 9.8 persons per sq.km and only 3 persons per sq.km in n

Northern States, but 490 persons per sq.km in Khartoum and 1300 persons per sq.km in Greater Khartoum. “This demographic distribution is a problem” said Dr.Salah.

Other major challenges faced in Khartoum are continuous rural urban migration; urban governance; lack of urban recreation; un-utilized waterfronts; urban un-cleanliness; urban poverty; street children; poor quality of school infrastructure and education; urban transport and expansion of sprawl.

The greatest challenge is the methodology of planning amidst dearth of information and in involving public participation with a bottom up approach. The urban strategy is based on urban renewal, urban renovation and urban revitalization.

Eventually the objective of Khartoum Structure Plan is to change the image of the city. Did we know that Khartoum state has 180 forests? There is a plan to make Khartoum greener by replanting the forests with the help of Global Environmental Fund (GEF).

The plan is to clean Khartoum from slums and squatter by 2012 with a pro-poor policy of planning satellite villages and changing the physical appearances of houses with Stabilized Soil Blocks (SSBs) made out of mud and 2% cement. This is a cost effective technology and does not use firewood. A Kenyan professional has been imparting training in production of SSBs. SSBs are made from the surrounding soil and the block press machine costs $1000. The photographs of houses built with SSBs in Umbaddah, presented by Dr.Salah were very impressive.

Keeping Khartoum clean is vital in the plan. Khartoum generates 4000 tons of garbage every day requiring 1000m² of dumping ground daily. The composition of the garbage is 49% organic, 15% plastic and 35% others. In the renewable energy projects 49% organic waste and 10% soil can be used for fertilizers; 15% of plastic can be used for products and the residual waste can be used in Bioflame Technology to generate 2.5 MW of power from every 500 tons. This electricity generated will be equivalent to power generated by Sinnar Dam.

Most importantly the Flood Mitigation Strategy is also being worked upon by studying the logic of contour lines. Khartoum has 300km of waterfront. In order to change the image of the city there is a plan to replace the Government buildings in Nile Avenue with recreational facilities. Some Kuwaiti investment is already in place for hotels. There is a plan for two new picturesque bridges between Tuti - Omdurman and Tuti - Khartoum North. There are studies being done for trams and modern buses and transportation in river Nile. All these changes will make Khartoum a beautiful city. “To bring about this change in the image of Khartoum we need a major change in the mindset of the citizens and call for active participation in implementing the bottom up approach of Khartoum Structure Plan” said Dr.Salah Eldin Mahmoud Osman. 

ITEC Day in Khartoum

The abbreviation ITEC was elaborated upon on Wednesday 21 November’12. It was on this day the 48^th anniversary of Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation Programme (ITEC) Day was celebrated at the Indian Ambassador’s residence.

ITEC was instituted by the Government of India on 15 September 1964 as a bilateral programme of assistance. India has made substantial progress and gained useful experience in industrial and technological development after it regained its freedom in 1947. The ITEC programme of the Ministry of External Affairs was an earnest attempt by India to share the fruits of its socio-economic development and technological achievement with other developing countries. As a result of various activities under ITEC programme, there is now awareness among other countries about the competence of India as provider of technical know-how and expertise as well as training opportunities, consultancy services and feasibility studies.

There are 160 partner countries under the ITEC programme and more than 7500 scholars participate in this programme every year from different countries. There are 150 scholars from Sudan every year that are benefitted from various professional courses in India under ITEC.

Human Touch with a Sense of Humor

“The office is neither a prison nor a club” said Prof.Hassan Abbasher El Tayeb during his presentation to a packed audience at Hotel Salam Rotana on 28 October on the topic ‘The Human Side of the Organization’. The event was under the banner of British Council Management Forum, a platform for people to discuss the most challenging current issues in business and management with top international experts every month.

Professor Hassan Abbasher EL Tayeb has 25 years of experience in the areas of Management Development and Public Administration where he worked as Secretary General at the Arab Council for Childhood and Development in Cairo, and was the Advisor- Development Administration and Manpower Planning Ministry of Civil Service in Oman, State Minister for Development and Administration in Sudan, and currently is the President of Eltayeb for Management, Economic Consulting and Training. Professor Hassan has published 12 books and over 60 papers in the fields of Administrative Reform, Human Resources Development and Executive Leadership. 

