Khartoum Journal

Before Dana left for a month in Khartoum, pretty much all I knew about Sudan was that Darfur is a mess and the country is bigger than all of western Europe. Over the past four weeks, strict security requirements prevented Dana from seeing much of the city (and she's not heading out into the countryside, where most of the aid work is focused), but like previous assignments in Iraq and East Timor, she's managed to ferret out opportunities to understand both the country and its people as best she can.

The photo above was taken her first week. That's the Blue Nile behind her...Khartoum is at the confluence of the White and Blue Niles, which then heads a few thousand miles north to Egypt and the Mediterranean. She's tolerated a chain of haboobs (strong sand storms that send grit everywhere and into everything), seen herds of camels crowding around the airport's runway, broke the Ramadan fast with colleagues and new friends and met refugees from the 2004 tsunami restarting their lives in the African desert.

Dana gets back this week and I hope to post an album to the right. Check back soon.