{"id":38214,"date":"2025-09-05T12:42:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T10:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/?p=38214"},"modified":"2025-09-05T21:17:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T19:17:07","slug":"i-dont-have-time-for-this-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/themarkaz.org\/oldsite\/i-dont-have-time-for-this-right-now\/","title":{"rendered":"I Don\u2019t Have Time For This Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"<h5>14 million people were displaced from Sudan during the ongoing war, the Sudanese diaspora develops coping mechanisms to deal with the consequences of war, displacement, grief, and keeping the culture alive by the power of Zoom weddings and Hilo-Murr.<\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4>Re&#8217;al Bakhit<\/h4>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the heart of Istanbul, a Sudanese restaurant nestles snugly in a second-floor apartment building, where they serve an array of mouth-watering Sudanese dishes. Each meal is complemented by a refreshing jug of Hilo-Murr, a popular Sudanese drink crafted from a blend of spices, that takes months to prepare and is served ice cold. The restaurant has a makeshift kitchen, a terrace with low stools and wooden tables, and a dining hall that undergoes a metamorphosis every time an occasion arises. In March of 2024, a year into the war in Sudan, the dining hall was decorated for a Zoom wedding<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and by the end of the month, it was stripped bare for a wake. This is how the Sudanese community endures war \u2014 by navigating the spaces in-between. We tuck our emotions away within these spaces, in our embraces, colorful <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">toubs<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and somber abayas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As far back as I can remember, I have never attended a Sudanese funeral without laughter reverberating through the air. Grief is never confronted<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">with sadness; instead it is met with a smiling face and a steadfast hope that someday things will get better. And they do, of course, but then fresh sorrow arrives, weighing down the one who has donned the dark attire and is wrapped in an endless sense of gratitude. I\u2019ve always resented that attitude. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why can\u2019t m<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">y people allow themselves to feel their sadness? Why do they always have to mask it with forced smiles and insincere tears? It seems there\u2019s never enough space to embrace all the sorrow in all its ugly, painful forms. No, we must always pick ourselves up and serve our guests a cup of tea. Because what would the attendees at the wake think<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">if we didn\u2019t serve a hearty lunch, and dinner, and didn&#8217;t keep the samovar going till the early hours of the morning? My father once told me that by serving others, a person can gradually reduce their pain<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> When carrying a tray of teacups and a full teapot around a room, it is as if a person is putting their grief on display. With each<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">backbend, every pour of tea, and each exhale while straightening up, the burden trickles away, it is passed around and shared until the teapot is nearly empty.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The drive back from that March wedding was merry. Our hips, shoulders, and cheeks ached from happiness. Our ears continued to ring from the sound of the organ piano and the thumping rhythm of the Daluka drums. Our relative got married, via Zoom. Still, we made it work, like we always do. The car\u2019s windows were<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">almost bursting from the laughter and chatter of seven people crammed inside it. That\u2019s another thing we\u2019re really good at \u2014 fitting as many people as possible into a huffing and puffing sedan. Ten minutes into the ride, a flurry of pings sounded from our phones that no one could reach, as most were buried deep in handbags under the seats. Then, a Bluetooth call connected through the car\u2019s speakers, reducing our chatter to whispers. When our driver answered the call, the voice on the other end whisked away<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">our whispers and ran with them all the way to Khartoum.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of our aunts had passed away. She had no means to leave the country once the war had started. She was ill, the hospitals not sufficiently equipped to save her. She is survived by four children under the age of fifteen. In truth, the hospitals were ransacked by the militia who stole every drug, destroyed and burned medical equipment, and threatened anyone who dared to help a patient. Every hospital in the capital city was understaffed, whereby most of the doctors had been either kidnapped or killed. It only took a few weeks of war for Sudan\u2019s healthcare system to completely collapse. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to the World Health Organization (WHO), after just ten days of figh<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tin<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">g, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gavi.org\/vaccineswork\/sudan-conflict-leaves-health-system-total-collapse?gad_source=1&amp;gad_campaignid=12319817265&amp;gbraid=0AAAAADibICPyRcPZH1lLIf8vGE5W2wPl9&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NfDBhDyARIsAD-ILeCLPPbumIO-1i4tYAsx-EsIG5V4VuwCeimx0JP-EwnjJTmmII_FbZ4aAoTVEALw_wcB\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">the death toll had exceeded 450<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with over 4,000 wounded. Additionally, reports indicated that 11 medical staff and students lost their lives amid the violence.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My anxiety attack hit me the moment we arrived home at our sanctuary, situated in one of the safest boroughs of Istanbul. I was lightheaded and incoherent. Survivors\u2019 guilt seized every rational thought and filled my mind with silent spiralling screams, and my body broke out into cold sweats. The thundering of drums echoed in my ears, merging with the sound of rushing blood and a high-pitched ringing. The anxiety attack deepened alongside my darkening thoughts and labored breathing. It wasn\u2019t the first time I had experienced this, and it certainly wasn\u2019t going to be the last. What sent me spiralling this time was the realization that my cousins were now orphans. Their father had passed away just a few years earlier, leaving them far too young to fend for themselves and to bear such overwhelming grief.