Prof. Hassan emphasized on Systems in any organization for effective and efficient management.”Systems” he said “have Interdependence, interrelatedness, integration and high value and degree of coordination and cooperation to achieve the total goals”. He added that Systems learn and Systems have memory. Systems are run by the Human Side of the Organizations.

The Human Side of the Organizations is dependent on Effective Leadership which should be a model to influence the people. The characteristics that are found in effective leadership are Vision and Imagination; Tolerance; Positive Values; Commitment; Simplicity and Sense of Humor. An effective leader performs three functions: Homeostatic function- keeping things moving; Adaptive function- changing and bringing about change; Proactive function- thinking of the future. He stated that the Malaysian state head was asked about the three things he did which brought phenomenal growth of the nation. The state head replied that he did only one thing and that was to make people think of the future. Prof.Hassan sadly remarked that the people in Sudan have been thinking only of the past.

Talking further on leadership, Prof.Hassan drove home the point that an effective leader needed to practice all four styles of leadership namely Autocratic, Parental, Democratic and Lasses faire depending on the situation. He gave examples of office situations when there is a fire in the office, the leader needs to be autocratic in giving instructions to his people. When an earlier performer lags behind in performance the leader needs to be parental to understand the reasons. When a budget has to be prepared one needs to be democratic and call concerned people to work together. When systems go wrong one need to practice Lasses faire and detach oneself from the organization and review the situation for solutions.

Above all, Prof.Hassan emphasized on the HUMAN TOUCH in effective management  with his mnemonic – Hear (listen),Understand, Motivate, Acknowledge, News- congratulate one who make news, Train, Open his eyes by telling him when he is wrong, Uniqueness – make use of people’s  uniqueness, Contact- stay in touch with people, Honor- and treat them with honor.

Prof.Hassan had both substance and style in his presentation. His style was kinesthetic, moving, interacting and making the audience participate with activities. But his uniqueness was his sense of humor. His local Sudanese jokes from his experiences in life were much appreciated and received  great applause.

European Film Festival in Sudan 2009

 Twenty contemporary films from Europe were showcased in Khartoum.

It was a welcome festival for film lovers in Khartoum from 6-12 November’09.Three different venues and each screened a different film every day at 8 pm. One could achieve to see a maximum of seven films in that week. It was either open air lawn at the British Council or the terrace in Goethe Institut or Centre Culturel Francais.

The European Film Festival has its offices at Paris, Berlin and London. Each of these countries has their cultural centers in Khartoum. This festival was cooperation between ten European countries and the European Commission.

The opening of the festival was marked by a reception hosted by H.E. Mr. Jan Sadek the Ambassador of Sweden at his residence on 5^th November. Sweden holds the Presidency of European Union till 31^st December’09. While the invited guests were watching the trailers of the films projected on the wall and settling down, the James Bond signature tune was played. One was wondering what it was for. When the music stopped, Mr. Jan Sadek came under the spotlight to make his welcome speech. The people could immediately connect to the film festival.

The films shown were Slumdog Millionaire and The Damned United from UK; Krabat and Eye to Eye from Germany; Seraphine and Home from France; North and Troubled Water from Norway; Love is All and Storm Bound from Netherlands; Don’t Think About It and We Can Do That from Italy; Let the right one in and Kidz in da hood from Sweden; White Night and Fighter from Denmark; La flaqueza del Bolchevique and Cosas que nunca te dije from Spain; Late Bloomers and My name is Eugen from Switzerland.

The European Film Festival gave an opportunity to the film buffs in Khartoum to watch contemporary European culture and discuss the films.

It was interesting to hear the introduction given by respective Ambassadors or representatives from the Embassies before each film. The audiences appreciated all the films and gave a loud applause after each film. The most discussed films were Troubled Water from Norway and Late Bloomers from Switzerland for their techniques, acting and take home messages. Home from France was screened with no English subtitles but had an Arabic voice-over. This was an interesting documentary creating awareness about our endangered planet because of ecological disequilibrium and global warming. The question in the minds of the audience was whether the director Yann Arthus-Bertrand shot the whole film aboard an aircraft all throughout his journey around the planet.

If you have missed the festival you need not go to Europe. Make a trip to Juba from 7-11 December’09.

