Sudan
Sudan is the largest country in Africa. It forms a semiarid
transition zone between the Sahara to the north and the tropical
regions to the south. The northern part of Sudan is predominantly
scrublands and desert, gradually changing to grasslands and savanna
in the south. Sudan has a tropical, equatorial climate. Sudan shares
borders with eight nations, the largest being with Ethiopia on the
east (Geography of Sudan).
Khartoum is the capital, as well as the largest city, of Sudan.
The population of the country is estimated at 28 million. The
population density is about thirty people per square mile (eleven/sq.
km). Approximately 70% of the Sudanese people are Muslim,
predominantly Sunni, and reside in northern Sudan. Around 17% of the
people practice traditional religions, and the remainder are mostly
Christian. These people generally reside in the south. The official
language of Sudan is Arabic, though English is spoken widely, and
many African languages can be found in the south (Geography of
Sudan).
Flag of Sudan
Mary Mario*
Mary is a refugee from southern Sudan. She is 36 years old and is
the mother of four children ranging in ages from ten to two years.
She is fluent in Arabic, English, and her native language, Didinga,
which is also the name of her tribe. She says that Arabic influences
can be most strongly felt in the north, while British colonial
influences are found in the south, which is why she knew English well
before she came to the US. It also explains why English was the
language used when she attended college in Juba, Sudan, to study
community development.
Mary grew up in a small town in southern Sudan called Chuhudum.
Her father was a teacher in the school there, and was head of a large
family. Her mother passed away several years ago, and was one of a
number of wives. Mary is a Christian, as is most of her tribe. She
says her town was built by Catholic missionaries, and their
influence is still seen in the western style school, hospital, and
pubic administration offices. The homes remain in their native style,
as huts. She says that many traditional, non-Christian activities
still take place, because her people enjoy them and are a part of
their culture.
Mary gave some background to the conflict that was responsible for
her fleeing her home. War first broke out in 1955, before she was
born, when the British left the southern part of Sudan. At that time,
the south was supposed to rule itself, but the Arab-dominated
north wanted a unified Sudan. The war continued until 1972, when an
agreement was reached and Sudan remained one country. The issues
continued, and when conflict broke out again in 1983, Mary and her
family fled to neighboring Ethiopia. They lived in refugee camps
there until 1991, when war broke out in Ethiopia, forcing the
Sudanese back to their native land to face the very same conflicts
that had driven them away. She and her family were able to hide in
the mountains near her home town for about a year, where they were
safer and had a better chance of finding things to eat. In 1992,
during the time her husband had gone to visit his parents in his
native village, conflicts escalated, and Mary had to again flee
Sudan, this time with her three children and without her husband. She
knew that her husband’s route took him through very dangerous rebel
territory, and she could not predict when he would return or if he
would survive. She did not know for nearly a year whether he
was still alive. Her father and the rest of his family chose to remain hidden in the mountains with
his family.
When she left Sudan in a group of seven people, she was pregnant
with her youngest child. They walked four days until they reached the
Kenyan border, to the south. The United Nations took them to a
refugee camp. She was there for awhile before she learned of a
resettlement program offered at another camp. She took her family
there, and applied for resettlement. She waited for approval in the
camp for one year. The men in the camps were able to go out at night
and hunt illegally for food to supplement the meager amounts given to
them by the administration. As a single woman, however, she had no
one to go get her or her children more. She was given rations for
each child every fifteen days, and spoke of how difficult it was to
make the amounts last.
Mary’s husband had a relative in the US, and she was able to get
an affidavit from him, which allowed her and her family to come to
the US. She left for Nairobi in early May of 1995, and spent some
time with an aunt who had been able to resettle in the city. She and
her family left on May 10, 1995, and arrived in New York the next
day. They were then flown to Fargo, ND, and were met at the airport
by Lutheran Social Services (LSS). Mary says that they welcomed her
and her children, drove them to an already secured furnished
apartment, and helped her to find financial assistance.
Her husband was able to escape Sudan after about a year. He, too,
waited for resettlement approval in refugee camps in Kenya for a
year. He was finally able to rejoin his family this year, arriving in Fargo on August 19, 1996.
Mary considers Fargo “generally a good place.” However, she had
seen snow only in pictures in Sudan, and she struggled with the cold
a great deal her first winter, beginning not many months after she arrived in 1995. She found that she stayed in the house most
of the time. This is now her second winter, and she feels like she is
becoming more used to it.
She has had some disheartening experiences in the community. She
recounted two that particularly upset her. One occurred at the
grocery store near her apartment. She had finished checking her
groceries and had just left the building when she was confronted by
three security persons accusing her of stealing. She was very upset
and told them to check her bags. When they found nothing, they gave
her a brief apology and let her go. When Mary got home, she was
terribly angry and upset. Darci Asche, from LSS, called the store and
was told by one of the men that had confronted Mary, that Mary had
“fit the profile” and had been “observed putting something in her
bag.” When asked to explain both statements since Mary had not been
found to have done anything wrong, Darci was told he had no response.
Mary very strongly did not want to return to that store, but because
it was the only store within walking distance of her home, she had no
choice. The other experience was with her neighbors at her new
apartment. They became very upset with her and her children, accusing
them of having been playing in their yard. The problem escalated to
the point at which they attempted to attack her in her own home and
she had to call the police. They have since resolved the dispute with
community intervention, and the neighbors were asked to apologize.
The transition for Mary’s children has been very difficult. With
the exception of the youngest, the other children have essentially
grown up in refugee camps. They at times like living in an apartment,
but they are lonely and have made few friends. In addition, they do
not enjoying playing outside during the cold winter months. Her
oldest son has had an especially difficult time, and has even stated
that he wished they had never come to the US. He was active and had
friends in the camps. Adequate schooling was not available at the
camps, and though her son had never attended school and knew almost
no English, he was placed directly according to his age into third
grade at an elementary school in Fargo. Though Mary thinks things are
now going better for him as a fourth grader, she says it was very
hard in the beginning.
Mary thinks that she will stay in Fargo. She has talked with
people from other parts of the country, and feels that Fargo will
best provide her children with the opportunity to attend school, and
for her to raise them in a safe environment. Mary has plans for her
own education as well. She found that the papers she had brought with
her from Sudan certifying that she had graduated from high school
were not enough to admit her to an American university, so she
succeeded in earning her General Equivalency Diploma through the Head
Start Program last June. She was accepted officially at NDSU last
July. She tried to begin her studies in September, but found that she
could not find a day care for her two youngest children. She hopes to
begin studying to be a nurse at NDSU in January, but is still waiting
to locate a place for her children. Since her husband came to Fargo,
Mary has been able to go to work, coordinating her work schedule with
that of her husband’s.
Mary has not made friends with very many people in the community.
There are approximately a couple hundred other refugees from Sudan in
the Fargo area. However, most of them are single men, and the women
tend to be isolated, staying at home with their children. Darci, who
has helped Mary from the beginning, remains one of her few friends.
*The name in this account has been changed.
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