Book Review : Seeking Sanctuary

I was walking in the centre of the historic town of Oxford and I was completely bored. Suddenly, I saw the sign of one of my favourite shops; yep you guessed it Waterstones.So I walked inside and started to browse; I walked my walk up the four storey building slowly. Firstly, I went pass the novel section, next I passed the classics section , I quickly walked passed the educational books.I had to stop in the religion and philosophy section, after pickeing up a couple of books but because they was not to my fancy, I put them down again.I thought to my self I better leave, then I saw the clearance section.I instantly went to the clearance books and started looking. I was looking for bargains I only wanted to spend a mere £ 5 pound on a book, I had allocated myself this figure. I am a student so most of the time I am broke.Then suddenly I saw it it was inexpensive and looked interesting.I had always wanted to know about Sudan, this was mainly because it was always on the news for its longstanding civil war and humanitarian atrocities.I brought the book Seeking Sanctuary and the rest was history as they say.

Seeking Sanctuary tells the stories of Western reverts how they accepted the religion of Islam, and why they came to settle in the dusty desert country of Sudan.Their stories are very spiritual even though they come from the materialistic West to the simple Sudan.All the stories have a common theme, people who are seeking spirituality and trying to discover and improve their relationship with God.However, at the same time they are all trying to adjust to the culture and simplistic life that Sudan offers.They explain why they leave their well paid jobs , families and materialistic lives and how they discover happiness and contentment in an country that is going thought intense drought and civil war. The whole book is based on the characters that are of Mikal Mahmoud, Fatima, Moly,Mohammed Abdul Qadir, Naimah , Zarina and their stunning portraits.It is a great collection of humanity, kindness, courage and struggle.

After reading the book it gave me an different perspective, I now understand to a certain level why their is immense conflict in this country and the politics of it all. I have broadened my understanding of the Sudanese culture.The book has given me different insights of how life in Africa is really like and the difficulty foreigners face where they migrate there.The book has challenged my prejudice and stereotypes.I know know that it is not always as black and white as it may seem but many layers of grey.I recommend the book to anyone that ones to know how life in Sudan is really like and know what the media portray.which are based on their negative prejudice and lazy journalism.