ABOUT
The purpose of SORA is to provide a place for sharing research globally amongst people interested
in the Sudanese Diaspora. SORA aims to support the development of a knowledge bank. We do this in
the hope that it will ultimately aid in the provision of basic services to those Sudanese people
who join the Diaspora and who then depend on sensitive service provision from nationals of their
host countries.
The Sudanese Online Research Association is a not-for-profit, unfunded organisation staffed exclusively
by volunteers. At present this site is an English-language only website. SORA is not aligned with any
faction of the Sudanese Diaspora nor does it seek to represent the views of any sector of the Diaspora.
The views of individual articles and research papers appearing on this site are those of the author
of that piece and the author only.
The Sudanese Online Research Association was launched at the African Studies Association of Australasia
and the Pacific Annual Conference at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia on 3 October 2003. SORA
was founded in Melbourne, Australia by Matthew Albert, also the co-founder of the Sudanese Australian
Integrated Learning (SAIL) Program which is now Australia's largest Sudanese-only organization.
In mid-2004, SORA formed an association with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Kenya
operation. SORA is now the sole online publisher for the work of Sudanese refugees participating in the
Peace Education Program run at the UNHCR’s refugee camps in Kenya. At the same time, SORA formed a
relationship with the only independent print news source in South Sudan, the Sudan Mirror newspaper.
SORA is now the sole distributor of the Sudan Mirror outside of Africa. SORA sells the paper to members
of the Australian Sudanese Diaspora at cost.
From 2005, SORA will be a regular contributor to the Sudan Mirror. Through a sub-editorial office in
Melbourne, Australia, SORA will be providing reports for a fortnightly section in the newspaper focussing
on the lives of members of the Sudanese Diaspora.
The Sudanese Online Research Association (SORA) gratefully acknowledges the support of the STA Travel Trust
which led to the formation of these associations.
The authors of articles on the SORA website donate their research voluntarily and for no fee. They retain
copyright in their research papers. The SORA editorial team would like to acknowledge their dedication in
producing such valuable work.
The launch of SORA was announced and its purpose outlined in the December Edition of “The Australasian
Journal of African Studies”. The article entitled "Academic partnerships with service providers; the
Australian Sudanese experience" can be found in full here.
SORA was also announced, by the Director, in a Special Report in the Sudan
Mirror on 28 June 2004. It can be found here (1.1Mb
pdf).
STA Travel Trust
SAIL Program
African Studies Association of Australasia and the Pacific
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