Ola Diab's Blog

Whether in business, media, academics, drama, fashion industry, music or sports, people from different parts of Sudan broke the boundaries of Sudan and even Africa to make their dreams come true. This is a list of Sudanese people who’ve made astonishing achievements, granting them international recognition.

Business

Khaled Mansour

Khaled Mansour

Mansour, is a Sudanese Award winning marketing professional with 12 years marketing experience working across four continents and in six countries. Khalid studied industrial design, communication and holds an MA in Business Design from Domus Academy. In 2009, Business Week nominated Mansour was nominated as one of 21 people who will change business for launching the first privately managed Micro finance project in Sudan. Mansour speaks English, Arabic, French and Italian.

Mohamed "Mo" Ibrahim

Mohamed “Mo” Ibrahim

A former consultant radiologist in the NHS, Ibrahim (born 1946) is a Sudanese-British mobile communications entrepreneur. He worked for several other telecommunications companies before founding Celtel. He set up the Mo Ibrahim Foundation to encourage better governance in Africa as well as creating the Mo Ibrahim Index to evaluate nations’ performance. He is a member of the Africa Regional Advisory Board of London Business School. In 2007, he initiated the Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, which awards a $5 million initial payment, and a $200,000 annual payment for life.

Media

Zeinab Badawi

Zeinab Badawi

Born November 24, 1959 in Sudan, Badawi is a Sudanese-British television and radio reporter and news presenter. She was the first presenter of the ITV Morning News, which is now known as ITV News at 5:30, and co-presented Channel 4 News with Jon Snow from 1989 to 1998, before joining BBC News. Badawi currently presents World News Today on BBC Four and BBC World News. Badawi has been an adviser to the Foreign Policy Centre and a Council Member of the Overseas Development Institute. Since 2004, she’s been a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery and the British Council.

Hassan Ibrahim

Hassan Ibrahim

A journalist with over 30 years of experience, Ibrahim gained fame for his role in Control Room, a documentary about the polarizing Arab news through broadcaster, Al Jazeera. Currently, he’s a senior producer with Al Jazeera’s English news service. Ibrahim also serves as a terrorism analyst for the broadcaster. Before joing Al Jazeera, he headed the BBC Arab News Service.

Alfred Taban Logune

Alfred Taban Logune

Taban is a Sudanese broadcast journalist working as the BBC’s correspondent in Khartoum. Born 1957 in Kajokeji, Sudan, Taban is the managing editor of the Khartoum Monitor, the only independent English-language newspaper in Sudan. In July 2005, speaker of British House of Commons, Michael Martin, presented the Speaker Abbot award to Alfred Taban in recognition of his work exposing the slaughter in Darfur. In 2006, Taban was one of three recipients to be presented with the National Endowment for Democracy award by US President George W. Bush.

Sami Al Hajj

Sami Al Hajj

Al Hajj, also known as Sami Al-Haj, (Khartoum, Sudan, February 15, 1969) is a Sudanese journalist for the Al Jazeera network. He gained his fame in 2001, while on his way to do camera work for the network in Afghanistan, he was arrested and held in extrajudicial detention in the United States Guantanamo Bay detainment camp in Cuba for over six years. He was released without charge on May 1, 2008 with two other detainees from Sudan. He plans to launch legal action against George W. Bush. Al Hajj’s case was portrayed in a documentary titled Prisoner 345 by Al Jazeera producer, Ahmad Ibrahim. Hajj is back at work at the Arabic satellite news network, leading a new desk devoted to human rights and public liberties as a correspondent.

Nima El Bagir

Nima El Bagir

Born in 1978, El bagir is an award-winning international television correspondent. The British Sudanese joined CNN as a London-based international correspondent.In 2008, she picked up two Foreign Press Association Awards, which are the TV News Story of the Year and Broadcast Journalist of the Year. She had been nominated for other awards including the Amnesty Award for Human Rights Journalism and the One World Broadcast Awards.In 2008, she was shortlisted for Young Journalist of the Year at the Royal Television Society Awards. El Bagir began her journalism career with Reuters in December 2002 reporting for them from Sudan, covering the simmering conflict in the country’s Darfur region. She moved into broadcast journalism in 2005 joining the launch of More4 News where her exclusives included exposing rape allegations against the African Union in Darfur, getting the first interview with the Aegis security company whistleblower on the Iraq ‘Trophy Videos’, interviewing Jacob Zuma in the run-up to his recent rape trial and being the only Western journalist reporting from Mogadishu during the US bombing of Somalia in January 2007. In her first documentary, Unreported World, she presented the first evidence of the Sudanese government’s direct involvement with the Janjaweed and the role China’s arms sales to Darfur are playing in the conflict of Darfur.

Scholars & Writers

Awn Al-Sharif Qasim

Awn Al-Sharif Qasim

Qasim (June 16, 1933 – January 19, 2006) was a prolific Sudanese writer, encyclopedist and a prominent scholar. Being one of the Sudan’s leading experts on Arabic language and literature, he strongly advocated Arabic/Islamic culture and Sudanese culture. Qasim authored more than 70 books in the area of Islamic history and civilization, Arabic literature, studies in the Sudanese dialect languages. Along with Professor Abdalla Eltayeb and Professor Abu Saleem, Qasim was considered one of the scholars who shaped the Sudanese academic scene during the last three decades of the 20th century. In the mid nineties, he authored the Sudanese Encyclopedia of Tribes and Genealogies, a pioneer, state of the art series of books for the different Sudanese tribes, their roots and origins. With this project, the Sudanese government awarded him the most prestigious prize known as Az-Zubair Prize for Innovation and Scientific Excellence. Egyptian President Muhammad Husni Mubarak also awarded Qasim the Egyptian prestigious First Class Golden Award for scientific achievements in 1992. Qasim also authored Dictionary of Sudanese Dialects another valuable source of information on Sudanese culture. Scholars worldwide use his dictionary as a valuable reference on Sudanese dialects.

Tayeb Salih

Tayeb Salih

Sudanese novelist and prolific writer Tayeb Salih died in London in February 2009 at the age of 80. Salih achieved immediate acclaim when his novel Season of Migration to the North was first published in Arabic in Beirut in 1966. In 2001, the book was declared the most important Arabic novel of the 20th century by the Syrian-based Arabic literary Academy. His works have been translated from Arabic into more than 20 languages. One of the best-known Arabic novelists of the 20th Century, Salih spent much of his working life in Europe. He was a broadcaster for the BBC Arabic Service, weekly columnist for the London-based Arabic-based language newspaper, al-Majalla, and worked at the UN cultural organization UNESCO in Paris. Later, he became the director general of the Ministry of information in Doha, Qatar. His generally political works includes dealing with themes such as colonization and gender. Having studied both western and Arab literature, philosophy, and society, Salih intermingles aspects of both cultures in his works. Salih completed three other novels and a collection of short stories. His novella “The Wedding of Zein” was made into a drama in Libya and a Cannes Festival prize-winning film by the Kuwaiti filmmaker Khalid Siddiqi in the late 1970s.

