Darfur Survival Campaign

Sudan Journal

Culturally Taboo

Day 9: Friday, July 21
40 degrees today – very hot. It's difficult to stay outdoors for long and most people are taking a well-deserved day of rest. Museums and shops are closed for the most part, so I take the morning to gather notes, pack and re-group.  

In the afternoon Nagib comes to pick me up.We embark on a driving tour of Khartoum and pass by areas marked by huge ministry buidings.  Construction is everywhere. Nagib drives by enormous new huge houses going up in certain neighborhoods, mostly for those who have become rich during the rule of the current regime. Some of the mansions are massive.

During the car ride we discuss some of the culturally taboo issues that have come up in the course of the training and in conversations with Ministry of Health officials. Due to discussions of sexual violence in Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan, the subjects of marital rape and prostitution have been raised in various forums. One health official, furious that at an international meeting on Sudan, a European NGO official had raised the issue of prostitution and AIDS prevention had fumed that westerners did not respect other cultures. Of course there are no prostitutes in Sudan according to official pronouncements, and furthermore, how could one even imagine a concept of marital rape here in this country?  "Here in our culture, the bedroom is sacred", one health official  said. A woman's duty is to serve her husband and there is no discussion of these issues outside of the privacy of the home.  Later, various Sudanese doctors I speak with, including one on the flight home, note that of course there is prostitution and homosexuality and wife abuse in Sudan, as there is everywhere. Everyone knows about it, but it cannot be discussed publicly.