With the skills she's acquired from MIT Open Learning, Sujood Khalid Eldouma hopes someday to help rebuild her war-torn country's educational infrastructure.
Sujood Khalid Eldouma recently relocated to the UK for her master’s studies, having previously lived in Egypt after fleeing her native Sudan to escape the devastating civil war in that country. Sujood holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the University of Khartoum, but her ambitions extend far beyond the field she was trained in. She recently graduated from the MIT Emerging Talent certificate program in Computer and Data Science and is pursuing a MicroMasters in statistics and data science through the support of MIT Emerging Talent. In this episode, we hear how Sujood and her classmates at the university in Khartoum used MIT OpenCourseWare lecture videos as the basis of a group learning experience, in which knowledge was shared and lasting friendships were formed. We also hear how Sujood is pursuing her current online studies not just as a means of self-improvement but as part of the groundwork for a much bigger, future project: helping to rebuild Sudan’s educational and scientific infrastructure when peace comes to that country. “I'm not doing it just for myself,” she says. “I'm not doing it just for my family, but in the bigger picture and with a heart filled with hope.”
The Open Learners podcast is produced by Alexis Haut and hosted by Emmanuel Kasigazi and Michael Jordan Pilgreen.
Relevant Resources:
MIT MicroMasters Program in Statistics and Data Science
Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions
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To share your own open learning story with Michael and Emmanuel, send them an email at open_learners_pod@mit.edu.
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: Coming across people that are suffering from the same stuff that you're suffering from, they've been affected by wars. They lost their homes. They lost loved ones. It's helped in my healing process or in my understanding process of absorbing everything that is happening or currently happening in Sudan. This is the part that is sentimental to this journey.
[JAZZY NOTES]
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: Welcome to Open Learners.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: A podcast that tells the stories of learners all over the world who use MIT's OpenCourseWare.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: I'm Emmanuel Olimi Kasigazi, an open learner from Kampala, Uganda.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: And I'm Michael Jordan Pilgreen, an open learner from Memphis, Tennessee. Hey, Emmanuel, how are you doing?
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: I'm good, Michael. I'm good. I'm enjoying summer. I'm enjoying Toronto.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: Emmanuel, this episode is really special. Our guest today is someone who has leveraged MIT's Open Learning resources during a really difficult time for herself, her family, and her country.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: That's right, Michael. Today's guest is Sujood Khalid Ahmed Eldouma, an open learner from Khartoum, Sudan. She earned her bachelor's degree in electrical and electronic engineering from the University of Khartoum in 2022. One year later, in May of 2023, sadly, Sujood was forced to flee Sudan because of the ongoing war in her home country.
The company she was working for shut down, and she was forced to leave her home and some of her family members behind. She currently lives in Egypt where she is working on her certificate in computer and data science as part of MIT's Emerging Talent program, and she's working towards a MicroMasters in statistics.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: There are so many difficult and inspiring parts of Sujood's story. But one thing that stuck out to me is that Sujood applied to Emerging Talent because she felt like she had nothing left to lose. Now, a year into the program, she sees the skills that she's learned through MIT Open Learning as essential tools that will help her rebuild her home country. Sujood is deeply committed to building a prosperous future for Sudan and placing her home country at the forefront of technological advancement.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: Her long-term goal is to establish a research center in Sudan which will use data science to address local socioeconomic and environmental challenges. But in the short term, she's already putting her data science and programming skills to good use. She runs a database called Nas Al Sudan, which curates a list of scholarships available to Sudanese students.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: Yes. Sujood is a really inspiring person, and I admire her deep commitment to her country and her own learning. I'm really excited for our listeners to hear our entire conversation with Sujood. We talk about her hopes for Sudan, along with how OCW helped her make lifelong friends and how she keeps herself motivated during the dark times.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: This is a really, really great episode, Michael, and the perfect story to end our first season with. So without further ado, here is our conversation with Sujood Khalid Ahmed Eldouma from Khartoum, Sudan.
