It seemed an indelicate way to arrive at a religious ceremony. We bumped in, out and around gravestones set in desert scrub, before pulling up in the minivan in front of a huge circle of men in white robes. The pounding beat got louder as we walked to the edges of the circle and saw what they were all watching: green, red and leopard-clothed...

By Alison Bate (See also: Surprise in the Souk) In the Reader’s Digest Canada article about my grandfather and Bint el Sudan, there wasn’t room to include all the information and memories I collected about the perfume. Here, then, are some of the emails I received about Bint el Sudan, starting with the present, and followed by...

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...