Leila Aboulela

Leila Aboulela

Aboulela is an acclaimed Sudanese writer who currently resides in Abu Dhabi. The daughter of a Sudanese man and an Egyptian woman, Aboulela was born in Cairo in 1964 but grew up in Khartoum. She was awarded the Caine prize For African Writing in 2000 for her short story The Museum included in her collection of short stories Coloured Lights. Her novel The Translator was nominated for the Orange Prize and was chosen as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times in 2006. Her second novel Minaret was nominated for the Orange Prize and the IMPAC Dublin Award. Her latest novel Lyrics Alley is set in the Sudan of the 1950s and was long-listed for the Orange Prize 2011.

Francis Mading Deng

Francis Mading Deng

Deng is currently Director of the Sudan Peace Support Project based at the United States Institute of Peace. He is also a Wilhelm Fellow at the Center for International Studies of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a research professor of international politics, law and society at Johns Hopkins University Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies. Among his numerous awards in his country and abroad, Deng is co-recipient with Roberta Cohen of the 2005 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order and the 2007 Merage Foundation American Dream Leadership Award. In 2000, Deng also received the Rome Prize for Peace and Humanitarian Action. Deng holds a Bachelor of Laws from Khartoum University and a Master of Laws and a Doctor of the Science of Law from Yale University, and has authored and edited over 30 books in the fields of law, conflict resolution, internal displacement, human rights, anthropology, folklore, history and politics and has also written two novels on the theme of the crisis of national identity in the Sudan. He was born in 1938 from Southern Sudan.

Abdullahi An-Nai'm

Abdullahi Ahmed An-Nai’m

Born in 1946, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im is the Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law at Emory University School of Law. His specialties include human rights in Islam and cross-cultural issues in human rights. He is the director of the Religion and Human Rights Program at Emory, a senior fellow of Emory’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion and a former Executive Director of the African bureau of Human Rights Watch. Currently, he’s a member of the Advisory Board of the Institute for Migrant Rights. He argues for a synergy and interdependence between human rights, religion and secularism, instead of a dichotomy and incompatibility between them. In February 2009, An-Na`im received an Honorary Doctorate from the Universite catholique de Louvain (UCL, Louvain-la-Neuve) and Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (K.U. Leuven, Leuven), Belgium. He also serves as Global Legal Scholar at the Law School, University of Warwick, UK (until August 2010); and Extraordinary Professor at the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria (until December 2010). An-Naim is originally from Sudan, where he was greatly influenced by the Islamic reform movement of Mahmoud Mohamed Taha, but is also an American citizen.

Jamal Mahjoub

Jamal Mahjoub

Jamal Mahjoub is British/Sudanese award winning writer. Born in London, he was raised in Khartoum until 1990. After being awarded a scholarship, Mahjoub left to England to attend university in Sheffield. While still a student he began publishing his literary texts in magazines. The English writer lived in a number of places including the UK, Denmark and currently, Spain. Originally trained as a geologist, he has worked as a librarian, painter, chef, curator, journalist and translator. Now, Mahjoub is a full time writer, writing at least seven novels and four of which have been highly acclaimed and widely translated. The author has been awarded the Prix d’Astrobale for the novel »Travelling with Djinns« (2003) and the Guardian/Heinemann African Short Story Prize.

Science

Hassan Shehata

Hassan Shehata

Born on October 25, 1964, Shehata is a UK based Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist and a subspecialist in Maternal Medicine. He is an Honorary Senior Lecturer in Obstetrics & Gynaecology at St George’s Hospital Medical School, University of London. Following training in obstetrics and gynaecology at several London university hospitals, Shehata embarked in subpecializing in maternal medicine at St Thomas’s hospital in London. He achieved membership of both Royal Colleges of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Physicians of Ireland. He is included in the General Medical Council’s Obstetrics & Gynaecology Specialist register. He’s won awards and received prizes in the fields of chemistry, science, mathematics, physics, zoology, medicine, pathology, therapeutics, pharmacology and much more. Most importantly, he’s widely published in prestigious international medical journals. His clinical interests include the investigation and treatment of recurrent miscarriage using the latest advances in reproductive immunology. Other specialities include hormone replacement therapy and pre-conception counselling for women with other diseases or physiological problems. This care extends to those women who are already pregnant but have come either with medical complications, who are on medication, or else have been inadvertently exposed to vaccination or radiation.

Balgis Osamn-Elasha

Balgis Osman-Elasha

Dr. Balgis Osman-Elasha, a Sudanese scientist, is at the forefront of global research on climate change and a winner of the UNEP’s (United Nations Environment Program) ‘Champions of the Earth’. A Nobel Peace Prize laureate (December 2007) as a leading author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, she has produced groundbreaking work on global warming – the defining challenge of our era – in Africa, with an emphasis on northern and eastern Africa. As Principal Investigator with the Higher Council for Environment and Natural Resources (HCENR) based in Khartoum, Sudan, she focuses her work on sustainable development. Her expertise lies in vulnerability and adaptation assessment including documenting greenhouse gas inventories.

Kamil Eltayeb Idris

Kamil Eltayeb Idris

Kamil Idris, a Sudanese international civil servant, was the Director General of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) from November 1997 to September 2008. He was also head of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV). Idris stepped down a year early from its post of head of WIPO, amidst “allegations of misconduct”. According to the International Herald Tribune, he “used a false birth date for more than two decades accepted a package including an extra year’s salary … and full pension benefits before he offered to resign over questions about his integrity.”Idris, however, blames the birth date discrepancy on a typographical error. The date of his birthday varies from August 26, 1945, August 26, 1953 to August 26, 1954.

ElFatih ElTahir

ElFatih A. B. ElTahir

Elfatih Eltahir is a professor in Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the department of civil and environmental engineering. In 2008, he has been elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), an honor granted every year to only 0.1 percent of AGU’s 50,000 members. He developed a theory for how regional-scale vegetation distribution shapes the dynamics of monsoons, and studied the impact of deforestation on the hydrology and climate of the Amazon and West Africa. He explored the connections between natural variability in the Nile flow and the El Niño phenomenon, and demonstrated the potential for using such connections to improve predictability of the Nile floods. His recent work focuses on studying the connections of climate, water and disease (malaria) in Africa.

