Vox Lucens

As our trip winds to a close, we are trying to finish gathering all of the information that we need to plan this project out. As you probably already know, building requires property, which of course requires an application of Sudanese property law. And this property law contains some very interesting concepts.

Basically, the conclusion I came to after our meeting with the lawyer was that property in Sudan is based on a theory of lease from the government. Stop and think about that for a second; what a way of perpetuating the government, at the expense of the citizens. Now, I could be wrong about this conclusion in the broad sense, but it is certainly a practical reality for our project. In fact, a USAid contact later told us that one significant humanitarian effort in South Kordofan (where we will be building) is an effort to help them figure out their property laws.

It made me grateful for the fact that our property system is so well established, despite the horrific rules that have come down as a result of that long establishment. Our property law is reliable–and that is the difference between a real “law” and simply a rule of convenience that can be used or broken by a dictator to his own ends.

If I understood American property law, I could perhaps give you a full breakdown of the differences in the two systems. But I don’t understand American property law; that’s what bar study time is for. And yet, I am grateful for a commitment to the rule of law. That gratefulness was driven home for me by a short conversation we heard this well-respected lawyer carry out on his phone. He informed the person on the line, “There is no shadow of evidence against these people. They are simply being targeted because they oppose the government…”

I found out later that the lawyer we met with has been involved in representing Ms. Gibbons of teddy bear fame. What a job it must be to practice law in a place where law is the tool of despots and the whim of mobs.

As many mistakes as the United States justice system makes, I am so grateful for the commitment that we have to the rule of law.

[Let me conclude by saying that the biggest breakthrough of the meeting, at least for me personally, was that I was able to put "interesting" and "property" in the same sentence. My law school friends can perhaps sympathize.]

For this post I’m going to focus on pictures, because I have expended a good deal of my limited creative writing ability over on Ambassadors. And while I am accustomed to linking to Ambassadors generally, this time I’m going to link to a post specifically, because I would really encourage you to read it. It meant a lot to me, and I hope it is a blessing to you. I simply called it “Hallelujah.”

This post is more about the pictures.