CURRENT MISSION

Becoming the best storyteller - visual, written, and otherwise - that I can be.

ABOUT ME

I am a Sudanese-Minnesotan journalist. I have been reporting, writing and photographing for years, and am getting into data, mapping, and video as well. (If you surf with me you'll probably get some great photos of yourself). I will be interning with the Miami Herald this summer and working with Reuters starting September. I hope to report from places such as Sudan, Egypt, Libya, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Nigeria, Chad, Mali, Algeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, etc., etc. I also have always had an interest in Latin America which I hope to cultivate as I resurrect my Spanish and keep learning Portuguese.

I just recently graduated from Columbia Journalism School, where I studied investigative journalism and concentrated in the digital media track (basically anything involving multimedia, data, online, digital reporting). Before that I graduated from Stanford University, where I was studying International Relations, with minors in Human Biology and Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. I ran the Stanford Progressive and edited photos for the Stanford Daily.

Professional and worldly interests aside, I am an aspiring boxer, enjoy practicing yoga, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. I'm a regular adventurer, frequent writer, occasional artist, and always a dusty foot philosopher.

PHILOSOPHY

There's no you, no me, just us.

Everything I'm not made me everything I am.

"Be the change that you want to see in the world." - Mohandas Ghandi

"There comes a time when one must take the position that is neither safe nor politic nor popular, but he must do it because conscience tells him it is right." Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Success in life is determined by your ability to go from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm."
Winston Churchill

"Only three things are guaranteed in life: Birth, Death, and Change." Arabic Proverb

"It’s lack of faith that makes people afraid of meeting challenges, and I believed in myself." - Muhammad Ali

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I've been off of the Couchsurfing map for the last year or so since my own travel, study, and work schedule has been so hectic. With things settling down (I'll be posted in Miami for the summer and then London for the following year) I will go back to host whoever and whenever I can. :)

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Great times in Amsterdam, London, Cape Town, and California hosting and surfing.

Interests

Martial arts (Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai, boxing), yoga, reading, drawing, conversing, adventuring, dusty-foot philosophizing, juggling, photography, video, meditating, psychology, politics, exercise, and generally living life.

• arts
• writing
• photography
• exercise
• yoga
• meditation
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• juggling
• drawing
• adventure races
• surfing
• boxing
• martial arts
• track and field
• jiu jitsu
• biology
• communications
• international relations
• journalism
• languages
• philosophy
• psychology

Music, Movies, and Books

Books:
The Autobiography of Malcolm X, George Orwell, Brave New World, Catch-22, The Kite Runner, A Thousand Splendid Suns, 100 Years of Solitude, Love in the Time of Cholera, Confessions of an Economic Hitman

Music: Nas, the Marleys, Emmanuel Jal, K'naan, and many others.

Movies:
21 Grams, 300, A Clockwork Orange, Amores perros, A Scanner Darkly, Babel, Blood Diamond, Boyz n the Hood, Casino, Carlito's Way, City of God, Dog Day Afternoon, Children of Men, The Departed, Eastern Promises, Scarface, The Godfather, Boyz In The Hood, Children's Play لعب عيال, Fight Club, Finding Forrester, Goodfellas, Hotel Rwanda, Lucky Number Slevin, Menace II Society, Ocean's Eleven Twelve Thirteen, Pulp Fiction, Scent of a Woman, Sin City, Thank You for Smoking, Traffic, Training Day, V for Vendetta, Vanilla Sky, The War Tapes, The Fog of War, The Panama Deception, The Winter Soldier

(to name a few)

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I spent most of this past January in South Sudan, which was an incredibly eye-opening experience. A region/country which has spent half a century at war is finally starting to rebuild itself, and its apparent that it will be a long and uphill struggle to do so.

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach Arabic, yoga, longboarding, meditation, jiu jitsu, or boxing. I would love to learn anything. I'm always looking for a way to sharpen up my language skills.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Netherlands, Sudan, United Arab Emirates

Countries I’ve Lived In

Egypt, South Africa, Sudan, United Kingdom, United States