Abduallah Al-Tayyib Al Majdhub

Born in the Tamirab village, Sudan, Abdullah Al-Tayyib Al-Majdhub is the dean of Sudanese literature. He received his education in Bakht Al-Rida, later in Faculty of Education, London University and in the Institution of Eastern and African Studies. Al Majdhub got the PHD from London University, taught in the Sudanese university and founded the Nigerian Bayero University College which was upgraded from a university college to university.

Nawal Nour

Nawal M. Nour

Born in 1966 in Khartoum, Nawal M. Nour  is an American obstetrician and gynecologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She was raised in Sudan, Egypt, and England. She graduated from Brown University, and from Harvard Medical School in 1994, and completed a chief residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, in 1998. She graduated from Harvard School of Public Health with a MPH in 1999, as a Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellow. She created the African Women’s Health Practice that focuses on Female genital cutting. In 2003, she won a Genius Award. Also in 2003, Nour was honored MacArthur Foundation Fellow for creating the country’s only center of its kind that focuses on both physical and emotional needs of women who have had or undergone Female Genital Cutting (FGC).  This work has been covered by the Associated Press (AP), New York Times, Washington Post, National Public Radio (NPR), Oprah (O) and Essence magazine and CNN Espanol. In 2008, Nour became the Director of the Global Obstetrics and Gynecology Division at BWH.

Actors

Alexander Siddig

Alexander Siddig

Born on November 21 1965, Siddig El Tahir El Fadil El Siddig Abderrahman Mohammed Ahmed Abdel Karim El Mahdi is a Sudanese-born English actor also known as Siddig El Fadil and his stage name Alexander Siddig. He is known for playing Dr. Julian Bashir in the television series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and for his performances as Prince Nasir Al-Subaai in Syriana (2005) and as Imad ad-Din al-Isfahani in Kingdom of Heaven (2005). He has also guest starred on 24 as Hamri Al-Assad. Siddig co-starred in the award-winning film Cairo Time (2009) as Tareq Khalifa.

Fashion Industry

Omer Asim

Sudanese Omer Asim studied architecture at The Bartlett followed by a postgraduate at the London School of Economics and Political Science. He experimented within the United Stations Development Program before finding fashion. Asim learnt the craft through a number of internships starting with Maurice Sedwell Row, leading to a freelance with the wardrobe team of the smash hit Harry Potter saga. His label launched with a small installation during London Fashion Week in September ’09.

Alek Wek

Alek Wek

Born on April 16, 1977, Wek is a Sudanese British model who first appeared on the catwalks at the age of 18 in 1995, sparking a career lasting to date. Coming from the Dinka ethnic group in Southern Sudan, she and her family fled in 1991 to Britain to escape the civil war in Sudan. A Models 1 scout discovered Wek at an outdoor market in London in 1995 in Crystal Palace in south London. She first received attention when she moved to the US that year, appearing in Tina Turner’s the music video, GoldenEye. Later, she entered the world of fashion as one of its top models. Wek was signed to Ford Models in 1996 and also seen in the Janet Jackson’s music video, Gone ‘Til It’s Gone, that year. MTV named Wek the Model of the Year in 1997. She was the first African model to appear on the cover of Elle. Amongst other things, she has done advertisements for Issey Miyake, Moschino, Victoria’s Secret and make-up company Clinique as well as walked the runway for high-profile fashion designers Shiatzy Chen, John Galliano, Chanel, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Jasper Conran and Ermanno Scervino. In 2002, Wek made her acting debut in The Four Feathers as Sudanese princess Aquol. Wek has also been a guest on The Tyra Banks Show, America’s next top model and The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency.

Atong Arjok

Atong Arjok

Arjok is a Sudanese American model born in California in 5 October 1985. She was first discovered in Los Angeles but moved to New York so that she can be more involved in the industry. Arjok is considered to be one of the top Nubian models and black models to enter the fashion world since popular model, Alek Wek. She is known for her long legs and her beauty has often been compared to Alek Wek’s. She has walked the runway for renowned Designers such as Luca Luca, Phillip Lim, Catherine Malandrino, Diane von Furstenberg, Sass Bide, Custo Barcelona, Alexandre Herchcovitch, Lacoste, Heatherette. She appeared in Vogue Italia and was photographed by Steven Klein, Michael Thompson for Allure, Glamour, Trace, Teen Vogue, and Russian Vogue. Arjon has appeared in national ad campaigns for Patricia Fields for Destination Style New York, Kenneth Cole Reaction, John Varvatos for Converse, Diesel, Catherine Malandrino, Behnaz Sarafpour for Target, I.N.C. She was photographed by Greg Kadel and photographed for cosmetics ad campaigns for Estée Lauder Prescriptives and Sephora. In 2008, she appeared in a two 30 second commercials and received a spot for Target, featuring designers Milla Jovovich, Carmen Hawk and Old Navy.

Ajak Deng

Ajak Deng

Deng, 19, was one of the breakout stars of the SS10 Paris shows, booking Chloe, Givenchy, Jean Paul Gaultier, and Lanvin. An array of editorials has followed — most notably, Interview with Mikael Jansson and V with Amy Troost. Born in the Sudan, Ajak now calls Melbourne, Australia home. In March 2010, she walked for Lanvin, Givenchy, Chloe, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Ataui Deng

Ataui Deng

Deng (born November 11, in Khartoum, Sudan) is a Sudanese-American fashion model. She’s a niece of Sudanese-British fashion model, Alek Wek. Together with her family, she moved to the United States (San Antonio, Texas) in 2004. Just four years later, her modeling career started when she signed a contract with Trump Model in New York. Since then she walked the catwalk for renowned names such as Zac Posen, Lacoste, Christian Dior and John Galliano. In 2010, she closed the s/s 11 Lanvin show in Paris, alongside Ajak Deng, Jeneil Williams, Melodie Monrose, and Jourdan Dunn. She also appeared in magazines such as Teen Vogue, V Magazine, and appeared on the cover of French Revue de Mode. Furthermore she was shot for campaigns by fashion brands Kenzo and Benetton, among others. She’s currently signed with Trump Models in New York, and with Elite Models in Paris and Milan.

