Exploring Sudan

Sunday afternoon we returned from a two week trip to Sudan; hence the break in our blog entries We spent our time there visiting Sudanese friends and trying to get a sense of what life is like for them--and others--there.



In terms of size, Sudan is the largest country in Africa, and according to the United Nations has a population of around 35 million. The Nile River flows through the capital city--Khartoum--which has a population of around 6 million (bigger than the entire population of Jordan).



In terms of religion, Sudan is about 70 percent Muslim, 25 percent various indigenous beliefs and 5 percent Christian. Although just 40 percent of Sudanese are Arabs, Arabic is the official language of the country, although 134 tribal languages are spoken, along with over 400 dialects. The northern region of Sudan is mostly Arab and Muslim, while the south is mostly populated by the various tribal groups who practice the indigenous religions or Christianity.



Sudan struggled through 21 years of civil war between the north and the south, although a peace agreement was signed in 2005. Of course, there is now war in the Darfur region in the west of the country--populated entirely by Muslims--which has gone on for about five years now. The people of Sudan have suffered a lot during these wars. It is estimated that over 2 million people died during the civil war, with 4 million displaced--including 500,000 who fled the country. Currently in Darfur, it is estimated that approximately 300,000 people have died, with over 2 million displaced from their homes. We spent all of our two weeks in the Khartoum area, where the only sign of all this fighting are the people who have moved there to escape it. However short our time and the little we saw of Sudan we are very grateful for the time we had to visit. We hope to share with you some of our experiences over the next few days and we will post more pictures from our time there as well!