One thing I'm cautious about is being judgmental towards acts of courage from youth living inside Sudan; and I observe that in all the critique I see on social networking platforms for the short film, OUR SUDAN.
It requires a lot of courage to go in front of a camera and bare your face and dreams to the world. And I admired those youth for doing that.
It requires a lot of courage to go in front of a camera and bare your face and dreams to the world. And I admired those youth for doing that.
OUR SUDAN is a love poem to Sudan. A love poem from a generation that has inherited a heavy national identity; a bloody history and a dysfunctional country. How do you turn all of that into something to love, to embrace and to be proud off?
You simply have to change the rhetoric and challenge the negativity--dream for a better tomorrow. And this short documentary was simply that, the courage to dream.
For those who said these are urban elite youth who speak perfect English and are disconnected from reality. And that this film does not reflect the dire hardships Sudan is living through. I say: Sudan is more complex than that; and there are many realities within that complexity and many ways to address the challenges.
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
OUR SUDAN captures a microcosm of that reality. It is a call for change that is positive, poetic and apolitical.
These youth who came together to create OUR SUDAN are talented enough to make the choice to leave Sudan and be part of the hundreds from the middle class fleeing the country daily, for a better life outside. But they choose to stay and give. Some of them are artists, some engineers and others are part of the civil society working for a democratic Sudan. They are all struggling in their own way for a better Sudan; and they chose to come together to share a dream.
Today Sudan needs its youth (without them there is no change and no hope); and it has an arsenal of educated youth in the diaspora who hear and see the negative opinions and coverage about Sudan, and as a result they choose to stay away. Not because they don't care about Sudan, but because the picture painted from a distance is of a place that fills them with fear and alienation.
OUR SUDAN is that subtle message that can make a difference and lure diaspora youth back because they see a familiar face of "third culture kids" or educated young professionals who came back (or stayed) to make a difference and to dream and work for a better Sudan.
It is also a call for change that may appeal to normal citizens, tired of too much politics.
An invitation to the "other" Sudans to share "their" stories
However, OUR SUDAN is more than that, it is an opportunity to start a dialogue about what it is to be Sudanese, who is Sudanese and what Sudan is in "our" collective and individual memories. It is a chance to share our stories, because through stories we can relate to and humanize the "other"; as well as shatter the myth that the National Congress Party has tried to construct-- that of a monolithic nation with a static identity.
This debate is central to our existence as a nation that needs to learn how to coexist with its organic and evolving identities. OUR SUDAN is therefore an invitation to sit down and talk, and an invitation to the "other" Sudans to share "their" stories.
A light in the mass of darkness
Today Sudan needs its youth (without them there is no change and no hope); and it has an arsenal of educated youth in the diaspora who hear and see the negative opinions and coverage about Sudan, and as a result they choose to stay away. Not because they don't care about Sudan, but because the picture painted from a distance is of a place that fills them with fear and alienation.
OUR SUDAN is that subtle message that can make a difference and lure diaspora youth back because they see a familiar face of "third culture kids" or educated young professionals who came back (or stayed) to make a difference and to dream and work for a better Sudan.
It is also a call for change that may appeal to normal citizens, tired of too much politics.
An invitation to the "other" Sudans to share "their" stories
However, OUR SUDAN is more than that, it is an opportunity to start a dialogue about what it is to be Sudanese, who is Sudanese and what Sudan is in "our" collective and individual memories. It is a chance to share our stories, because through stories we can relate to and humanize the "other"; as well as shatter the myth that the National Congress Party has tried to construct-- that of a monolithic nation with a static identity.
This debate is central to our existence as a nation that needs to learn how to coexist with its organic and evolving identities. OUR SUDAN is therefore an invitation to sit down and talk, and an invitation to the "other" Sudans to share "their" stories.