Musicians

Abdelkarim AlKabli

Abdelkarim AlKabli

Giant of modern Sudanese music, Abdel Karim AlKabli is a poet, composer, and folklorist who plays the oud (lute) with deceptive ease and whose deep melodious voice embraces both classical and Arabic styles. Talented in his own right as a lyricist, he has also set classical poetry to music and delved into the treasury of folk songs of North, East and Central Sudan, fascinated by the diversity of rhythm and melody to be found in Africa’s largest country. In the 35 years since his first concert appearance – when he sang the “Song for Asia and Africa” at the National Theatre in Omdurman in honor of President Nasser of Egypt – Al Kabli has become a walking encyclopedia of his country’s musical heritage. AlKabli’s songs contain a diversity of topics and scenes including love, passion, revolution, nationalism and Sudanese folklore. Some of his songs are old Arabic poems that can be comprehended by Arabic linguists. Others are in old Sudanese Arabic dialect that might require deep knowledge of the language and customs. Some of his songs include “Ya Bint Ashreen” (O that Girl in her twenties), “Sukar Sukar” (Sugar Sugar), “Asia wa Africa” (Asia and Africa), “Noama”, “Cleopatra”, “Limaza” (Why?), and “Merowi”. On May 12, 2002 AlKabli was awarded an honorary doctorate in literature from Nyala University in Nyala, Sudan. In addition, he won Gold Award at the hands of Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. On October 7, 2004, he was awarded the UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador for Obsetric Fistula in Sudan for his advocacy for women health, gender equality and human rights. In January 2008, he was awarded the second honorary doctorate in music and arts from Sudan University.

Mohammed Wardi

Mohammed Osman Hassan Salih Wardi

Born July 19, 1932, Wardi was a Nubian Sudanese singer and songwriter. In 1953, Wardi went to Khartoum for the first time to attend a convention as a teaching representative for his area. He moved to Khartoum and started his career as a musical performer. In 1957, Omdurman Radio chose him to record and sing on national broadcast in an arena with legendary singers such as Abdelaziz Mohamed Dauod, Hassan Atia, Ahmed Almustafa, Osman Hussaein and Ibrahim Awad. Wardi recorded 17 songs in his first year. A committee formed by Omdurman Radio’s president that included top singers and songwriters such as AlKashif, Osman Hussaein and Ahmed Almustafa promoted Wardi to highest level as a professional singer. He had a bilateral with a famous poet, Ismail Hassan, resulting in more than 23 song. Wardi performs using a variety of instruments including the Nubian Tanbur and sings in both Arabic and Nubian languages.Described as Africa’s top singer, he has millions of fans mainly in the Horn of Africa.His songs address topics such as romance, passion, Nubian folklore and heritage, revolution and patriotism with some of his political songs resulting in him being jailed. After the introduction of Sharia in 1989, he left Sudan to voluntary exile in Cairo but returned in 2003. The artist was granted an honorary doctorate from the University of Khartoum in 2005 in recognition of his career for more than 60 years and his performance of more than 300 song. He died on February 18, 2012 at the age of 80 because of kidney complications.

Natasja Saad

Natasja Saad

Also known as Lil T, Little T and Natasja, Saad was a rapper and reggae singer whose vocals on a popular reggae fusion remix of Calabria gained her worldwide fame and a number one spot on Billboard’s Hot Dance Airplay chart six months after her death in a car accident. Before going solo, Natasja made her Danish breakthrough in 1990 when she formed the reggae band, “No Name Requested,” with Mukupa. The daughter of Sudanese father and Danish mother, died on June 24, 2007 at the age of 32 in a car accident in Jamaica.

Amir Khalifa "Oddisee"

Oddisse

Also known as Amir Moahmed or Amir Khalifa, Oddisee was born in Washington, D.C. to a Sudanese father and an African-American mother and grew up in Maryland. He was influenced by soul and rap as well as the myriad of musicians on both sides of his family. He was to pursue visual art at the Art Institute of Philadelphia until when a friend of his introduced him to hip-hop producing. Captivated by it, he changed his plans and concentrated on making beats, ending up with the track “Musik Lounge” on DJ Jazzy Jeff’s 2002 record, Magnificent. Part of the Low Budget crew, which included fellow D.C. area MC and producers Kenn Starr, Cy Young, and Kev Brown, Oddisee released his solo debut, Foot in the Door, mixed by Jazzy Jeff, on Halftooth in 2006.

Emmanuel Jal

Emmanuel Jal

In the war-torn region of Southern Sudan, Emmanuel Jal was born into the life of a child solider. Through unbelievable struggles, Emmanuel managed to survive and emerge as a world-famous recording artist with a hit record under his belt. Called an artist “with the potential of a young Bob Marley” by Peter Gabriel, he has performed at Live 8 and Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday concert. His music can be heard in major motion pictures, TV, and he’s been featured in major outlets like TIME, USA Today, NPR, CNN, MTV and the BBC. Emmanual is also a spokesperson for Amnesty International and Oxfam, and created the charitable foundation, Gua Africa.

Samy Deluxe

Samy Deluxe

Samy Sorge (born 19 December 1977 in Hamburg), commonly known as Samy Deluxe, Wickeda MC or Sam Semillia is a German hip-hop artist from Hamburg. He is one of Germany’s most successful solo rap musicians while also releasing albums as a member of two separate crews, Dynamite Deluxe (with DJ Dynamite aka Joni Rewind and Tropf) and ASD (with Afrob). He has his own label Deluxe Records. In 2001, Samy Deluxe released his first solo album, Samy Deluxe. Following this release of the single Weck mich auf, Samy became one of the greatest German hip-hop and international artists. In August 2004, he released the second album, Verdammtnochma!, which the reached number two in the German album-charts and stayed for three weeks in the Top 10.

Yaba Angelosi

Yaba Angelosi

Angelosi is a famous Sudanese singer and entertainer who has performed exclusively in front of distinguished guests at places like Howard University, Tennessee State University, Sudan’s CPA celebration in DC and many more. This 6’2” talented singer from Juba has tags of being an accredited producer, lyricist, songwriter and CEO of ASSIDA Productions on him. Born on January 15, 1984 in Juba, his family migrated to United States in 2000 and ever since then, Yaba has been working tirelessly to sharpen his craft. Besides making music his career, he studies audio engineering at the University of Northern Virginia.

Reema Major

Reema Major

Born June 26, 1995 in Khartoum, Reema Major is living out her dream as a multi-talented artist and the self proclaimed “Illest Kid” and “Mother to the New School Era.” Reema’s family fled Sudan to escape the coup taking refuge in Kenya and Uganda, before making Canada home in 1998.  In Canada, Reema was first introduced to music and hip hop at the early age of 5 by her cousin.Reema speaks Arabic, Sudanese Tribal Tongue, as well as English and these colorful languages and cultures inspire her music, fashion and love of life. After being discovered on Myspace by Stephen Hill, BET’s President of Programming, Talent and Specials, and being invited to participate in the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards cypher. Working with G7 Record, Universal Music Canada and Interscope Records, Reema has worked with producers including The Stereotypes, Bangledesh and DJ Toomp.

