Heron on the Nile
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  Meroe and Ab Roaf Another Culture Sat 1 Jan 2005  

Sat 1 Jan

When I was first considering coming to Sudan as a volunteer teacher, one particular friend was very encouraging. "That's a wonderful thing to do, go and immerse yourself in another culture". Those words "hit the spot", I adopted them as my own and they became my oft stated personal objective. Other friends would ask an incredulous "Sudan, why?" and I would reel-off so confidently "well I've travelled to many places but now I want to go and live and work in another country; to immerse myself in another culture".

So now after three months in Khartoum I wonder about this "immersion" business. What does it mean? Is it sufficient to relocate? Or do you actually have to make an effort? Does it mean to give up western tastes or take up Sudanese traditions? Can I let go without forgetting who I am? Is it possible to immerse without turning native?

Well so far I've resisted the temptation to convert to Islam in the interest of research but here are my impressions. Here (with acknowledgements to poet John Hodge) is what it might mean to immerse oneself in another culture:

Choose life. Choose a place. Choose a culture. Choose to volunteer. Choose the biggest room in a shared house, choose liquidizers, tapes, short-wave radios and videos on a borrowed player. Choose grapefruit, sweet stringy mangos and dental chewing twigs. Choose strangers and unexpected guests. Choose a shisha cafe. Choose your friends. Choose sunglasses and loose fitting clothes. Choose to sleep out under a mozzie net; dream of beauties beyond their veils. Choose lesson plans and wonder why you're not in bed on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting in the park playing mind numbing spirit crushing parlour games, eating with licked fingers from a shared bowl. Choose getting away at the end of it all, seeing your folks and the place you called home, nothing more than a fond memory in the minds of the students you taught to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life.

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