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">They were not alone. According to the Center for Preventive Action, since the conflict began on April 15, 2023, around 150,000 people have lost their lives, and over <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cfr.org\/global-conflict-tracker\/conflict\/power-struggle-sudan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">14 million have been displaced<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. As a result, Sudan is facing the worst displacement crisis in the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The aftermath of war and displacement leads to a range of challenges including food shortages, outbreak of diseases, restricted access to health and safety services, as well as the collapse of economic, and educational systems. The list continues to grow. Similar to many humanitarian crises in the world, mental health often takes a backseat and in some cases disappears completely off the radar.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My brother called someone over to help calm me down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cI don\u2019t have time for this right now,\u201d the grownup responded, closing the door to their room. The shock of hearing those words jolted me out of my mental whirlpool. They were right; there was no time for tears, no time for panic, and no time to process the situation at hand. There were urgent calls to be made, a funeral to be planned, and silverware to be bought as all of Istanbul\u2019s Sudanese community would be attending the wake. How would anyone know how to handle an anxiety attack? None of us were ever taught that; it was considered shameful to struggle with such issues. While others faced a real threat of being killed<\/span> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">by axes and guns, I was grappling to find comfort from an invisible monster.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was shameful, and it still is. My reaction came from a place of privilege, one that I felt the need to hide because others had suffered worse than I had. Indeed, everyone tends to hide their pain. They close their doors and distract themselves with one thing or another. But if we all keep our struggles bottled up, doesn\u2019t that mean that our muffled pain will just fester into an unmanageable sickness? The stigma surrounding mental health in African and Arab countries has persisted for decades, if not centuries. Even before the onset of war, mental health was rarely acknowledged in Sudan. Studies indicate that nearly <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gh.bmj.com\/content\/10\/6\/e017518\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">13% of high school students quietly struggle<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> with depression and anxiety. If it weren\u2019t for social media, concepts like <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">survival guilt <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">and <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">anxiety attacks <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">might not have become part of my vocabulary.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The community, lacking proper awareness and education, is often left to bear the burden by developing numerous coping methods. Children and adolescents have cited displacement, insufficient basic necessities, inadequate school support, family separation, exposure to trauma, and a lack of mental health services as key reasons for their distress. It\u2019s important to note that these studies are primarily conducted on children or adolescents, because adults in Sudan are generally reluctant to discuss such experiences. When asked how they are coping with the war, the response is almost always the same: \u201cWe thank Allah for everything,\u201d typically accompanied by a strained smile and any absence of further elaboration. This is not intended as a critique of their faith or their remarkable ability to persevere through the harshest conditions. Rather, it aims to highlight a lack of awareness and a reluctance to explore the pain they\u2019re living with every day. And in the face of overwhelming pain, Sudanese people consistently find ways to cope, with community support playing a central role. Their collective resilience acts as a powerful defence against mental health struggles on a daily basis.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There is something profoundly healing about being surrounded by a community of people who refuse to give in to sorrow. I see it in the half smiles at weddings, the tears caught by the loose edges of toubs, the hollow laughter offered at funerals, and the sweet-sour Hilo-Murr served in our restaurants, that awakens the palette as it strikes that perfect balance between sweetness and tartness, all presented in a refreshing coolness.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Living in Istanbul among the Sudanese diaspora during the war, I\u2019ve gradually come to terms with my resentment over how sorrow is dealt with in our community. The diaspora comes together to weave stories, exchange information, engage in solution-forward discourse, and most importantly, to keep the culture alive. By reinforcing cultural traditions far from home, one begins to establish the groundwork for healing and progress. Whether it\u2019s applying dark henna on each other\u2019s hands, gathering for Ramadan Iftars, or sharing quirky jokes at funerals, people find ways to heal and to carve out pockets of bliss amidst all the chaos.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So I finally caved in and embraced the community-accepted coping mechanisms for managing my anxiety and learned how beautiful they can be. I learned to consult mental health professionals, wipe away my tears, pray to calm my racing thoughts, and dive headfirst into planning the next event. Who knows when the next phone call will arrive? Who knows if it will carry news of a life ending or one that is beginning?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s certainly not about giving up. I will continue to engage in conversations with members of the community and try to raise awareness. The road to breaking the porcelain mould that shields a Sudanese person\u2019s suffering is paved with a long history of generational silence. I\u2019m yet to unravel the various coping mechanisms utilized within the Sudanese community. We have, after all, learned to navigate the hard times by infusing joy into every occasion, living perpetually in the space between the Hilo and the Murr.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fourteen million people have been displaced from Sudan due to the war, finding joy in life between the Hilo and the Murr.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1084,"featured_media":38230,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,4734],"tags":[525,2848,807,843,920,1120,4750,4362,4363],"coauthors":[4751],"class_list":["post-38214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-tmr-53-out-of-our-minds","tag-displacement","tag-funerals","tag-home","tag-immigrants","tag-istanbul","tag-mental-health","tag-mental-health-stigma","tag-sudanese-diaspora","tag-war-in-sudan","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.8 (Yoast SEO v27.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I Don\u2019t Have Time For This Right Now - The Markaz Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Fourteen million people have been 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