Anyone who knows anything about Sudanese refugees will tell you that, yes, they're refugees, because, although the United Nations says that there is peace in Sudan, there most certainly isn't. Voices in Refuge: Stories from Sudanese Refugees in Cairo consists of interviews conducted in 2006 and 2007 with 13 refugees, mostly from Sudan, who all ended up in Egypt. Some are Muslim, some Christian; some are northerners, some southerners. Your reviewer can attest to the genuineness of their stories, as two of the Sudanese interviewed happen to be good friends of his. All those who are interviewed have suffered, both here and at home, but they also have good things to say about Egypt and their country. This short, very readable work pulls at the heartstrings, especially as most of the readers of this book probably haven't suffered to the same extent as the refugees whose stories it contains. Ironically, many of them are from wealthy, or rather once wealthy families, whose lives were torn apart by civil war. Those interviewed are intelligent people and, in some cases, highly educated. Despite their backgrounds, they have all struggled to find work here in Egypt. When they do find work, it's generally very humble and poorly paid. But what strikes the reader is that these people do have a voice and they never give up. There's Melissa, forced with her husband, a political prisoner, and their children to flee to Cairo from Khartoum. They end up living in a two-room flat in Dar al-Malak, el-Abbasiya, shared by 15 people. Melissa's husband finds work as a housekeeper and she is determined that her family should lead as normal a life as possible, with their children going to school and Melissa also finding work as a housekeeper and selling embroidered towels to make some extra money to help them. It's a similar story for Mariette, who finds work as a teacher at a Sudanese school in Maadi. When they first arrive in the Egyptian capital, she, her husband and their children live at first in Hadaaiq el-Zeitoun. She does all she can to ensure a stable life for her family. As Voices in Refuge tells us, three of those interviewed are now living in the West, while your reviewer's two friends are both hoping to be in the US by this time next year. There's one very touching thing the reader immediately picks up on: these people love their country. "I want to bury my feet in Sudanese soil and experience that feeling of being in my homeland," says Joseph. "[W]hen people ask me what I yearn for, my answer is always the same: Sudan," stresses Ibrahim. "Sudan will always be my home. It is a part of me and, one day, I hope to return there," comments Mariette. Sudan is a country with great potential, ‘floating' on vast oil reserves, while the south, with its agricultural potential, could be like Zimbabwe used to be until as recently as ten years ago, a breadbasket for the African nation. If there were real peace in Sudan and the international community were prepared to help the country ��" not just with money, but also with more human resources, such as teachers, engineers and doctors ��" it could really get back on its feet. The Sudanese refugees would return home and Eltahawy, Comer and Elshimi could ask the AUC to let them edit another book called Voices that were once in Refuge. It's good to dream. Dreams help to people to survive.
Nora Eltahawy, Brooke Comer, Amani Elshimi (eds) Voices in Refuge: Stories from Sudanese Refugees in Cairo The American University in Cairo Press 133 pages
