8 Days (Answering the "Is it safe?" question)

Yesterday afternoon my oldest son, Brian, said, "So you're not excited to go to Africa." He's the barometer in the family always ready to shoot straight to the point and tell it like it is. After reading yesterday's post, I have to say I didn't exactly say I was or was not excited. I meant to dig a little deeper into the substance behind a question like, "Are you excited?" So let me pointedly answer the how are you feeling question: excited, yes, and also apprehensive, a little scared, curious, and a kind of sad to be leaving for a month.

A second question that hasn't exactly been squarely asked but lingers behind another one I've heard is, "Will it be safe?" The question that is frequently asked from behind raised eyebrows is, "What part of the Sudan will you be visiting?"

Most of the fighting in the news now is on the other side of the country in Darfur indicated by the large oval. I'll be in Yabus on the eastern side almost in Ethiopia. Phalice, my friend who runs the school, tells me she has never felt unsafe, but if an issue arose, they would evacuate into Ethiopia just a few miles walk.

I'm no expert, but in the little study I've done I have to tell you that Sudan has been torn by civil war for over twenty years. In July 2005 Omar al-Bashir formed a government of national unity as part of a deal to end Africa's longest-running civil war. The fighting has historically been between southern, non-Arab populations and the northern, Arab dominated government. When the British ran Sudan as a colony, they administered the northern and southern provinces separately. The south was more like the other east African colonies - Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda. The north was similar to Aribic speaking Egypt. However, in 1946 the British gave in to northern pressure to integrate the two areas. Arabic was made the language of administration in the south, and northerners began to hold positions there. The southern elite, trained in English, resented the change as they were kept out of their own government. After decolonization most power was given to the northern elites based in Khartoum causing unrest in the south. This fueled the first civil war that ran from 1955 - 1972.

Yabus was definitely affected by the fighting which was mostly in southern Sudan. Several hundred thousand women and children were enslaved and many more southern people were killed. Villages and land were destroyed. Now, years after the peace accord, people are slowly moving back to their villages. Yabus is one being re-inhabited, and the school is being salvaged from buildings that used to be the Blue Nile Academy.

If you're interested in more information, I've found good current articles on the BBC website.