The International Tourism & Marketing Fair -Sudan

It appears that Sudan is finally serious to boost Tourism. The International Tourism and Marketing Fair is an indication. This exhibition is being organized by the Ministry of Tourism, Antiquities & Wildlife. Venue: Burri Fair Ground 8-12 April 2013. You get to meet Travel and Tour Companies, Hotels, Airlines, Embassies of Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt, Sri Lanka and India. You will also find a booth of Ministry of Petroleum and of course of Ministry of Tourism, Antiquities & Wildlife. Sudan can be inspired by its neighbor Egypt for developing Tourism . Sudan has similar landscapes and antiquities like Egypt. Additionally Sudan has wildlife. A travel professional said to me “ Now that the war has stopped  they expect the wildlife to come back to Dinder”. InshAllah !!!

Indian Ambassador Meets President Al Bashir

On 20th March 2013, the Ambassador of India in Sudan, His Excellency Sanjay Kumar Verma presented his Letter of Credence to Hon'ble President of the Republic of the Sudan H.E. Field Marshal Omar Hassan Al Bashir. Presenting the Credentials by the new Ambassador to Sudan's Head of State is an important official ceremony. The protocol associated with the ceremony carries immense significance both symbolically and substantively. We look forward to further strengthening of the diplomatic alliance between India and Sudan. Ambassador Verma is also seen here in the picture while inspecting the Guard of Honour just before meeting the President. Inspecting a Guard of Honour is a mark of respect of the highest order.

Dr.Anil Kumar re-elected President of Indian Community

The first Indian merchant who arrived in Suakin in 1856 was Lavchand Amarchand Batavia (Shah). It is said that he had sailed from Aden in Yemen to Massawa in Eritrea and then to Suakin. Just before reaching Suakin the boat had capsized and Lavchand somehow managed to reach the shores of Suakin in a wooden barrel. It was almost like ‘burning the boats behind’ and there was no looking back for him. He started business by getting commodities like sugar, tea, coffee, textiles and Indian perfumes such as sandal wood from Aden. Later when his business grew he called his brothers from India. This was the beginning of the Indian community in Sudan.

The Indian Community in Omdurman is a large community of Sudanese nationals of Indian origin. Most of them have their origin either in   Rajkot or Porbander the place of birth of Mahatma Gandhi. There are members of the same Indian community also in Kassala, Port Sudan and Wad Madani. The total strength of the community is around 1800.

Dr.Anil Kumar Mithani has been re-elected as the President of the Indian Community in Omdurman for the third term. Each term is for two years. Dr.Anil is a renowned Urologist. In fact, he has been elected as the Treasury Secretary of the Sudanese Urological Association.  When asked, Dr.Anil said that there is no change in the committee of the Indian Community with Shirish Kamdar as Vice President, Nilein Kamani as Secretary General and Sumesh Kamdar as Treasurer.

There is a positive in every problem

Fahmi Iskander

If you are absolutely sure that the Sun will shine tomorrow, certain that if you jump in water you will get wet, doubtless about mother’s love for her child, then you can be confirmed that there is something positive in every single problem that you face. Link it with some music in your life and the habit of being on time everywhere, your life will be good and happy. This was the ‘take-home’ message from Fahmi Iskander’s TEDx talk in Khartoum on Positive Thinking on Saturday, April 28^th, 2012.Why do you drink or eat? asked Fahmi…’To Live’ and why do you think positive?  ‘To Stay Alive’. There is a difference between being alive and living… When do you breathe? We breathe all the time. Likewise think positive all the time. There is always something positive with every problem.

Fahmi spent his teenage years in Khartoum in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Those were difficult and tough times in the country. There was lack of fuel, gas, diesel, milk and bread. People made long queues for these essential commodities. But Fahmi found some fun in all these problems. His friend used to call him in the wee hours of the morning at 2 am and inform him that bread is available in a particular bakery in Khartoum North. He used to rush there with enthusiasm, keep a brick to reserve a place in the queue with friends and have fun. Even as a teen his father used to hand over the car keys to look for fuel. Fahmi always welcomed this opportunity and even thought scarcity of fuel was a good thing for he got the car keys.

Fahmi was hot tempered and used to get into fights whenever people called him a ‘Halibi’ meaning Whitey, Cracker, Lobster as the English say or Gringo as the Latin. He just couldn’t accept people teasing him with this name. He used to land up at the police station very often after getting into fights. Later on in mid-teens Fahmi became dangerous when he started building his body and play basketball and football. He was now capable of breaking someone’s nose, jaws and ribs in fights. His parents thus decided to send him off to England for studies. He saw the positive in this move to a new country, new culture and good education.