[CALM MELODY]
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]
My name is Sujood Khalid. I'm 25 years old, almost 26. I always miss it by saying 25, but I'm almost 26. I come from a country in Africa called Sudan. And I graduated from University of Khartoum Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department. And I specialized in control and instrumentation. I drifted into data science and data and data-related stuff. And yeah, I'm just exploring it and learning about it.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: Would you want to just start off with how you grew up and your experience with education then?
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: I grew up in the capital city of Sudan, Khartoum. Basically, Khartoum consists of three cities-- Khartoum, Omdurman, and Bahri. I grew up in Omdurman. It's a lovely city, and my childhood was lovely, I guess. I grew up with four siblings. They're all males. Also, I shared a hobby with my father, which is reading. And I think it participated a lot into the person I am today and the personality I have. We'd just read books and discuss them. As of my education in my basic school, I went to a private school.
And then after that, my experience like changed a lot because I moved from a private school into a public high school, which had too many number of students there. They all come from different backgrounds. They all have different stories and different personalities. I think it was around that time I started to realize that I'm interested in mathematics, and I love it. I love mathematics. So I started to explore it. I did not have much room to explore it. I didn't know where to look, or I didn't have anyone in my circle who was also interested in math.
And I think it was around that time where I realized that I need to find other sources, or I need to find one place to pursue this interest. So I applied for University of Khartoum, one of the prestigious universities in Sudan. And I applied for the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department. I got in. I was real excited because all the things I heard about it was that engineering was embedded with these mathematic courses and that we would get the chance to explore so many of the stuff in math.
But then I think I was shocked because the content did not have in-depth things about math or too many advanced topics about mathematics. And I think it was there that I realized that it's not the answer. Maybe it's the start of the answer, but it's not it. And I need to pursue my interest somewhere else.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: I love your journey particularly because I understand and resonate with the fact, when you come from a small private school, then you go to a big school. And it's like, oh, look at all these people. And it's a new experience. And I can also understand-- actually, I can understand this as well. I also wanted to take an engineering background. I ended up taking a computer science course as well. But that's an interesting journey. I just wanted you to shed some light on the difference between online learning when you finally encountered it and traditional learning back home. How was that difference for you?
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: So I think the difference between traditional learning, or maybe the learning at school, and then we had structured content that was not always up to date with what was happening in the world, especially in specializations like engineering. They're changing at the moment, and they're evolving. And too many technologies are being advanced every day, and that was not reflected in the content that we had at the time.
But then, on the other hand, the online learning and the online material, it's embedded with the knowledge. It's unlimited. Let me talk about YouTube. You go to one link, and then you start learning. And then you find another one that takes you to another thing or another topic. And it's just like it opens a world full of possibilities, and you can get to explore everything you want.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: So just a follow-up question there, Sujood. When you first found MIT OpenCourseWare, was that through YouTube? And was that during your undergraduate studies? Or was that during the time when you started becoming a teacher assistant?
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: My first experience with MIT OpenCourseWare was during my undergrad, actually. It was through one of my TAs around the second year of my undergrad. We were struggling with programming classes at that time. It was our first impression with it, and we did not just fully understand it. And we wanted something more to understand it. And one of the TAs suggested that we look at one of the courses at MIT. I think it was in YouTube. The course was in YouTube. It was recorded. It was not just me. I had a couple of other fellow students with me, and we studied the course together.
And then after that, we wanted to, OK, there's this website. It has so many courses not just about programming-- about too many other stuff, some of which we already had in our undergrad or in our materials. And it's just delivered differently. It's structured in a different way. And yes, I owe MIT OpenCourseWare a lot of my mathematical knowledge and mathematical understanding. It comes from there, I guess.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: Amazing. Amazing.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: It's really cool that you were in a group, too. I think you might be the first learner that was using MIT OpenCourseWare in a group. Would you just maybe talk about how using OpenCourseWare, especially in the group? It sounded like it helped you academically. But did it help you with personal relationships, with friendships?
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: I did not actually reflect on this throughout my life. But now looking at it, I think it did help me, especially when we were-- we were in the second year of my undergrads. And around that time, the structure of university-- I applied for electrical and electronics engineering specialization. But at first two years, we study from different specializations. So we were too many students coming from different areas and going into different areas.
