Sudan Elections

Want to read party profiles and know  more about the elections in Sudan? Interested in reading about the Debated issues?

Follow the elections @ http://www.electionnaire.org/index2.php?q=4&a=-1

Thanks to the Peace Research Institute @ the University of Khartoum (U of K) , Media in Cooperation and  FES sudan, you have a unique website with a lot of resources. 

The art of job-hunting

Wholeheartedly Sudaniya is a graduate! 

After 3.5 years of writing papers, pretending to study, taking notes, interning, volunteering and attending lectures given by Jimmy Carter, the Queen of Swaziland (no I don't mean Switzerland) and Jerry Leach (he is such a sweetheart!), she is done. No more papers and waking up at 5 in the morning to register for classes and no more student discounts (I just realized how useful being a student is a month ago when I finally decided to get fit and join the gym!). 

After a summer of pretending to be working and doing important things...wait:- why do people ask you about your plans a week after you graduate? are you expected to get a job the day you graduate?

I wanted to chill the whole summer,but I did end up working as a research assistant twice and doing some volunteering ( I was a lazy volunteer!) , but I did think about getting an actual full-time job. Not the 9-5 crap because once you start doing it, you are sucked in. You are in it "till death do you part".

Finally, after Ramadan...

I started job-hunting.  I looked at the usual :- relief-web, alert-net, Irin news etc... Anything to do with communications in an NGO or other humanitarian vacancies. Then I had to write cover letters, now this is the difficult part, I hate writing cover letters...why? I lack the qualifications to "bull-shit". I can't convince you of something to save my life....

So after a number of cover letters..... I got lucky. 

 I never got any full-time job, but I did get lucky. A freelance opportunity here, an editing stint there, I managed to keep myself busy and satisifed. The hard part is when people ask me what I do. I mean, come on, working from home or in your pj's is not considered "real work" in the minds of older people ( the emphasis is mine!). I'm expected to find something proper, wear trousers , a shirt and carry a formal (black or brown) bag , wake up at 7:30, drink my cup of coffee and rush out the door. 

For now, I'm gonna continue doing random things, sleeping in and reading my favorite magazines and books.

Maybe I will get a "normal" job someday, but for now, I feel very blessed:)

Pretty in Uggs!:)

Who said you need to live in a cold country where it snows a lot to wear uggs:)

It was in  the cold( warm compared to other countries) winter of 2006 in Cairo that I was first introduced to the wonderful Ugg boots  by my best friend Sarah. We used to work with refugee children an hour away from where we lived, waking up at 7 o'clock in the  coldest winter ever was not my favorite experience!

 

Sarah is so in-love with the Chest-nut Uggs (see picture)

For a great ugg-boot brand, check out Ugg boots. They offer very warm and comfortable ugg boots at great prices!

PS:- If you decide to buy whooga ugg boots, mention my blog and get a $20 discount!:)

Ugg boots

Poetry

I'm loving Kenyan poet and artist, Shailja Patel.

Check her out @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8bxP2AP5xQ&feature=player_embedded#at=177

Since when is wearing trousers against the law?

Most of you don't know me in person, but anyways, I love Jeans...a lot. I wear jeans all the time, everywhere, even in Sudan. So when Lubna and a bunch of other women were arrested for wearing pants, I was shocked.
This is how I see it, Lubna is a journalist (so she is targeted by the government) and not only that, she writes a controversial column and being the brave woman she is, she is not afraid to write about anything an anyone. So the whole thing was probably targeted at her.

she was arrested with other women at a cafe in Khartoum for "indecent dress" (sounds vague?). This doesn't really happen in Sudan, you just don't get arrested for wearing pants!
A Sudanese official said she was actually arrested for smoking shisha. Again, you don't get arrested for smoking shisha.
So why was Lubna arrested?

Someone is not telling us the truth.

Amnesty International and Domestic Violence

Amnesty International doesn't only expose atrocities worldwide, they also have a new unique interactive billboard. Looking at it, you see a happy couple, when you look away, the image changes to one of domestic violence. 

This is what happens all over the world, domestic violence happens behind closed doors, we don't see it. so we don't always acknowledge it's existence.

Great job Amnesty International. 

I miss I have no tribe, I'm Sudanese!

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I have been gone for a long time. I can summarize my reasons in one word " senior year"! I was a senior and exactly 10 days ago, I received my undergraduate degree. I'm a graduate. I was busy with studies for a year. I've been horrible to this blog. I don't even think about that much anymore. I stopped bringing up my involvement in my blogosphere. Now, I want to come back and start blogging, wholeheartedly. I've grown a lot in the past year and I want to communicate that. This blog contributed to my personal growth. I've meet great people, read great posts and opened up to a whole new world.

Armed with my diploma , nothing can stop me;)

The first thing I want to do now is:- introduce myself. This blog was written by Kizzie. Kizzie was actually the name of the cat I wanted to get. I ended up not getting it, but I was attached to it, it was the first thing that came to mind when I wanted to start a blog. Kizzie became me and I became Kizzie. When I was an intern at a refugee council last January, I used to make phone calls to schedule appointments with guest-speakers for our weekly  or bi-monthly events, I used to forget and say, hey I'm Kizzie. 

A small introduction:-

My name is Reem. I just graduated from the American University in Cairo with a BA in Journalism and Mass Communications and a minor in Sociology. I live in Cairo for now, moving back home in September or October. I'm a research assistant this summer. I'm always doing things all over Cairo. A typical day for me is spent going to at least 3 different places. I love eating out, if you are in Cairo, go to Maison Thomas (they have amazing pizza and their cheesecake is soo amazing!). I have great friends here, my best friend Sarah just left to the Netherlands and I'm trying to adjust to life without her! So, we are going separate ways, but looking at the bright side, there is skype  ,g-chat and the good old way of communicating - writing letters (Yes, I'm old-fashioned sometimes) I'm a city girl! I don't like the country -side that much. I can live there for a bit, but I love chaos and night-life!

Favorite Drink:- Irish-cream latte from Starbucks/ green-tea latte from Second Cup

Favorite Food:- Cake ( Carrot cake and strawberry cheese cake) 

Obsessions:- watching sit-coms/ coffee/volunteering