CULTURE & WAR link;
By James Kuot Wol
6th May.2014, At the crowded Athiei Beauty Salon. A popular Salon in South Sudanese capital Juba, located just behind the ministries complex, on the main road opposite the rear entrance to national parliamentarians’ building. A beautician Almas Abebe says she just cannot understand why so many of her clients want to get their skin lightened. “I would rather not go for it in South Sudan. It is too hot here why one should take such a health risk?” she asked. But it is ok for me and my business. "One hundred percent of women who come here have it done," she said. "People think it’s prettier to look white. In my opinion, dark is prettier. I don’t know who they want to look like."
In many countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia lighter-coloured skin is considered prettier and paler women are believed to be wealthier, more educated and more desirable. This attitude has led to a boom in the use of skin-lightening products in Sudan, a vast country torn by war where skin colour also has political connotations.
Rasha Moussa, a maid, pulls some skin-whitening cream from her handbag. "I use it on my face to make my face shine. The Sudanese see the light colour as better than dark. I think it’s a complex that we have," she said. “In Khartoum and many other parts of Sudan where Arabs had influence before South Sudan split, a black skinned was less regarded, less respected and considered poor and unhealthy. So many of us try as much as possible to lighten their skins so as to get acceptance in those Arabized societies. This tendency remain in most of our societies today especially in the cities and towns.” She lamented with spectacular smile. "People judge you here by your colour ... If they see me and someone else with lighter skin wearing the same clothes, they would say she is living a comfortable life and I’m a poor woman," she added.
During civil strife, skin tone often meant the difference between life and death. Southerners, traditionally Christian or animist, complain of prejudice against them in everyday life, and some northerners privately claim superiority over their darker and non-Arab countrymen. While a tan can be seen as something of a status symbol in the West, darker skin marks out women in Africa, the Middle East and Asia as poorer people who have no choice but to toil under the hot sun.
In two Sudans, once Africa’s biggest country, over two decades of civil war between lighter-skinned northerners and darker southerners has given skin tone more sinister connotations, and the meaning of the various shades is nuanced. Northerners, who are mainly Muslims and claim Arab lineage, have traditionally held power. Many north-south coalition government had in the past been agreed, but nothing change the colour notion except the recent agreement signed in Nairobi which eventually gave South Sudan a split to form an independent state.
In two Sudans, once Africa’s biggest country, over two decades of civil war between lighter-skinned northerners and darker southerners has given skin tone more sinister connotations, and the meaning of the various shades is nuanced. Northerners, who are mainly Muslims and claim Arab lineage, have traditionally held power. Many north-south coalition government had in the past been agreed, but nothing change the colour notion except the recent agreement signed in Nairobi which eventually gave South Sudan a split to form an independent state.
Millions of women throughout Africa use creams and soaps containing chemicals, like hydroquinone, to lighten the colour of their skin. But the creams can cause long-term damage. Dermatologists say prolonged use of hydroquinone and mercury-based products, also found in some creams, destroys the skin’s protective outer layer as well as distorting melanin. Eventually the skin starts to burn, itch or blister, becomes extremely sensitive to sunlight and then turns even blacker than before. Prolonged use can damage the nerves or even lead to kidney failure or skin cancer and so prove fatal. Other fatal effects are skin cancer due to increase exposure to UV rays; unnecessary gaining of weight, thinning of skin and Cushing’s diseases.
"People don’t understand the complication associated to using these creams in regard to health. But when one seek medical service especially operations even a minor operation, become difficult to perform, because the skin cannot stitch.” Said one of the doctors working in Juba teaching hospital. Hamed Mensur a dermatologist doctor working in Khartoum’s state hospital who came to Juba for a visit said he was surprised to notice the same Khartoum phenomena in Juba. “In Khartoum’s state hospital, the number of women coming to the dermatology department with problems caused by skin-whitening treatments had grown to at least one in four of all dermatology patients.”
THE CREAMS IN THE TWO CITIES’
In Khartoum, skin-whitening creams are displayed prominently in stores and on roadside adverts. Products advertised on Arab television channels promise the creams will also make a woman more confident and glamorous. In one advert, a previously unremarkable female television presenter delivers a stunning report after using whitening cream. Her handsome male colleague, who has previously ignored her, says: "You were great. What are you doing at four?" In another, a singer leaves the stage with stage fright but returns after lightening her skin and performs wonderfully. At the Modern Style bridal store in Khartoum main market known as" Suk-a shabi," an array of skin-whitening creams adorns the front desk. Next door, a photography studio displays wedding portraits of women with very pale skin.
Modern Style’s Egyptian owner Samira Magar tied the growing preference for white wedding dresses, which are not traditional in Sudan, to the desire for pale skin. "More Sudanese are getting white wedding dresses, so they want to look like Egyptians and Europeans," she said."I think it’s an inferiority complex. They think that if they’re white in colour, they are more beautiful," she added. Magar said some women had resorted to mercury and harsh prescription creams not meant for cosmetic use, leaving their faces disfigured on their wedding day.
In Juba, the creams are not much displayed openly, the creams are mainly found in big cosmetic stores or shops and in the big Salons and most consumers turn to do transaction secretly to avoid stigma. Using creams laterally known as “bleaching” in South Sudan is verbally unacceptable, but practically acceptable and admirable. Jane Lodi one of the Athiei Beauty salon’s consumers said, people here don’t want to hear that you have use light skin creams and even your parents will not tolerate that. But once you used it and your skin become light, you will certainly get back the love you lost. “I have a boy friend whom we cut off the communication since 2011, and when we met four months ago, guess what? Our relationship is now back on track and it is more stronger than before.”
Pale or light skin in South Sudan is somewhat culturally supported, but a natural light skin though. In some culture, one has to pay heavily for light skin girl during marriage. One of my friends said that, one can pay at least 100 cows as dowry for a light skin girl. “The high demand to marry a naturally light skin women had been in Sudan for centuries across tribes,” Magar said, “but the use of chemicals began in the 1980s and has thrived since. People use different ways now to lighten their skins, one can use creams lotion, soaps or even glutathione injection which can change the skin tone within a week.” She added.
"Here, all men want to sit with or marry a woman with light skin. If any man wants to marry, he says the first choice is for a woman with light skin ... Why is this?" asked the Khartoum’s State hospital doctor. “The creams now used can cause irritation and infection, blotching, eczema, and that most contain steroids.” "Rather than asking why women use the creams, men should be asked why they prefer pale skin." Said the Doctor.
James Kuot Wol is a Student at the college of eductation in Upper University.