Monday, June 30, 2008

Milestones

So guess who is Sudan's latest best driver? That's right. I drove - and standard too - in Sudan all day today in a rented car. No accidents, only a couple angry horns and, while close, I never ran out of gas! So next time I'm in Egypt, no one can tell me I'm not capable of driving! Actually, while there are few rules, it is not hard to drive here. The big roads are paved and wide, and there are not that many cars. There are some traffic lights, and where there aren't, everyone just kind of moves towards the same space until someone slows down and someone takes the lead. I do have to learn to slow down though in those areas that are unpaved - it can be bumpy!

The second milestone is ... I ATE INTESTINES! Those same intestines I refused to eat in Senegal. I ate them here, by accident, without knowing - and the worst part is, THEY TASTED GOOD! I had some great Sudanese food the other day at a friend's house - eggplant sauce, yogurt sauce, meat and intestines, with bread. mmm....

Anyways, I'm off to northern Sudan in a couple hours (the bus leaves at 4 a.m. This should be interesting!) to a small village where I will apparently have electricity for one hour a day! I'm tired and overworked, I think. I've been running around like a crazy person this past week to the point that my last interview today was a complete disaster because I just didn't have the mental faculties left. So I think a slower pace of life will be good for a while. (Communities in the areaI am going to are afraid their ancient heritage will be wiped out and they themselves displaced when the government builds dams in the area).

Hopefully these villagers won't be too amazed at the sight of a microphone. Today the children in the neighbourhood I went to were so loud/in your face/curious/obstructive that I could not conduct a single interview properly as I was followed by a mob of sreaming children. This, after spending $50 on a car, $80 on a translator, waiting three days for permission to enter this site, and spending hours in the grueling sun. This is the life of a journalist in Sudan, I suppose!

5 comments:

Still Searching said...

If any of you guys reading this read this blog comment, check this out.. Ms Heba Aly's first article from Sudan was in the Globe and Mail yestearday http://ago.mobile.globeandmail.com/generated/archive/RTGAM/html/20080701/sudan01.html WoW!!!!

Salooly said...

ew! intestines. by the way pseudo-mom, the link didn't work. wow, you drove, i'm impressed! brave woman you are!

Still Searching said...

Let's try again
http://ago.mobile.globeandmail.com/generated/archive/RTGAM/html/20080701/sudan01.html

cut it and paste it. Salooly, in case you do not know, susages (the real ones at least) are also stuffed intestines.. scots have some apparently horrible tasting stuffed intestines for which one has to develop "acquired taste" to eat(hagus? I can't remember) .. if one is to think about the roigins of what we eat, we probably will all turn vegetarian.

J-Zeb said...

Nice work on Mr. Abdelraziks story Heba. You received 102 comments on the Globe and Mail site. Congrats. Thanks for sharing his story and working for a just cause. If we can get Brenda Martin out I am sure there must be some type of agreement that could be set between the Sudanese and Canadian government to hear his case. What do you think the next step should be in resolving this? Shouldnt someone from the foreign ministers office look into this? It would be so great if you can free him.
J-Zeb

Natasha said...

nice work on the intestines!
i won't even eat most of the meat here, let alone obscure body parts. congratulations.