Name Abdi Fatah Farah

Course:-dance
Assignment: - live history
Date: 7/16/2014
Live history
I conduct my interview with a friend of mine and even more than that he is my roommate, his
name is Abdul Majid ali . He is from Sudan but unfortunately he was forced to flee from there
because there was civil war that started in Sudan, he fled to chad when he was young. He
started school in chad and graduated his high school from there but fortunately he got chance
of coming to united state but before coming to united what did he felt about United State?
What image did he had before coming to united state.
He is from north Sudan especially Darfur province, the people that live there; they divide them
selves in clan base, this clans some time fight each other but when ever they fight they dont go
to the government to help them solve the dispute but rather their elders come together and
discuss the issue and reach a common agreement that works for both .his clan partly live in
north Sudan and south of chad. In this community each tribe speaks it is own language but they
communicate each other with Arabic which is national language
In Africa it is simple there is only two class; there is no gay, lesbian or other thing in Africa their
is man and women relationship. His community men work while women stay at home. Man is
the decision maker in this community. In the marriage process; if some one wants to get marry
his family has to have a lot of cattle to pay it to the brides family then the elder people from
you family will go and meet the brides elder people then they talk about the situation, in this
culture no is not an answer because if you say no it means that you disrespect us then you will
pay fine. When they agree about the marriage and set a day for it. at the day of the marriage
the new husband and his clan march to bride home having some gift for the other family and
then boys start to dance and sing so that the girls will come out while the elders sit with the
other elder to discus clan issue, then when the girls hear the play they run out side and then
they start dancing with the boys but in this dance there is no body contact but they come close
to each other. While dancing boys watch which one is dancing and singing well so every one
chooses one. When the celebration ends boys that where dancing with girls will look out their
ladies so they can chat and introduce each other. This is the only time that every one gets a
chance to meet the opposite gender. The adults walk for miles to go to wedding because this is
the only chance that they can get their bride.
Dance in their community is very important; it is where boys and girls meet, it is also where the
boys choose their future bride. In this dance they dance with drums. in the dance boys make
circle and dance by jumping high and striking their feet on the ground while dancing girls watch
the dance until the boys finish it but when boys finish it girls start dancing and singing at the
same time, while dancing the girls facedown and start clapping while shaking their ass and at
the same time striking their feet on the ground.
While I was interviewing him I asked him how his feeling was when he got the chance to united
state and he replied kind of the way that I felt when IOM (international organization for
migration) told me that I got approved. He said that it was unforgettable moment of his life, the
day that he gets the letter from international organization for migration through UNHCR; at first
he couldnt believe it that he was living a country that he lived most of his live.
The day of his flight to united state arrived and it was May 2013 he was excited of seeing
Hollywood the only thing we Africans know about united state of America (U.S.A).
Fighting to hold back his tears, he sat restlessly in his seat with a cold blanket hiding his face a
long twenty one hour flight a head of him, during that time he could absorb the fact that he had
just left his friends, his family, his country and his home. He was torn between sadness at
leaving his whole life behind and feeling of anxiety and excitement at starting a new life in an
unknown world.
For eighteen years Ghana refuge camp had been his home. By attending a public school with
only seven hundred students from grade one through grade twelve; he grew up with the same
friends and classmates in each grade since the age of five. They knew each other so well that
they were like family, and he blossomed in this sheltered environment.
All the along the interview I thought that he was talking me about because I experienced the
same experience that he experienced but the only difference was that I didnt live in any
refugee camp . So I asked him how the life in refugee camp looks like. Then he putted this way,
living a place that you can even get the basic life necessities, living in refugee camp was the
worst experience he had; shortage of food, living in a tent under harsh climate and even
unemployed.
The most interesting that I heard while I was interviewing him was when I asked him to
describe how was it look when he first saw a snow and he describe it in a way that every one
will like it he said and I caught The funny thing that he never forget is when he saw how snow
looks like because the time he arrived was summer and he have full green land but within two
month all leaves become dry and the environment get change , he awaken within and my feet
cold under the sheets the room is strangely quit .
As he slips out of bed and look out of the window. He sees the world covered in a sea of white
snow. He hurries to get dressed and start for the back door. Today he will walk through his
snow covered yard .he stop at the door, silently watching the snow fall. The tiny ice crystals
drift peacefully down from the sky, covering the world in white.