Abd El Gadir Salim

Abd El Gadir Salim

A folk singer and bandleader from Sudan, Salim is one of the most well-known Sudanese singers in the West, having performed around the world and recorded in many nations including England. He was born in 1950s the village of Dilling, Kordofan province, surrounded by the Nuba Mountains in the west of Sudan. Salim trained in both European and Arabic music at the Institute of Music in Khartoum, beginning with Oud. By 1971, he changed from composing urban-styled music to country tunes. Seeking out traditional and colloquial songs to perform, Salim began in his native Kordofan and Darfur. Rarely writing his own lyrics, the songs he finds range from politically-aware, educational arguments to love ballads. Salim is noted for maintaining a neutral repertoire that keeps him from irritating the Islamic government of Sudan. The international performer  was a headmaster of a school in Chad between at least the mid-1980s and the mid-2000s. In 2005, he recorded an album with, Sudanese rapper, former child soldier and, Christian convert, Emmanuel Jal called Ceasefire.

Artists

Rashid Diab

Rashid Diab

On January 24th 2006, the Rashid Diab Arts Centre (RDAC) was officially introduced to the residents of Khartoum. After a long absence from Sudan, Rashid Diab, one of Sudan’s most exceptional and internationally recognized artists, returned to the motherland to open an art gallery. The RDAC was his second art gallery, following the Madani Gallery, his home away from home in Madrid, Spain. Born in 1957 in Wad Medani, on the banks of the Nile, Diab studied in Sudan and received his BA in Fine Art with honors from the University of Khartoum in 1978. Moving to Spain in the early 80′s, he completed an MFA in painting, an MFA in etching and a PHD in Fine Art from Complutense University in Madrid. His talent and educational background led him to become the first foreigner to teach at the prestigious Madrid’s San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts.

Sports

Ismail Ahmed Ismail

Ismail Ahmed Ismail

Born in Khartoum on 10 September 1984, Ismail is a Sudanese runner specializing in the 800 meters. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, he reached the final in the 800-meter event. He also competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing where Ismail won the silver medal. He is the first Sudanese national to win an Olympic medal in history. He won the gold medal at the 2003 Afro-Asian Games. Ismail is a member of the Fur people of Darfur.

Manute Bol (left)

Manute Bol

Bol was a Sudanese-born basketball player and activist. At 7 feet, 7 inches (2.31 meters), he was one of the tallest players ever to appear in the National Basketball Association, along with Gheorghe Mureşan. Bol was officially measured at 7 feet, 6 3/4 inches tall by the Guinness Book of World Records. Son of a Dinka tribal chief, Bol was born on October 16, 1962 in either Turalei or Gogrial, Sudan. Bol played basketball for two colleges and four NBA teams. He was known as a specialist player; his shot blocking skills were considered among the best in the history of the sport, but other aspects of his game were considered fairly weak. One statistical oddity highlights Bol’s unique skill set: he is the only player in NBA history to have more blocked shots than points scored. On June 19, 2010, Bol died from acute kidney failure and complications from Stevens–Johnson syndrome at the University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Luol Deng

Luol Deng

Born on April 16, 1985, Deng is a Sudanese-British professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls and the Great Britain national basketball team. He plays the small forward position. Deng scored a career-high 40 points to lead the Chicago Bulls nba jerseys to a 110-98 victory over Portland on Monday night. Deng’s previous career best of 38 points, on March 26, 2007, also came against the Trail Blazers.

Deng Gai

Born on March 22, 1982 in Wau, Gai is a Sudanese professional basketball player, formerly in the NBA. He plays as a power forward. Gai was the 2005 NCAA Division I men’s basketball season blocks leader. In 2004, Gai declared for the NBA Draft but ultimately withdrew his name. In 2005, the Philadelphia 76ers signed him as a free agent. After playing in only two games for the team, Gai was waived in December 2005. He then briefly played for the USBL’s Dodge City Legend and the ABA’s Wilmington Sea Dawgs. After being drafted in 2005 by the CBA’s Albany Patroons (2nd round, 10th overall) Gai played for the team in the USBL leading it in blocks. At the end of the season, he was named to the league’s All-Defensive Team. In 2007-2008, Gai represented Poland’s Śląsk Wrocław but the team folded after that season.

Majak Daw

Majak Daw

Born on March 11, 1991, Daw is a professional Australian rules footballer in the Australian Football League (AFL). He and his family in Australia are refugees from the civil wars in Sudan. Daw was the first Sudanese Australian to be drafted to an AFL club when he was contracted to the North Melbourne Football Club in the 2009 AFL Draft. Daw’s drafting gained international attention especially when BBC and the Voice of America reported on it. Daw made his first appearance for North Melbourne in an NAB Cup match on 20 February 2011.

Omer Khalifa

Born on December 18, 1956, Khalifa is a former Sudanese middle distance runner who set a national record of 3:33.28 minutes over 1500 meters in Grossetto in 1986. Prior to this, he won silver medals in the 800 m and 1500 m races at the Olympic Boycott Games in 1980. Khalifa won the 1500 m race at the World Cup 1985 in Canberra. He finished fifth in the 1500 m final at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics in Rome and eighth in the 1984 Summer Olympics in the same event. He also competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics, finishing 12th.

Abubaker Kaki Khames

Abubaker Kaki Khames

Born on June 21, 1989, Khames is a Sudanese runner who specializes in the 800 metres. He is a two-time World Indoor Champion over the distance and also won gold at the 2007 All-Africa Games. He represented Sudan at the 2008 Summer Olympics. In February 2008, he ran a world leading 2:15.7 in the 1000 m indoors in Sweden. On March 9, 2008 in Valencia, Khames became the youngest ever World Indoor champion after winning the 800 m final at age 18 years and 262 days. On June 6, 2008, he won the Bislett Games Golden League meeting in Oslo by running 1:42.69, a new world junior record. The following month, Khames entered the 2008 World Junior Championships in Athletics as the 800 m favorite.

Haitham Mustafa Karar

Haitham Mustafa Karar

Born on July 19, 1977 in North of Khartoum, Karar is a Sudanese football midfielder playing for one of Sudan’s strongest football teams, Al-Hilal. Captain of Al-Hilal, he also plays as midfielder. After transferring from Al-Ameer Al-Bahrawi, a second league team in Sudan, he joined Al-Hilal in November 1995. Karar is one of Sudan’s football legends. In his youth years, Karar was regarded as a highly talented holding midfielder, leading the Sudanese national team to qualify for the 2008 African Cup of Nations, which was the first time for the national team to qualify (then 2008) in over 30 years. He is known for his high-ability of play making and throw passes are. Currently, he is a Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations.