And I didn't have the chance to meet with students from my patch or who were going to spend the rest of my undergrads with. And then when this came up, and when we started to form the groups, other students from my patch came in who now are some of my best friends in my life, even after 10 years of graduating. We spent too many time together.
We would sit. Maybe we would not just attend the lectures or go through the content together, but we would come and discuss it and share. Maybe some people go through a different course, and then we would share it. We would share the knowledge we had. And in between this time of learning, we would just chit chat and exchange just the basic human interaction. And boom, we became friends.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: Did you ever use OCW for other things outside career? Because they have so many topics on there that are outside. So was it strictly for book purposes? Are you still using OCW right now in your life?
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: I think, originally, it was for the pure academic reasons that I started going through it and studying it. It was just for pure mathematic content and other stuff related to my academic journey. But definitely in between then and there, I did go through some of the courses that are not just related to my academic life. Currently, I'm using it to go through my MIT Emerging Learning program. It's also academic, but it's helping me a lot, which brings me to this other thing that listening to these videos and attending these lectures has helped me a lot with my English language.
And it was a challenge at first because, as I said, during my high school and before my undergrads, I did not attend a school or university which was in full English. And then when I joined my undergrads-- when I joined university-- it was just pure English, which was an extreme challenge. But listening to these courses and going through them has helped me a lot in listening and understanding in the academic English and how to communicate with this language. So this is one of the major parts it helped me with throughout my life.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: How did you find Emerging Talent, first of all? Maybe you could give us a brief background about that.
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: I was going through a really hard time in my life when I found out about the MIT Emerging Talent program. If you don't know, I come from Sudan. And Sudan is currently suffering from a conflict, which is-- it's a war. It's not just a conflict. It's a war that's happening in Sudan. And in May of 2023, I was forced to flee Sudan and relocate to Egypt. I lost everything that I love. I lost my home. Some of my family were still stuck there. And even at the moment, I still have parts of my family still stuck there. I have friends stuck there. And we all lost loved ones. And I just couldn't find the purpose of my life. Why am I doing anything? Or what's the reason?
I remember I met this one friend. And she was talking to me, and we were discussing just how this war is affecting our lives and how we need to-- how we need to overcome it-- not just overcoming, but we need to work on ourselves. So when the time comes for us to go back to Sudan and build it, we have the knowledge and we have the power to do so. At that time, I was looking for materials and stuff. And this same friend, she sent me the application for MIT Emerging Talent is coming in a couple of hours.
And it was talking about the program and that Sudanese people are now eligible for it because it's directed toward people who are suffering from wars, conflicts, and who are refugees and everything. The deadline was approaching a couple of hours, and I needed to prepare for it and write all the essays. And it has mathematical tests and other programming tests and everything. And then when I reached the last part, it needed a video recording.
This is really funny because every time I remember it I laugh about it. It had a video recording thing. And at that time, I was in Egypt. And it was summer, and they had this power outage that comes in Egypt for a couple of hours. And I needed to record the video for this, and I didn't know when will the electricity come back. So I said, OK, I don't have anything to lose. Let's just try. So instead of recording a video, I sent a voice recording.
I didn't think they would accept it, because why would MIT accept a voice memo when they clearly stated that they wanted a video recording? But I sent it anyway. I had nothing to lose, and I didn't have alternatives. So I sent it. And a couple of weeks after that, I got the email. I got the acceptance email. And I think the program has been really helpful for me, coming across people that are suffering from the same stuff that you're suffering from or have been going through the same journey, the same things-- or maybe not just the same, but something similar.
And they've been affected by wars. They lost their homes. They lost loved ones. Going live with people who understand the things that you are going through, it helped in my healing process or in my understanding process of absorbing everything that is happening or currently happening in Sudan. This is the part that is sentimental to this journey.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: What project are you working on that side? How is it important to you? How did you arrive to that kind of project? Maybe if you can shed some light in that aspect as well.