Exhibition on Astronomy in Green Yard, Khartoum

We think that we have understood the nature, composition and structure of the universe but this is only tip of the iceberg. Astronomy is incomprehensible and so complex that the research and findings on astronomy are endless. “Astronomy has revealed the great truth that the whole universe is bound together by one all pervading influence” said William Leitch. As we get deeper and deeper into the study of astronomy, it dawns on us how insignificant we are in comparison. But to enjoy the stars and the moon, you need not study astronomy. Numerous pieces of fiction have been created, based on astronomy and they are quite interesting. Stories that are based on real facts are all the more interesting because there is still on going research in astronomy.

If you want to know what astronomy is, visit Dr. Anwar’s exhibition on Space and Astronomy. The Minister of State for Science and Telecommunication Dr.Tahani Abdalla Atiya inaugurated this exhibition on 28 November’12 at Green Yard, Khartoum. She took a lot of interest on the subject and congratulated Dr. Anwar Ahmed Osman for his efforts in putting up this exhibition. On asking Dr.Anwar about the benefit of such exhibition, he replied that this was the first time such displays of space and astronomy had been staged in Sudan. He wants the children of Sudan to be aware about Outer Space. While exhibiting the Solar system, Dr. Anwar shared with the visitors, the differences between outer planets namely Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and the inner planets Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars stating that the former are huge, with smaller density, more gaseous, cooler, spin very slowly and have more moons than the inner planets which on the contrary are small, with higher density, more solid, more heat, spin very fast and have less number of moons. Jupiter, if put in water will float while the Earth will sink. Pluto is similar to planet but has lost the status of an ideal planet.

The Hubble Space Telescope is the earth’s eye of the vast expanse of space. Hubble is a telescope that orbits Earth. Its position above the atmosphere, which distorts and blocks the light that reaches our planet, gives it a view of the universe that typically far surpasses that of ground-based telescopes. Hubble is one of NASA's most successful and long-lasting science missions. It has beamed hundreds of thousands of images back to Earth, shedding light on many of the great mysteries of astronomy. Its gaze has helped determine the age of the universe, the identity of quasars, and the existence of dark energy.

 The Nebulas are where the stars are born. The stars have a life span, they are born and they die. Stars form out of clouds of stardust and to dust they return at the end of their lives. It is said that bigger stars protect the smaller stars. The life span of a star is about 10 billion years. Stars die and become black holes.

The last transit of Venus across the sun was on June 6, 2012. The next one is in 2117. The Solar Wind occurs once in 7-11 years and has an impact on earth. It affects the earth’s telecommunication, satellite navigation system, changes animal behavior particularly of bats and birds. The Magnetic field outside the earth somehow diverts the Solar Wind from becoming a major hazard to our planet.

Sultan Bin Salman Al Saud of KSA was the first Arab to be in outer space. The second Arab in space was Syrian Muhammed Ahmed Faris. More and more Arabs should take interest in astronomy and here is Dr.Anwar Ahmed Osman to create that interest in you. The exhibition at the Green Yard will be on for a couple of months. Dr. Anwar’s dream is to have a Planetarium in Khartoum and we are sure it will come true, InshAllah.

Sudan Vision lights the Ninth Candle with Me

We were born together and grew up together; Sudan Vision and I. Like Sudan Vision I have also stepped into my ninth year in Sudan. Like Sudan Vision I am also lighting my ninth candle in Sudan.

I distinctly remember the previous office and the previous managers of Sudan Vision. The newspaper today has new office premises and has colourfully improved its design and layout. Moreover, Sudan Vision has a website which is viewed internationally.

Sudan Vision has been kind to me from the very beginning. It has given me the opportunity to express my feelings and experiences in this country, which was unknown to me. I had an Indian perspective to everything around me. Right from day one when I landed at the Khartoum airport, I have witnessed the metamorphosis of Khartoum in these nine years. Be it with taxis, buses, restaurants, shops, malls, hotels, banks, cars, roads, weddings, schools, universities, hospitals, pharmacies, TV Channels, Cell phone service providers, couriers, all of these have increased in number and improved in quality.

Sudan Vision has also given me the opportunity to write and share about the activities of the Indian Community in Sudan. Our Independence Day or Republic Day celebrations at the Embassy of India; Onam Eid celebrations in Khartoum by Kerala Cultural Association; Navratri and Deepavali celebrations by the Omdurman Indian Community; Indian Trade Exhibition; Indian Dance and Orchestra group brought by the Indian Government and many other such community activities. All these articles have featured in Sudan Vision with colourful pictures.

It is unfortunate that today, the other daily Khartoum Monitor is no more in Khartoum. I wish them well and I do sincerely hope that Sudan Vision flourishes and prospers to greater heights in years to come.