Deng Majok: Sudanese girls' True value lies in their naturalness

I've been to so many pre-marriage dowry negotiations and have seen it all.  Our girls are so valued that one could comfortably say, they are the only girls in the world (at home or in diaspora), whose true value is quantified in dowry terms.

Light or true black, skin color has never had a significant bearing on the value put on the girl. Her true value lies in her naturalness and pleasant character of the heart. In fact, some of the highly valued Sudanese girls have always been the true black ones.

Why are many of our girls not seeing this fact, and instead, invest heavily on skin alteration creme and eye color altering contact lenses, not to mention the "wigs!", with the only aim of looking more European? It seems as though someone, or entities have brainwashed our girls into the belief that "black is ugly!" Someone is to blame here. Whether it's the parents, the advertisers', or something else, someone has failed to highlight the true value of our girls, which is right on their noses.

There is an illusion that black men prefer the white, or light skin girls, and therefore altering one's true skin and eye color would boost market prospects. Though there is some truth to this, but majority of us, Sudanese men, have always ended up marrying inside our cultures, besides having great distaste for creme!

So sisters the next time you think of spending your hard earned cash on creme to  make a mess of your skin, and be looking like "Jackos", please remember that we, your men, are quite happy with who you're. Your true value lies in your naturalness and pleasant character of the heart. Our culture values you so much that even the disable females have always been married off!

The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of CNA