Nagmeldin Ali Abubaker

Nagmeldin Ali Abubaker

Born in Khartoum on February 22, 1986, Abubakr lives in Nyala, southern Darfur, and is a sergeant in the Sudanese army. His family is of the Zaghawa (Beri) ethnic group. Abubaker is a Sudanese athlete who mainly competes in the 400 meters. In April 2005 in Mecca, he achieved his best time in 44.93 seconds. Described as one of Sudan’s main medal hopes at the Games, Abubaker competed in the 400 meters event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Todd Matthews-Jouda

Todd Matthews-Jouda

Jouda (born June 28, 1979) is a hurdling Sudanese athlete, who is notable for having switched nationality from United States to Sudan in September 2003. In 2002, before he switched to Sudan, his personal best is 13.36 seconds but it wasn’t a national record. Instead, his Sudanese record is 13.45, which he achieved in October 2004. The 2003 Afro-Asian Games was his first major international tournament for Sudan where he won a gold medal. Competing for his new nation, Matthews-Jouda became an African champion in July 2004 and competed at the Summer Olympics a month later. The flag bearer for Sudan, Matthews-Jouda finished last in his heat at the 2005 World Championships.

Yamile Aldama Pozo

Yamile Aldama Pozo

Born on August 14, 1972 in Havana, Pozo is a Sudanese triple jumper who formerly represented Cuba. After a failed attempt to acquire a British passport, she acquired the Sudanese citizenship in 2004. As a Cuban citizen, she won a world championship silver medal, and in 2003, Pozo set a North and Central American record with 15.29 meters. Her Sudanese record is 15.28 meters, achieved in August 2004 in Linz. In 1996, Pozo gained her first international success in the event, winning gold (14.39) at the 1996 Ibero-American Championships in Medellin, Colombia. Later that year, she leapt 14.43 and made the Olympic team for Atlanta but was unable to participate because of injury. Pozo’s breakthrough came in 1999. After finishing 7th at the World Indoor Championships in Maebashi, Japan (14.47), she equaled the national record (14.60) in claiming her third national title in May and improved the record to 14.77 in winning the Pan American Games in Winnipeg two months later. In August, Pozo took the silver medal (14.61) at the World Championships in Seville but did not improve in the Olympic year, although she finished a respectable 4th in Sydney (14.30).

Kueth Duany (left)

Kueth Duany

Born on April 22, 1980 in Sudan, Duany is a Sudanese former college basketball player for the Syracuse Orange who was the captain and lone senior on Syracuse’s 2003 NCAA National Championship team. The Fayetteville Patriots took Duany with the sixth pick in the fifth round of the National Basketball Development League. He appeared in three games with the Patriots before being released on December 4, 2003. Following Fayetteville, Duany played overseas for Pyrinto (Finland), Braunschweig (Germany) and Bonn (Germany). With Pyrinto, he started in 21 games and recorded 12.3 ppg and 6.4 rpg for the 9th placed team. Dunay also played in the American Basketball Association for Long Beach. On October 27, 2006, Duany signed a contract with the ABA’s Buffalo Silverbacks. He appeared in nine games, averaging 18.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. In April 2007, Duany joined the Indonesian national team in Jakarta to play in the SEABA Championships. Indonesia recruited him to bolster up their roster although Duany has no familiar links to the country.

Osama Malik

Osama Malik

Born on September 30, 1990 by a Sudanese father and Australian mother, Osama “Ozzie” Malik is known as an Australian football/soccer player, playing for Adelaide United. His older brother Zaki Malik is also a footballer too, who plays in the FFSA Super League for the Adelaide Galaxy. Malik signed for Adelaide United’s youth squad at the commencement of the A-League 2008–09 season. Prior to this he had been plying his trade for local club Adelaide Raiders where he made his senior debut at the age of 17. In early 2008, Malik spent two weeks on trial at Italian club Torino. Adelaide United manager, Aurelio Vidmar, called up Osama to the first team squad as a replacement for injured striker, Paul Agostino, for the FIFA Club World Cup. On 14 December 2008, Malik made his professional debut in the Club World Cup against Gamba Osaka replacing Brazilian, Cristiano, in the 77th minute. On 3 June 2009, Malik signed a one-year deal with the North Queensland Fury as an under-21 player after playing most of last year at Adelaide Galaxy. For the 2011-12 Season, Malik has resigned with Adelaide United, under manager, Rini Coolen.However, on 17 May 2011, Adelaide United approached North Queensland Fury asking for an early release which was granted allowing the player to play for his new club for the remainder of the 2010-11 Season.

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This is not it for the list. I’m sure there are people that I may not know of therefore, are not on the list. Your suggestions are encouraged and much appreciated! Also note that politics is an excluded  category. The focus remains on Sudanese individuals who’ve excelled in distinctive fields.

Sudan is the largest and one of the most geographically diverse countries in Africa. The country has been beset by conflict. Two rounds of north-south civil war cost the lives of 1.5 million people, and a continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has driven two million people from their homes and killed more than 200,000. Moreover, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The charges relate to the conflict in the western Darfur. And now, the country may split after the south’s vote in the January 2011 referendum to separate and form the continent’s newest state. The Sudanese media/news agencies have reported on Sudan’s ongoing corruption and civil tension for decades but have always been highly restricted and censored. Most state-run radio, TV and newspaper agencies reflect government policy and are not privately owned but government-owned. There are a few news agencies that are owned by both the government and private investors. A military censor ensures that news reflects official views.[1] International broadcasters are also heard but in August 2010, the Sudanese government has announced it is suspending the BBC’s license to broadcast in Arabic on local FM frequencies in four northern cities, including the capital, Khartoum. Security personnel also informed editors in recent days that journalists who had not completed an extensive government questionnaire would be detained.[2] The private press enjoys a greater degree of freedom than the state broadcasters and offers a limited forum for opposition views, but the state retains and uses powers to influence what is published. Pre-publication censorship of newspapers by the intelligence services was lifted in 2009 after editors signed the “ethical code.” But after President Bashir was re-elected in April 2010, opposition and privately owned papers said screening returned. According to web filtering monitoring body OpenNet Initiative (ONI), “Sudan openly acknowledges filtering content that transgresses public morality and ethics or threatens order.” Blogging is “subject to scrutiny and can incur serious consequences.”[3] In 2009, Sudan’s National Assembly unanimously approved the Press and Publication Act, also referred to as the Journalism and Press Publications Bill 2009, which guarantees freedom of the press that triggered protests in Khartoum but fails to abolish censorship and allay the fears of many Sudanese journalists. The Act provides for the formation of a national press council, based in Khartoum, to be subordinate to the presidency. The president has the power to choose six of the council’s 21 members; his role, and the council’s licensing powers, lead some journalists to view the council as still being too powerful under the new law.[4] It will have the authority “to suspend a newspaper for up to three days without the involvement of a law court and will also license press companies and lay conditions for the registration of journalists, distributors and printers. Journalists said they were pleased legislators had removed a section from earlier drafts that would have allowed a powerful press council to fine journalists or newspapers up to 50,000 Sudanese Pounds ($21,000). In the final version, law courts decide penalties and can choose how long to suspend newspapers. But the new press bill leaves room for state interference on the grounds of national security or public order, and it remains unclear if censorship will be reduced. Newspapers have long complained that officials from Sudan’s national security apparatus have censored articles, seized print runs, shut down newspapers for weeks at a time and interfered with the transport of papers out of Khartoum.[5]

