هذا الشعب لا تنقضي عجائبه!!

On 10th April 2015 my beloved wife passed away ending her pain and suffering due to aggressive ovarian cancer that spread to other organs. This lasted only six months before she left her 5 beautiful children and a devastated husband. At that time I was strolling in the Middle East (Dubai to KSA) looking for a new start in an attempt to avoid the collapsed economic system in my own country combined with the greatest currency devaluation in the history of our nation. I hurried back ending my pursuit to be with my family.

I was then jobless, with closer to Zero budget and without medical insurance. When it was confirmed that it is Cancer, I began to question the choices I have made including resigning a seemingly secured job with (at that time) a Telecom operator owned by Etisalat in Sudan!

Here when the incredible social networks of the Sudan came into action just after conveying the situation to few close friends. These networks are so common in Sudan but also has complicated matrix structure connecting almost everyone to everyone else.

A week after pathology diagnosis and Just hours before plane departure to Cairo as the chosen destination of treatment, a former work colleague donated $5000 in cash and promised to pay more after we arrive there. The last time we had contact with this donor was 14 years ago!

Colleagues from University OF Khartoum class of 1985 and through a whatsApp group collected donations of more than$ 12,000 paid to me in Cairo. Other groups from University of Gazera where my wife studied, close friends and extended family groups also made valuable contributions. With the rise of medical costs and after two failure surgeries, more money came in from more than 10 countries including Australia, US, Qatar, Sudan, Netherlands, UK, UAE, KSA, Oman , Canada and more! I could not count the number of people who paid money and defiantly I have not heard from them for the last 20 years. The first donor paid additional $10,000 through direct wire transfers. I became a regular customer to Western Union in Cairo visiting daily to collect donated money that at the end exceeded $50,000.

On the day she died and with the great confusion, sadness and bewilderment, I could not remember who paid a huge balance to the hospital to release the dead body, who arranged a coffin and a series of complicated government processes at the Egyptian side. I don’t know who booked flight tickets and who spread the news so that more than 150 persons were waiting at the small gates of Khartoum airport comforting us on our great loss.

So, what is the point about this sad story؟ I guess this tosses questions more than answers regarding who we are as people؟ And if we possess all these exceptional qualities why our country is one of the poorest in the whole world؟

I leave this to all of you to give your opinion. Only one point below that represents a challenge to money transfer security.

If you work as a banker somewhere or a security agent, you may have come across unexplained account transfers where someone sends money to so many people that seem unrelated to him / her. Or, suddenly an account starts to pile up with small funds from different people and different locations and regions within a short period of time. If this happen please check the word Sudan or Sudanese and then just sit back and relax! This has nothing to do with our corrupt government, terrorism or anything else. It is the network in action.

Share if you like my story.

Written by


Hashim Osman
Manager Procurement and Logistic
3/6/17, 7:58:39 AM