Sudan, Land of Welcoming Hands

 

When my husband and I were planning our world trip, Sudan was not part of the itinerary. Visiting this country was an amazing surprise as Sudanese people treated us with the greatest kindness we have experienced during our travels. We were hesitant to visit Sudan due to issues of safety and political instability, but we considered the idea of traveling there after our first contact with a Sudanese student while traveling in India.

Our encounter with Mohammed was brief and unforgettable. We shared a rickshaw and a conversation in Mumbai during a short ride to the train station. Mohammed talked to us about his master studies in India and we told him about our honeymoon around the world. He was excited to meet us and encouraged us to visit Sudan, reassuring us that his country was safe and worth seeing. We asked him if the country situation was safe enough to travel by land and he insisted it was. For the first time, the thought of going to Sudan was a possibility.

We exchanged emails with the hope of keeping in contact. At the end of the ride, Mohammed insisted on paying the cost of the rickshaw and refused to take money from us. We were surprised and deeply touched by his gesture. Although we had just met, he was treating us with great kindness and generosity. We felt Mohammed was one of a kind and meeting him inspired us to visit his country. Thanks to him we made it to Sudan and discovered that his kindness is a national philosophy and a very special part of their culture. Sudanese people are as generous and welcoming as Mohammed was with us since the beginning. Once in Sudan, we continued running into the same luck as our first encounter with Mohammed in Mumbai. In many ways, Sudanese people were always wonderful and caring towards us. Sudanese hospitality exceeded all western individualist expectations and standards of courtesy.

One cannot believe this type of endless kindness existed until you visit Sudan. We have many beautiful memories of our days there, but just to help you get an idea of how amazing Sudanese people are, let me describe a few of their interactions: Immigration officers said “Welcome to Sudan” with a huge smile while checking our passports; a passenger traveling in the same bus bought us bottles of cold water on the way to Khartoum; a restaurant owner said hello and placed an extra fish on our table as a gift while we were having lunch; government employees at the office of tourism invited us to drink tea after completing our photography permit; a woman traveling in the same bus paid for our ride without us even knowing; and a taxi driver told us where to take a bus after we explained to him that our budget was not enough to pay for his services. The list of these encounters could continue.

During our days in Sudan, the magic of these memorable human interactions were constantly repeated! Only one thing made us sad while we were in Sudan: the bureaucracy and extreme governmental control. We had to obtain a visa to enter the country and within three days of arrival, all foreigners must complete a lengthy and expensive registration process in Khartoum. According to the locals, the reason behind this requirement and where the funds go remain unknown. Furthermore, all tourists must be issued a photography permit and even if you have it, photography is highly restricted by the government not only for tourists, but for locals too.

It was frustrating for us to deal with the system in Sudan, because we had to spend many hours of our time complying with their procedures. We could then imagine how powerless Sudanese people may feel in their own country having to deal with so much governmental control day after day. Some Sudanese we talked with about this issue referred to feeling like prisoners in their own country because the government also places high restrictions for them to travel abroad. They feel freedom does not exist in Sudan and wish for a change. We wish better political leaders would rise to represent the interest of this amazing community. We left Sudan feeling great admiration for the capacity of the Sudanese people to be friendly and positive towards others regardless of all the challenges and frustrations they face.

We are grateful for having experienced Islamic culture and hospitality, in a very different way to the one portrayed so often in the media. Regardless of how different we look and dress, people in Sudan always made us feel welcome. We truly hope others around the world could visit this amazing country to feel inspired by their kindness.

Thank you for reading and commenting. Please enter the Gratitude Travel Writing competition and tell your story.

Gratitude Travel Writing Contest

We hope you enjoyed this entry in the We Said Go Travel Gratitude Writing Contest. Please visit this page to learn more and participate. Thank you for reading the article and please leave a comment below.

12 responses to “Sudan, Land of Welcoming Hands

  1. Gracias, Por hacernos soรฑar en mundos posibles, donde la generosidad y buen trato, hermanan con Sudan.

    Thank you for making us dream possible worlds, where the generosity and good treatment, twinned with Sudan.

  2. Quรฉ lindo artรญculo, dan ganas de conocer Sudan ๐Ÿ™‚

    How nice article , they try to meet Sudan
    Jessica

  3. I enjoyed you insightful and well written post, Maria Gisela. You’re a tremendous cultural observer and world traveler. Saludos desde RHC. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

We Said Go Travel