Meet Rohit Kuwad
“I have been living in Africa for 6,5 years. Some of this time, I spent in Sudan working as a contracted travel manager in the U.S. Embassy. My job was to book tickets and hotels for the embassy’s stuff. There were some tricky and challenging moments during my stay in Sudan. Once we had a man with prodigious desire to travel with his twelve cats; another time we had to plan a transit of US citizens that got stuck in Yemen due to the Civil War there. None of the Arab countries were allowing American citizens with Yemeni origin to stay, only Sudan permitted them to cross its border. IOM (International Organization for Migration) got these people to Sudan, and then it was my responsibility to book onward tickets for them. That was quite compound, as I had to work literally from midnight till morning, and most of the people did not even have money and could not speak English. That’s how I started to learn Arabic.
Nonetheless, I truly enjoyed the time I spent in Sudan. Sudanese are the nicest, the most welcoming and the most generous people I have ever met in my life. Unfortunately, due to the American sanctions, Sudan cannot develop as other Third World countries. That’s why the majority of people just do not know anything about Sudanese culture or about the life of average citizens. We all talk about the pyramids in Egypt, but Sudan has one of the most ancient pyramids which are worthwhile to visit. I believe over time many things [in Sudan] will be able to improve.”