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: The projects that we're currently doing. So our graduation project from the program reunited me and other MIT Fellows from Sudan. And we're doing this project, which is directed toward education in Sudan. The educational system basically just fell down. The schools are not working. Universities are not working. Some of them are working online. But the majority of the schools and universities in Sudan has not been working for more than a year now, which is a disaster. And we need to look at it, and we need to find solutions to it.
So our graduation project is that we're trying to offer students with alternatives to this. There is this website called Nas Al Sudan. It's an initiative that collects all the other alternatives or all the other scholarships, universities that accept Sudanese people outside of Sudan, and the requirements and all the process that they need to go through in order to apply for these universities. So we're helping with their databases. We're rebuilding the databases for these universities and the website and everything in between that.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: I was just curious if you wanted to talk about after the program-- after all the learning on OpenCourseWare-- if you have a vision for your own future, or if you have an idea of where you want to go in the future at this point in time.
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: Well, I'm still not quite sure. I don't have a clearer vision of where I want to go, I think, merely because the situation in Sudan is not quite clear yet. And all my career plans and my life plans are oriented around Sudan. And I think this past year has affirmed me that I really want to give back to Sudan. And I want to help build Sudan because I can't belong anywhere. I can't find anywhere to belong.
And I want to build Sudan for the other people-- the other generations that will come to find some place to belong to because belonging is one of the-- It's one of the most important feelings for human beings. And I want to contribute this knowledge I have, or I think I have, to build in Sudan and to its healing and to its recovery. So currently, I'm just looking for opportunities throughout the program. And after finishing the program, I'm looking for opportunities to contribute this.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: That's perfect. No, we understand that having certainty in the future. One final question from me, and then I'll let Emmanuel take over, is, do you have any advice for anyone that may be in the same exact situation that you are?
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: If I can give advice for people coming from not just the same background, but from communities where they do not have access to maybe quality education or opportunities, don't wait for them. Just seek these opportunities. And do not-- I remember I read this somewhere that it was something about self-rejection, and how we always self-reject ourselves. And we do not give ourselves the opportunity to even be considered for something.
And just do not self-reject yourselves. You're not losing anything by trying. But when you're not trying, you're not even presenting yourself. And you're not giving yourself the opportunity to be considered for something or to take something. So self-rejection is the worst enemy for everyone. So just don't self-reject yourself. If there is opportunity and you're not going to lose anything, so why not just try it? And why not just take this opportunity?
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: If they gave you a magic wand, and they told you, OK, you could add something to the OCW movement-- you could add something to this or remove something from it-- what would that be?
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: If I have a magical power and I am to add anything to MIT OpenCourseWare, what would it be? I think the one thing that I would add is to find some magical way or some magical power just to get rid of the language barrier and maybe give everyone the opportunity to benefit from the material and from all the stuff that are out there without the language barrier.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: That's awesome. That's great, Sujood.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: I love your story. And I'd like to personally thank you telling us your story. And we hope that anyone else listening to this will get inspired-- will know that actually this is not just some online-learning thing online. It's actually helping lives. It's helping people not just in school-- outside school in the toughest situations.
I guess my final question to you would be, first of all, as someone who has gone through all this, I know it can't be easy. Maybe how do you stay focused? How do you stay strong? You mentioned don't self-reject, which is a powerful thing. What do you do to self-motivate, to self-push, to drive? When in that moment when you feel like giving up, what moves you?
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: Well, about staying focused, I won't lie. I'm not focused most of the times, because, as you said, the war is still happening. And people are still suffering. So most of the times, the news coming from Sudan just absorbs us. And we find ourselves, even though we're not in Sudan, but we are in Sudan. And even though we're not physically there, and we're not physically hurting, and we're not hearing the bombings and everything, but we are there.
And it's hard to stay focused. And it's hard to continue with our lives, even though we know that a war is happening back there. And people are dying back there. So most of the times it's really hard. Most of the times it's impossible to focus or to study or to do anything productive. So I could say that maybe every couple of productive days, I just crawl in my bed and I don't do anything. I don't find the energy in me to get out of my bed and do something productive. And I understand that. I understand the reason behind that.