Twenty years later, on 2^nd May 2005, when he was in London he was struck with a tragedy. His Dad’s cousin telephoned him from Khartoum. At first the man did not know how to reveal the sad news. Later he told him that Fahmi’s father was killed in a road accident. What? said Fahmi. “Does my mother know this?” The reply was that his mother too was killed with his father in the same accident.”What about my sister?” She too was in the same car but is in the ICU. “Is she dead?” asked Fahmi. His Dad’s cousin replied “No”.

Yes that was the positive element Fahmi found in the family disaster. Fahmi thanked God that all three of them had not gone. One was still alive. Fahmi consoled himself saying that one day or the other we all have to go. His father and mother loved each other so much. They were no more but gone for their “wedding in heaven”.

Fahmi returned to Khartoum for good and sent his sixteen year old sister to England for her studies. She is doing fine and finishing her Master’s in Plymouth. This is the positive in this tough tragedy.

Fahmi has always learnt from his experiences with people. He has found women to be more positive than men. He narrated one incident when he and his friend returned to his friend’s house next morning at 3 am. His friend’s wife started shouting at them but at the same time kept looking at the mirror and setting her hair. This is a positive outlook of trying to look good even while fighting. These only women can do. Fahmi says that if you ask women to choose between diamonds and a mirror, she will choose the latter. This is because when she looks at the mirror she sees all the diamonds she could want. She is the dream.

Men on the contrary are great ice breakers. They can extract the smile out of the most difficult faces especially Sudanese women. Men succeed in getting the profound human emotion out of somebody. This is the positive side of men.

In Sudan people are never on time. They keep their own time. If one starts being on time and makes it a habit of being punctual, one gets a positive feeling. If you are on time, you feel confident and positive.

Music is a positive element in life. People in Sudan are party people, ’Rabbah’ as is known in local parlance. We like to smile and smile spontaneously without much effort. This is part of our culture and spirit. We like to sing not shout, we dance not fight, we are not war people, and we are happy people.

Thus the link between being on time, love for music and positive thinking makes our life good and happy.

Salam Sulaiman

Hats off to the Indian Nursing staff both in Jarash Hospital as well as Doctor’s Clinic. One month in the ICU on Ventilator and yet no redness or bed sore in the patient. Mr.Sulaiman Parakkal Beerankutty, 55 years, was on a business visit from from Saudi Arabia and suffered a stroke. He was admitted in Jarash Hospital on 14^th Feb’13. Saathya Kirti and his ICU colleagues did a splendid job in nursing the patient who was diagnosed with Multiple Cerebral Infarction, Brain Stem Infarction and Aspiration (Asp) Pneumonia. Sulaiman was later shifted to Doctor’s Clinic on 28^th Feb’13 with a plan for further shifting to his work location in Saudi Arabia or his native town in Calicut,Kerala,India. They accomplished their mission on 13th March'13. Sulaiman was flown by Emirates accompanied by Dr.Khalid Abderkareem Mahmoud. He was on life support system in the flight. During the 4 hours stopover in Dubai the patient was hospitalized till he was flown to Calicut in the connecting flight. He is now in a hospital in Calicut, his native town with his family.Many thanks to Sijin, Markson Abraham, Preethy and above all Princy Muralidharan for their indomitable spirit and effort in saving the patient.

Kudos to Kerala Cultural Activity Centre (KCA) for their teamwork and networking in collecting SDG 78,000 for the patient. The patient also received SDG 20,000 from Sulaiman’s work base in Saudi Arabia. SDG 8800 was also received through the Embassy of India from the office of Mr. E. Ahamed Minister of State for External Affairs.Many thanks to Rajeev Karukayil President of KCA and Vijayan Nair active member of KCA and all the members of KCA and well wishers for their support.

Thanks to Dr.Anil Mithani, Dr.Ashraf AlFikri who helped beyond the call of duty to ensure that Sulaiman flew to his native town Calicut. We pray to the Almighty for Sulaiman's speedy recovery.

First Conference of Urologists in Sudan

This is the season for the annual conference of various associations of medical doctors. One trend which has been observed this year is that few specializations have branched out and held their conference for the first time.

Earlier we had seen Cardiologists holding an International Conference for the first time in Khartoum. Now we have had the Urologists for the first time having their conference.

The Khartoum State Health Minister Dr. Mamoun Homeida inaugurated the first academic conference of the Sudanese Urological Association. This was held at Friendship Hall from 1^st to 3^rd March’13. The pre-conference course was on Urodynamics and the post-conference workshops were on Retrograde Intrarenal Surgery; Reconstructive Urethral Surgery and Peadiatric Urology. There were five guest speakers from Egypt among them was Prof. Mohamed Eissa President of Pan-African Urology Association and President of the Egyptian Association of Urology, Prof.Turhan Kaskarulu President of the Turkish Endourology Society and Prof.Bana Gana from UK. The conference was attended by 250 Doctors from Sudan mainly Consultant Urologists, Post Graduates and allied specialties.

