7/04/2008

Freedom Forth

Yesterday evening produced a surreal moment.

(Dr.) Fares, one of Rascal's saviors, had come to say hello so I "hired" him as my driver to the power company.

(His car has AC, so theoretically, I would "hire" him at all times, to hell with his job.)

The place was packed, so Fares wanted to know if he should go in with me.

"No, I'll be fine", I said, as I got out of the vehicle dressed in 3/4 length pants and a tank top. "No, problem."

The line was long, but it usually moves quickly.

The older gentleman behind me, dressed in appropriate Arab white, fashionably buttoned at the neck, wearing a matching turban and sandals, smiled at me and told me that I could go to the front of the line.

Not wanting to appear special and not wanting to butt in line, (remember the school cafeteria),I replied that it was OK. I would wait.

No, he insisted. In his country women are given the "priviledge" to go to the front.

I am the only woman in the place, I am obviously not Sudanese, and now every male is staring. Please he says, in this country we "honor" our women.

Oh...kay.. here is a defining moment in my stay in Sudan.

I am, however, spared jailtime, by the entry of two girls and one woman, who go to the front and butt in line.

Given this, I too walk to the front.

Of course, not all men are as "enlightened" as the older gentleman. They still make the girls and woman wait. Such scoundrels.

Getting back into the car, FAres notices my "look". Am I sad?

Nope, just perplexed.

How can one country be proud of allowing women the priviledge of getting into a faster line, but to do so, they should be covered head to toe, preferably in black.

They must study apart from men, they must worship apart from men.

They have arranged marriages, usally with much older men who have more than one wife.

Though men walk around freely holding each other's hands, women must refrain from doing so.

And, when it comes right down to it, getting in another line is not a priviledge, it is an order. Another rule that re-enforces just who is in charge of making the rules.

To choose who to study with, who to worship with, to choose who to marry, or to skip down the streets holding hands, or to stand at the back of the line all day, is truly a priviledge.

So, on this special day in the states, where there will be fireworks exploding, chorus' singing, grills cooking, prayers invoked, service men add women remembered, I say this:

Freedom Go Forth.

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