But then I try to just remind myself with the whole purpose of it, and why am I doing it, and that there will come a time that we will build Sudan. It will come, even though we don't know when-- whether we are going to be alive to witness it or to participate in it. But if we are, Sudan will need this us to be as strong as possible to build it and to participate in it. And this sort of gives me some peace. It helps me a lot with, OK, I'm not doing it just for myself. I'm not doing it just for my family but in the bigger picture and with a heart filled with hope. I'm doing it for Sudan for when the time comes that Sudan needs to be built that I'm ready.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: Well, thank you, Sujood. Again, I think so many people around the world are going to be inspired by how powerful your story is and the knowledge you've shared. So we are very grateful that you came on and were able to share your journey. And I know it may not be complete representation of your journey, but I hope it does capture a small piece of it that other people can find inspiration from. Thank you again.
SUJOOD KHALID ELDOUMA: Thank you, Emmanuel and Michael. Thank you for the opportunity, and thank you for having me. I'm really grateful for this opportunity.
[GENTLE MELODY]
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: Wow. Sujood has really been able to do something extraordinary. She spent the most difficult moment in her life expanding her own knowledge so that she can rebuild her home country of Sudan. It's very inspiring. What's been on your mind since we spoke to Sujood, Emmanuel?
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: Yeah, Michael, I've been thinking a lot about this episode because it's a very touching episode. It's a very inspiring episode. I like the part where she says never self-reject. But here we have someone-- a young person in their mid-20s trying to start their life-- and the worst possible thing that could ever happen to someone happens. But in the midst of all that, she pushes through. She perseveres. And what amazes me the most is somehow OCW may not have solved all our problems, but it kind of provided a guiding light. It kind of provided a hope in the midst of all this glimmering darkness. So what about you, Michael? What was your takeaway from this?
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: I found Sujood's honesty to be the most impactful thing to me. She doesn't shy away from sharing that there's multiple days where she just can't find the energy to get out of bed. And when you think about the separation from first her land, but also her family and her language, you should really just take a moment and pause and reflect on how that would be for you as well.
But despite all that, she continues to improve herself. She continues to hope for a better day. I just find that so inspiring, especially coming from a country like the United States where we've never had to worry about that type of separation from the ones we love. So that was the most impactful thing for me.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: And Michael, how are you feeling? Did this live up to the dream we drummed up on that Zoom call so many months-- almost years ago now?
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: We surpassed any dream or vision that I could have thought of all that time ago. It was full of inspiring moments. It was full of inspiring stories and inspiring people. Just seeing, learning, and all these different contexts how it affects people that are trying to get their degree and just want to add some more education, or that are actually having to flee their countries and still try to figure out a way to make everything work out in their lives. I hope that highlighting these stories about humans, just like all of us from all over the world, really gives people a glass to look through and see what their life might be able to become.
EMMANUEL KASIGAZI: I always remember one of the first calls we had with Curt, where he mentioned that when they started all this-- when they started OCW-- they thought their biggest clientele was going to be the teachers. And it brings me back to a quote I read somewhere once where when you create something and put it out in the world, you never know. You never know who's going to use it. You never know how it's going to impact them. You never know. And that's what I've loved about what this podcast has brought to light in that here's resources that are open to everyone in all over the world. Yes, you know people are using them, but you don't know what for.
You don't know how they're using them. You don't what they're developing. You don't how it's affecting their lives. Now that we have a platform for at least people to show us and tell us about that impact, it's something I'm really loving. And I won't lie. It's been a fun journey. It's been more than anything I could have expected-- more than anything I could have asked for. I'm even shocked we got here. I'm even shocked we actually did this. So stay tuned into MIT's channels to learn about other learners and perhaps take a few courses yourself, which I can guarantee you will change your life. You may not know how. You may not know when. But take a course. It will change your life.
[JAZZY RHYTHMS]
Open Learners is produced by Alexis Haut. Special thanks to the supporters and donors who make OCW possible.
MICHAEL JORDAN PILGREEN: To learn more about MIT's OpenCourseWare and to check out the courses mentioned in this episode, visit the OCW website at ocw.mit.edu.