In 2010, Khartoum’s prosecutor-general charged a Sudanese opposition journalist, Abu Zar al-Amin, for terrorism and espionage and allegedly tortured him while in custody. He’s charged for “undermining the constitution,” “terrorism and espionage,” “publishing false news,” “undermining the prestige of the State,” and “inciting sedition.” The deputy editor of the daily, Rai al-Shaab, Al-Amin was arrested with three of his colleagues when security forces closed down the daily because of an article alleging that Iran had built a weapons factory in Sudan to supply insurgents in Africa and the Middle East. If convicted, al-Amin faces the death penalty.[6]

Faisal Elbagir is another Sudanese journalist who has been detained and interrogated for his work. But the last time it happened, he decided to flee, leaving his wife and daughter behind, fearing his life is in danger. “The day before I left Sudan, I was questioned and told I was an ‘enemy’. The message was very clear: they were either going to put me in prison on false charges, by saying I was passing information to the ICC, or they were going to assassinate me,” said Elbagir.” After the arrest warrant, the head of security announced that those supporting the ICC would not be allowed to live, that they were ‘betraying the nation’. He said he would cut their hands and cut their ears.”[7]

Journalists in Sudan like al-Amin and Elbagir face being charged for insult, espionage or sedition. Unlike in the United States, if found guilty of such crimes you’ll get imprisoned for sometime but the death penalty for such crimes doesn’t exist anywhere in the US except New Mexico. In addition, other than excessive torture, another punishment for such crimes is amputation of hands and feet. Such punishments are recognized as violations of international human rights laws. However, the crimes al-Amin and Elbagir are crimes that journalists in the US are held accountable for but the punishment for the crime differs. Journalists in Sudan are prone to greater risks of censorship and restriction that in the US because the media laws in Sudan offers the president, his government and council lay conditions that restrict freedom of press in Sudan. As the law says, “[t]here shall not be imposition of restrictions on freedom of press publication except according to law in issues pertaining to safeguarding the national security and public order and health.” This allows the state continuous interference on grounds of national security or public order, making it unclear whether censorship will be reduced, especially since the country’s intelligence services will still be authorized, under the National Security Act, to censor newspapers before their publication.[8] Whereas, the US’ media law restricts the government or any government official from intervening in news’ agencies publications or broadcasting. News agencies outside of Sudan are free to say whatever they choose about Sudan. Most of them are anti-regime, but if they come to Sudan, they’ll be at risk of danger. After the peace agreement in 2005, the government started to open up to criticism but to a certain limit. Therefore, Sudanese news agencies in Sudan are free to stay what they want but to a limit. The national security or police judges or assesses the limit. In that respect, some of the papers are shut down or journalists, reporters or editors could be arrested. That limit itself is unclear as mentioned earlier. Journalists can take pictures anywhere but some places are restricted such as government institutions or offices. Unlike in the US, you can tape record the person only with his consent because the disclosure of the information the person reveals is up to him. In the US, however, you can tape record whomever you want without their consent. That’s under the “one-party rule” but if there are more than two people involved as the “two-party rule” explains, you have to get their consent to be recorded. When seeking information that has to do with the government, the general auditor or the Bank of Sudan release these records.

Read the original article on Qatar Behind The Wheel, a website my classmates and I put together to promote safe driving in Qatar: http://qataraccidents.org/

I highly recommend that you go through to watch the videos, see the pictures and graphics and read the articles. It’ll take 40 min max, but you’ll truly come out with something.

Walid Sakr and Marie-Antoinette Attiyeh just had a baby girl, Meera Sakr. As this life was given to them, another was taken away almost two years ago when their first daughter, Dana Sakr, was killed in a car accident.

On October 18, 2009, The Lebanese School in Qatar’s bells rang to mark the end of the day and Marie-Antoinette, a Lebanese psychologist, went to pick up her son, Chadi, 7, Dana, 4, and their neighbor’s daughter, 3. Chadi and his mother waved to a passing car, gesturing the driver to stop. The driver stopped, allowing them to cross the street. As Marie-Antoinette crossed the street with all three children and Dana on her side, holding on to her, Marie-Antoinette stopped to place the neighbor’s daughter on the sidewalk and asked Chadi to watch her for a minute. As she looked back at Dana, she found her lying on the street with blood flowing from her ears. “I knew right away that she passed away,” said Marie-Antoinette.

The driver lifted his leg off the brake and without accelerating, he slightly hit Dana’s face. The impact was strong enough for her head to slam onto the ground, Walid and Marie-Antoinette said. She died instantly. Neither the young man nor his family called or visited the deceased’s family during the funeral. According to Walid, the only time the family received a call from the young man was when he asked how he could avoid going to court.

When the ambulance arrived, Dana’s heartbeat couldn’t be heard. According to Marie-Antoinette, a young lady leaving the school distracted the driver who promised to stop. “Young boys come with their new luxurious cars to look at and exchange numbers with young female students,” said Marie-Antoinette. The police report said the cause was “Ignorance and lack of attention [and] driving with an expired training license.”

The age of the driver is in dispute, with Marie-Antoinette believing the young man was 17 and the police report stating he was 26. Local newspapers like Al Raya reported that the driver was 27. The young man was jailed for four days, paid QR 10,000 to Dana’s family, and had his expired training license taken away for three months.

Initially, the driver’s car insurance company claimed that Marie-Antoinette waited in the car while her daughter crossed the street. The insurance company was eventually ordered to pay QR 200,000 to Dana’s family.

