Why the Arabic language is problematic in the Sudan

Is colonialism really over? A question asked many times by the Southern Sudanese and other marginzalied ethnic groups. Officially, Sudan is no longer Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, but it is still a colony. A colony of the Arabized Northerners.

The colour of the colonial masters is different, but their actions are not.

Our new masters speak Arabic, practice Islam and read Naguib Mahfouz. They wear the toub and look down on "tribal" languages and custom.

My father learned the Arabic language at the age of 7. Before that, he lived with his grandmother in a village in Nubian-sudan and spoke Nubian.
Then came the move to Port Sudan. His father was working there at the time, so he left his village to join them. School was difficult, it was in another language. You couldn't speak a language other than the Arabic language there. If you break the rule, teachers beat you.
You are abused into learning a language.
He never taught me Nubian though. We always spoke Arabic at home.
I grew up believing it was for my own good. I lived in the Middle East most of my life and speaking Arabic made me less of an outsider there.
The official language of the Sudan is Arabic or so they tell us. There are currently 142 langauges spoken in the Sudan. Eight are extinct.
In the future, the Nubian language is going to be extinct too. I don't speak it , I can't pass it on to the next generation. Most Nubians my age don't speak it.
Language represents a big part of culture. If you speak a certain language, you start reading books in it, listening to music in this language and so on. Your cultural entity becomes unidenitifed.
I don't speak Nubian. I don't like listening to music in the Nubian language, it sounds weird. When I visit the ancient pyramids and monuments built by my ancestors, I wouldn't be able to understand what's written on them.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Good bloggers listen to their readers. I did :)

Here are more pictures of my beautiful homeland. I picked this title because most people don't think it's beautiful. It's too dry,too hot. Home to amazing sandstorms and disasters. If you forget about Sudan's painful modern history and focus on the history and civlizations,culture and people,deserts and forests,the nile and coral reefs and sunsets, you will see alot of beautiful things. Simple things limited to this huge african country. Things you will always remember.

I don't have many pictures of the Sudan. Almost all the pictures I have are collected from websites and friends. It's hard to find pictures of Sudan online. 1-Nobody goes there except the braves ones who ignored people,went there and loved it 2-Unfortuantely, I don't visit it alot because of personal reasons. So, I didn't get the chance to take pictures.

Here are pictures of places and people.

Note:-

1- white nile and Blue nile. When you stand on the bridge you can notice the difference. It's like this natural barrier separating the blue nile from the white nile.

2- The North is mostly desert and the south is green.

3-The coral reefs in port sudan are gorgeous and since noone goes there, there is almost no damage at all. It's a great diving area but honestly, if tourists started going there. It will be ruined.

4-Sudan has more pyramids than Egypt and Mexico.

5-The market featured is called the arab market.

6-The first lady is wearing "the toub", it's supposedly the national costume but I don't think so. It doesn't represent all ethnic groups.

Enjoy the beauty of The Sudan