I’ve had various emails from folks asking where they can buy Bint el Sudan in Canada or the U.S. As far as I know, it’s not produced here, but I’ve met a very nice Sudanese lady, Lubna Ali, who sells Sudanese products, including Bint el Sudan, here in Vancouver, Canada. I have no commercial stake in her company, but she...

Uyghur men in Kashgar souk When I visited Kashgar just over three years ago, I was disappointed at first. The road in from the airport passed concrete roundabouts and boring buildings typical of the modern Han Chinese city. There was even a giant Mao statue close to the bus station. While Kashgar – or Kashi as the Han Chinese call...

My story about teaching in Khartoum, Sudan in 2007 is now on the Transitions Abroad website. It begins this way: By Alison Bate Shortly after I arrived in Sudan, one of my favorite male students quietly passed me a handwritten note, whispering that I should read it later. After class, I read a charming explanation that because he was Muslim and I was a woman, he...