Marie-Antoinette blames Qatar’s lenient laws for allowing the man who accidently killed her daughter to serve a four-day sentence. Mohamed Al Malki, an expert in the Office of the Minister State for Interior Affairs and General Secretary of the National Committee for Traffic Safety, said the young man’s punishment was “not a crime, it’s a traffic accident”

There should be tougher laws to punish traffic violators, said Marie-Antoinette. “We can’t raise a generation without laws. “If there are no laws, there’ll be more accidents. What’s the point of raising your children properly when the law doesn’t back you up?”

According to the Ministry of Interior’s Traffic Department, if a pedestrian is killed in a car accident, the driver must pay QR 200,000. If the car is insured, the insurance company foots the amount. In cases where the driver responsible for the fatal accident can’t pay the penalty, he goes to jail.

Al Malki said that everyone was at fault for Dana’s death. “The school is responsible, the mother is responsible and the driver is responsible,” he believes. “The school should look out for the children and the mother shouldn’t have left her daughter walking behind her. Although the driver wasn’t speeding, he should have slowed down.”

“Almost zero percent” of children die in car accidents in Qatar, most of whom were pedestrians, said Al Malki. But that doesn’t mean that the children getting hit by vehicles narrative is non-existent in Qatar. “Children of the age two and three get hit by cars at their homes or schools, especially when somebody is reversing.” Al Malki recalls an incident where an elderly man accidently killed his granddaughter while pulling out of the driveway.

Dealing with young men who speed and refuse to wear seat belts is challenging, said Al Malki. According to Al Malki, males, especially Qataris, between the ages of 16-28, die or get injured the most in local car accidents. However, “The problem now is families,” he said, because parents don’t encourage their children to wear seat belts and infants are not placed in car seats. To illustrate how families are fueling Qatar’s traffic woes, he spoke of a woman who was driving with her eight-member family on Mesaeed St. On the way to Sealine road, the woman got into a car accident that killed two, including a six-year-old boy who was in the backseat. Many fatalities and injuries caused in car accidents could be avoided if passengers, whether sitting on the front or backseat, wore seat belts, Al Malki reasoned.

Though laws on the books state that children must be fastened into car seats, lax enforcement is making it possible for parents to ignore them. Traffic laws that protect children will be enforced soon, Al Malki said. When questioned further about the laws’ details and when they will be enforced, he refrained from answering.

Dana’s death introduced new precautions to Qatari school districts. A security guard controls traffic in the area that The Lebanese School in Qatar, Qatar International School and Lycee Voltaire, Qatar’s French school are located. Several speed humps, street lines, signals and road divisions have been added to prevent traffic accidents.

Although Dana’s death led to several pedestrian oriented safety measures, Qatar is now more concerned with children’s safety in cars. It is common to see children sitting on their parent’s laps in front seats, especially on the driver’s lap. Some children are seen playing or standing in the back seats where a sudden brake could cause them to hit the car’s windshield. “They’re using them [children] as air bags,” said Lisa Harvey, a Scottish mother living in Qatar for two and a half years. When she drives, Harvey puts her child in a car seat and uses the “baby on board” sign, which she says people ignore by speeding close to her car.

Harvey’s friend, Linn Eriksen, a Norwegian mother living in Qatar for a year, witnessed an 11-year-old boy driving a car in her residential compound. “He was looking everywhere but on the road,” she said.

“I don’t understand why they [families] don’t keep them [children] safe because they’re so family-oriented,” added Therese Juncker, another concerned mother. “I’m concerned every time I drive.”

Harvey, Eriksen and Juncker believe that in the UK and Norway, there’s a higher level of awareness of children’s car safety than in Qatar. In the UK, for example, if a woman gives birth and is released from the hospital along with her baby, nurses will accompany her to the car to ensure she has a car seat. In addition, it’s common for salesmen to personally secure car seats into customers’ vehicles.

Although Harvey criticizes Qatar driving culture, she still acknowledges that Qatar is a developing country and the mindset here is different from the UK’s. “Twenty years ago, we didn’t have car seats [in the UK],” she said. Harvey believes people in Qatar don’t put their children in car seats in part because “they don’t have the money to afford car seats.”

Although many expatriates like Harvey argue that many Qataris don’t use car seats, employees at various children-orientated shops say otherwise. Car seats have increased in the last two years and locals are the most common buyers, said Wafaa Hayouk, Carrefour’s Child/Baby Manager at the City Center mall. “The community has become really aware,” said Hayouk. With prices varying from QR 150 to QR 500, Carrefour sells some of the cheapest car seats in Qatar.

Mamas and Papas, a prominent children’s store in Villagio mall, sells five to 15 car seats daily with prices ranging from QR 900 to QR 1600, said Zeina Rachid, the store’s assistant manager. Expatriates, who buy car seats for children up to the age of 11, are the most common customers, said Rachid.

Mamas and Papas joined Jaidah Automotive, Qatar’s sole importer of Chevrolet vehicles, and Al Khebra Driving School, one of the country’s leading driving schools, in a campaign to promote safe driving in Qatar, which also focuses on child safety. On an advertisement found at the Chevrolet showroom in Al Dafnah, a campaign advertisement shows a mother with her child on her lap. Next to that image is a picture of the same child secured in a car seat. “If you really want to hold on to them…let them go and strap them in,” said the advertisement’s slogan. A model of a Mamas and Papas car seat stands next to the advertisement.

According to Rachid, Mamas and Papas car seats, like Chevrolet’s cars, are crash tested to determine the occupant’s survivability. “You can see kids on the sunroof, sitting on their dad’s lap when the right location is to be on the child seat.” said Sami Skaff, the senior marketing executive of Jaidah Automotive. “If they’re in the middle, they’ll fly into the dashboard or hit the windshield.” In the coming months, Jaidah Automotive and its strategic partner, Al Khebra Driving School, are conducting a defensive driving course for the public. The course targets young drivers because they are the people most involved in car accidents.

The course also educates drivers about how to keep children safe in vehicles. People shouldn’t put their children in front seats because in doing so “you’re killing your baby in case an accident happens,” said Samson Mutahi, the defensive driving course supervisor at Al Khebra Driving School. “Later, you’ll cry because of ignorance.”

Mutahi said that the top three child safety rules are: always put your child in the backseat, fasten your child’s seat belt, and place babies in a car seat.

It’s not only the responsibility of Qatar’s traffic departments or companies such as Jaidah Automotive and Al Khebra Driving School, “It’s about who’s behind the wheel,” said Abdullah Jassem Al-Buainain, the assistant investigation officer at Abu Hamour Traffic Department. “If you use the car inappropriately, it’s a killing machine.” Marie-Antoinette knows this all too well.