The speakers at the conference shared the advanced techniques and procedures in Urology. Moreover, it was heartening to see a galaxy of Senior Urologists being honoured by the Health Minister Dr.Mamoun Homeida, President of Association Prof. Faisal Ibrahim and Secretary General Dr.Nasr A/Mageed Ramadan. Among the recipients were pioneers in Urology and Kidney Transplant in this part of the world namely Late Prof.Omer Beleil and Late Prof. Osman Awadallah. 

Our Sudan

The story of a generation as told by Tarig Hilal has had a massive positive impact. This story was narrated by him at TEDxKhartoum with the theme of positive thinking. Tarig Hilal’s talk which was titled ‘Our Sudan’ is now a project under the same name to make a short film which will go a long way to inspire and encourage the young generation to think differently about themselves and about their future. Please visit in Facebook :  ttps://www.facebook.com/ProjectOURSUDAN?fref=ts

His story of ‘Our Sudan’ starts with a painting of a torn and faded picture of Old Sudan. His story is about a romance with the past, losses of his age and of hope for the future. It is about wide clean roads, tree line streets and open boulevards. About young men straight and proud ,  women wrapped in gold and finery. He is reminded of the early morning siren. Old men were seen on bicycles, cycling slowly through the town. Trains ran on time. This blogger here recalls having read that 50 years ago Sudan  had the biggest railway network in Africa with 5000 km of train tracks from Egypt to Darfur, to Port Sudan on Red Sea and till Wau which is now in South Sudan. Tarig Hilal spoke of the Coliseum, St.James and Jazz nights by the Nile. Greek stores which provided all imported goods. Weddings were held for forty days and nights. The same with funerals.  Khartoum University was in its glory days then. Exams were marked in London, students had their laundry done and cars were made in England. Sudan had lush green gardens and seasons which broke the heat. This was the Golden age with brave men and women who had fought for Independence and the generation that followed. Men who went to study in Paris, London, Moscow, and Budapest and came back refusing foreign passports and foreign jobs. Masters of the West, children of the East, product of the ‘Khelwa’ and the grandest schools of Europe. People fixed by visions of grandeur and sense of dignity. Men were full of passion and idealism. He looked at them with awe and envy. Awe because of their achievements and envy because they were simple and more passionate. Education was free and the Universities were of world class, secondary schools had good stock of books and standards were not negotiable.

The culture of today’s generation reveres the past. Old is better than new. Romance fired by vision who show them respect. But Tarig’s generation saw the world crumbling and was so different. Broken roads, shattered sidewalks, cracked walls, peeling paint, long queues for fuel and food. The Coliseum is now a centre for fights and only-heard-of St. James. Falling standards of the University. Weddings and funeral are now shorter in days. Buses tilting sideways with over capacity. This time they took the foreign jobs and passports in Europe, US and Asia. Some returned,  many of them did not. Gardens were turned to dust. Revolution happened to them not by them. They were not where they could be. The country was not where it should be.

 Look to the past with honesty he said. Respect the past.

Today’s tall buildings in the skyline have jagged edges with southernmost limits. China, Brazil challenges the new world order. Black man is the President of USA, internet has the power to connect us all. Golden age was not so golden. Today’s age is not so dark. They live in the world as it is. Today’s generation is to be proud too. So many more people are today in US,  Europe and Gulf. They make us stand tall.

Despite the challenges, civil society is active, young man who is a student drives a taxi, women have started community colleges, brother sacrifices his education so that his younger brother can go abroad to study. Many came back to Sudan to start business despite the risks. We must of course respect the past but not live in its shadows. Doctors, lawyers, academics, artists, politicians and  soldiers have returned to Sudan. Yesterday need not be better than tomorrow.

“Rather than lament what we have lost, let us take stock of what we have” said Tarig. It is still a great country,  a country of great promises. The country is rich in people, heritage, land and resources. Sudan had 39 million people, now 30 million remain . Among these numbers are Arabs, Africans, Christians, Muslims, Animists, Black, White and Brown.

It is a diversity bound by marriage and memories by faith and language, powered by roads and mobile phones, by trade and urbanization, cities in which for the first time all of Sudan can be seen, a land where great civilization flourished and died and grew again to tell the tales of tragedy and wisdom.

It is in Sudan, Middle East meets the African continent, White Nile meets Blue Nile, and Red Sea cuts its way and confluences with its vast land rich in resources like gold, uranium and hydro-power with an access to the sea and the wealth that lies beyond. But most of all it is about its people. People able and eager, desperate to build a better life. Where education is revered, knowledge is pursued and the young clamour to learn despite challenges. People willing to sacrifice for something greater than themselves. Here lies the possibility of redemption, an original sin acquitted, separation of the South is a payment on the road towards mutual dignity, prosperity and respect. This is the Sudan. Respect the past without being bound to it. Accept the present without succumbing to it. Build a future upon both. Build upon a future dream. A new dream. A dream of their generation. Future is not a matter what will be but what could be. It is a choice and it is for this generation to make.