Living as a Bedouin

I am excited when I see a tourist come through our town. They will sometimes bring books for me and my brothers and sisters. Reading books is how I learned English. I am the only one in my family who knows it. It is quite a responsibility. I am the one talking to the tourists when they come through.

I am happy to live with all of my cousins and family, but sometimes I want to find new friends of my own, outside of my small community. Sometimes I dream of going into a bustling city, shopping through the streets, buying warm pastries and shopping for new shoes. I have never seen a skyscraper.

I am lucky because we don’t have to move every week. We have an oasis inside a cave that our ancestors found in the desert thousands of years ago. We do not have to be nomadic, moving our home every week, because we have water right in our backyard. Surrounding us is a sandy and rocky landscape but there is one green place, my favorite place to look at. Our oasis is a place with green shrubs, date palms and water.

I am very privileged to be Bedouin. I learn to be part of the desert. I can navigate anywhere using the winds, sun and stars. I see, smell and hear things kilometers away. I can tell you when a car is coming minutes before you will notice, and I can find an herb to ease an aching bone. I know when danger may be around, and I always stay safe.

I am lucky to have an uncle who can help whenever someone gets hurt. A few days ago, my cousin got a thorn stuck in her foot. He got it out by soaking it in donkey poop. Camel poop doesn’t work. After two days, it just popped out! My uncle is the smartest man I know.

We hold our traditions so tightly, as tightly as my baby sister holds our mom when she’s scared. Time here stands as still as the mountains; mountains that have not moved for thousands of years. I will show you our mountains, show you our town, and show you all of the Bedouin secrets. Visit me and you will learn how to use plants for medicine, how to locate water in a desert, and how to live off the land in the desert, how to recite poetry, dance our traditional sword dance, ride camels, herd livestock, make three meals around meat and dairy from our livestock, knit tents, and so much more. When you arrive, I will show you our world.