I am no scholar in the historical politics of Sudan, and nor do I expect myself to be a politician in the future, however I recognize my role as a Sudanese-American, and I'm Sudanese before I am an American, and I can not disregard the issues afflicting Sudan at this point. My question is how can we, as the younger generation, outside of Sudan, help uplift our country? What can we do to implement change?
And his response (translated) is:
Sadiq Al-Mahdi:
I can see that you have the passion of a Sudanese although
you are from the west, the youth must have the philosophical and historical
understanding of what is Sudan. We must “reclaim” our youth to be truly conscious
and aware of Sudan. As you may already know, there has been a very bad
reputation of Sudan recently, and many now don’t want to even bother listening
about Sudan; Genocides, wars, famines, etc and for that reason, many of the
younger generations become discouraged to even get involved in the issues of
Sudan or to learn more about their own country and would say “We don’t even
want Sudan.” Yes, Sudan truly has a bad reputation nowadays, but we as the
older generations, need to convince them that The Sudan is good. And how to
convince them, is a very important point.
I now have a book title (transliteration) “Ayuha Aljeel” This book
targets the youth that are born outside of Sudan. Although I see that she (Ahreej)
has a true passion of being Sudanese, however I’ve encountered many people
outside of Sudan from Oxford, England, to Swayd, Egypt and the youth who reside
in these cities have the same genes of their parents but do not speak the same
language, they would say “we are different people living in the same home, our
philosophical understandings are completely different.” And for that we must build this house
of cultivated knowledge for our youth to build a true and sincere interest
towards The Sudan.
Another point, there is no doubt that the younger
generations outside of Sudan have a key role, we should have the youth and also
women become involved only to a certain and particular extent within the
political parties, not to have their own societies or political organizations
but have a few youths and women to be partially involved in politics. However,
there are roles for the youth outside these political parties, and they become
extremely active, like you’ve seen recently how they establish rallies in this
Arab region, rallies promoting for democracy, and they find that passion to
make change and start movements, and I personally believe that’s really good.
Because I am of one whom believes, if a mother or father try to force upon
their children a certain life or view upon life, they will rebel against them,
so they must be a way of independence for these younger generations, so that in
the future they will have true roles, and if you don’t do that, then your
children will become a reflection of you but in a different generation and
different predicament, which becomes dangerous. And for that you must give them
a sense of freedom and to realize they are members of this Sudanese Society. In
concluding, I appreciate Ahreej’s passionate spirit of her Sudanese heritage
and her addressing this point.