The door cracks as he open it and he carefully step on to the back porch so as not to slip and
fall. now have full view of his backyard , wintry paradise covered in snow .As he walk down the
steps and to the side walk , the squeaking of the wooden steps combines with the crunch of the
snow under his feet like two instrument in an orchestra ,performing in the sweat silence all
around him . The white, cottony powder covers the branches of the trees. As he walk down the
sidewalk he see the cars in the drive way and covered with snow. He never saw something that
make a change in one over night. It was amazing to see the white covered city and even
watching the kids plying and throwing each other a snow ball. When he was in Africa he used to
hear that the western countries like United State and Europe have season that only snow rains
like rain, in Africa the only thing that we get from the sky is rain so he was scared because he
pictured that the weather will be very cold and the snow will heart his skin but none of this
happened to him but rather it was funny time to him.
One of the things that was weird to him was the racist issue where some one would hate you
because of your color , he come from where he was privilege and all the people that live their
was all the same color , he come form a country where the old people stay away when they
see white man coming toward them because they believed that white people are devil and
they assumed that all humans are black even though the young generation doesnt agree with
that because of the education back ground that they have .
He didnt picture that there will be a huge gap like this between the white and the colored
people ; where the white are educated , wealthier , high standard life and privileged while the
colored people are less educated ,poor , homeless and not even privilege and treated like less
human .
When he was back in Africa he had pictured since the president is colored that the color people
are educated and treated as much white people are but the reality was shocking , the saddest
thing that he heard and saw was that when he chat with some of the color people at the college
and they told him that they are the first generation to come to college but he ask them what
happen to you parents , your older brothers your nephews didnt they went to school they
simply say that he/she got arrested but at the same time when he chat with his white
privileged folks they talk about how their grand father or grand mother helping them with the
home works and how many masters they have and even how their grand parents where huge
part of this development .
Family in African culture is every thing , inside the family every one has responsibility to
accomplish it , for example men has to do the outside work and help the family stay on their
feet while women are house wives , in their family structure every one has responsibility the
father and the mother has the responsibility of keeping this family together while the oldest of
their children has the responsibility of keeping out of trouble and being a good example to his
younger siblings , he has to be kind to his younger siblings and give them advices , but even the
younger ones has responsibility to accomplish it which is to help the mother with house work
like washing dishes ,cleaning the house and watching the house while the mother is not around
and last but not least respecting their elder brother and obeying them .
In his tribe they have cultural food called dhinga which is made of wheat. They eat this in the
noon and at the night they drink cattle milk. He even some times cook his traditional food and
share it with us which I really like it.
Dressing in this culture is not that much different; men dress as the men dresses here but the
women dresses a dress that cover their body even their hair.in young age dress doesnt mater
whether it is for boys or girls, girls under ten doesnt have to cover their body because they are
still children but in adults the situation is not the same because Dressing is derived from their
religion which is Muslim and in Muslim religion doesnt allow women to show of their body.
Color doesnt have that much impact on the dress ; people wear any color they find , it is not
like westernized countries which the pink color is only for womens and if a man wear pink
dress he will be called a gay . The people out there wear any thing they could find no mater
what color that dress is.
in his religion they pray five time a day , pay charity to the poor , believe that Mohamed was
the last messenger of Allah (God ) and that Jesus was a messenger of God ,fast 1 month each
year ; in this month they stop eating and stop doing sin full activities , be kind to the others ,
they start their fast when the sun hives and break their fast when the sun set and go to
pilgrimage if you can which is in middle east (Saudi Arabia) .
In their culture they celebrate three holidays each year which two of them are religious
holidays and the other one is their independence day which they took it from Britain in 1956. In
their religion (Islam) there is two holidays which the first one is one they finish their one month
fast and the second one is celebrating when God order Abraham to sacrifice his son Samuel but
the knife couldnt cut his throat and God send him sheep and order him to try this one and the
knife worked at this time, on behalf of this day Muslim celebrate that day and called it Arafa .
Conclusion
The culture of one country or a given people is some how similar to some other cultures but
you will never now it until you share your culture with others, I thought my culture was unique
but that was wrong. When interviewing Abdul Majid ; I realized that we had so much in
common. We are common in dancing, wedding ceremony , family interaction, religion and even
more ethnicity . But there was few things that we dont share . Some of the things that we
dont share is food ,language and medium of communication.
But in general this was interesting experience for me , because of the different things that I
learned from him . when you are learning different cultures at the same time you are learning
how to respect the culture of other , different is what beautify us