April 20, 2014

Its been a long time since I wrote:
At the end of March I went to Vassar College for a viewing of the documentary "The Longest Kiss"
It was just so compelling and such an eye opening experience that I want to start from the beginning
and share this story with you.
Henry and Ralph Mamiya have been friends since Vassar Nursery School  and we have been fortunate enough to be friends with the Mamiya family ever since.
Ralph graduated from Vassar and one of his classmates was Alexandra Sicotte-Levesque originally from Canada. They knew each other but that was it. Then they both, unknowingly, went to the Sudan with the UN after College. There Ralph and Alex met again and began dating. Although Alex was there with the UN, in her spare time, she was creating this documentary. The story begins:

I will quote Alexandra at first to be certain my facts are correct.
"The meeting of the Blue and White Nile in Sudan's capital Khartoum, is referred to as 'the longest kiss in history'. As the Arab Spring was in full bloom, Sudan, straddling between the Middle East and Africa,was about to split in two. The film follows six young Sudanese searching for a place to call 'home' as their journeys take us up and down the Nile, between north and south Sudan, ahead of the south's secession. Facing conflicting identities, youth in north Sudan grapple with a stale dictatorship while others in south Sudan hope to start over ---but a what costs? For the first time a film gives a voice to Sudanese youth from different origins, Muslims and Christians. It is an intimate portrait of a complex society that bears witness to its inevitable fragmentation"
These six young Sudanese, try to understand and define their national identity facing the gloomy atmosphere of Khartoum, the refugee camps, Juba--the new capital of South Sudan with the settings for their dramas both great and commonplace about love, desire and dreams of a better life.
I was "taken" with many of the stories as our newspapers don't seem to portray the real picture as we see in this documentary.A great lesson in geography, political movements, cultures facing problems we can't even fathom and about REAL people--just like us-- but in such a different place.

Alexandra founded Journalists for Human Rights in 2002 with Benjamin Peterson. She has also worked as a Radio Producer for the UN radio in Sudan, and the BBC. I feel so humbled when I am in her presence!! Yet she is so gracious, confident, well spoken with great knowledge of such a sensitive subject.

Ralph and Alex are still dating and that brought all of us to Vassar with the Mamiya family to view this documentary, back to Vassar where Alex graduated.
I wish everyone could be as fortunate as I was to view this great work and to meet Alexandra.