A Night with the Nomads

Email is still not working out of Bere. This blog post was received via an email from Camilla (a Danish Medical Student)when she arrived at home in Denmark. Thank you Camilla for forwarding the blog.

Date: 2-2-08

Sarah and Hans galloped past leaving Sonya, Esther, Camilla (the Danish Medical Student) and I in a cloud of dust. The sun beat down hard as the 4 of us walked the sandy path slowly leaving behind the huts and animal noises of Béré. At the edge of town we stopped at a large compound, stuck our heads in the big blue gate and waved to three fellow hospital workers eating their lunch. They responded vigorously waving back and wishing us the best of time at the Nomad/Arab village this weekend. And so we continued on, dust puffing up under our feet as we past woman carrying pots on their heads returning from the market. The hot season has finally arrived! Sweat trickles down our back as Soya, Esther, and I sing silly camp songs to past the time and entertain Camilla.

The trees in the distance signal that we are approaching the outskirts of the Nangere village. Children stream from huts shouting Nasarah, Nasarah. Soon we find ourselves mobbed by chanting, yelling children all who want to touch you. They followed us the rest of the way to the Nomad village, stopping right outside the makeshift thorn fence set up around the huts of the Nomad's whom we would be visiting and spending the night with. We entered and began the long Arab greeting shaking all adult and children's hands. Hans and Sarah had already arrived and made themselves comfortable on the carpets and pillows that had been laid out for us. We took off our shoes and joined them. One of the boys prepared tea in a little golden tea pot on coals, while the rest of the children stood wide-eyed staring at us A few brave ones approached and touched my hair when I took off my head wrap.

The shyness immediately disappeared when Sonya took out her balloons. Soon colorful balloons where bouncing up and down and children were shrieking with delight. A bowl of water was brought out and we washed out feet and hands; preparing for the evening meal. We had been warned they would probably serve us meat, being honored guest and all, but boulle and a dip appeared. Half-way through the boulle we heard Sonya say, "Are they dragging something over there?" We all turned and saw a group of 3 boys pulling something in the dark to the edge of the camp..yep; it looked like we might have a little meat to eat after all.

A flurry of action began near the cooking pots, fire danced, and Arabic music chants filled the star filled night sky. Soon we all found ourselves asleep on the carpets covered by heavy Arabic fleeces. A couples hours later we were jolted awake, coals glowed where the flames had once leaped, children had gone to bed, and the sheep had been prepared! The Man of the house stood with a huge platter of rice and the choicest part of the sheep (the innards) and called our names. Now it was time for dinner, the boulle was just an appetizer. We all shook our heads, crawled out from under the covers, and squinted at the food that lay in front of us. There was no choice we were honored guests we had to eat it! Esther and I looked at each other. Neither of us had ever eaten meat before, and this looked just plain scary. Esther being braver than I ate some big chunks of meat. I had a little piece here and there with the rice. Everyone else dug in, nobody seemed to want the little pieces of liver that kept appearing. Sonya would toss them to Hans' side and Hans would push it over to Camilla. Finally it appeared that we'd made a tiny dint in the meal and we indicated that we were done by washing our hands.

They removed the platter and then signaled that we were to move into the kitchen hut to sleep for the rest of the night. We pushed past the grass curtain dragging the carpets in the incense filled hut. We coughed and sputtered trying to decide if we would be able to breathe during the night. Finally we all bedded down and were almost asleep when something began to rustle in the plastic next to Sonya's head. We all sat up, feeling for our head lamps. The click of a head lamp revealed beady little eyes of a white kitten staring back at us, hmmm, would we ever get to sleep, would there be another course to eat around mid-night?

Sunlight steamed through the slits in the grass curtain, donkey's brayed loudly outside the door, and children's voices broke through the cold morning air. I pushed my way out from under the heavy covering and put on my head wrap and chacos. Morning breakfast preparations were under way as I took of down a little path that led towards a huge heard of cows. The path veered to the right and I soon found myself sitting under a huge African tree, praising God for the beauty, magnificence, and peace that can be found in his creations.

The rest of the innards were served for breakfast except this time with pasta. Before leaving we put colorful hair ties in all of the girl's hair and gave little toy trucks to the boys. The grandpa of the family seemed to get more entertainment out of the trucks then the children. He soon had has little bag of sugar placed on the dump truck pushing it back and forth across his mat a huge smile spreading across his face.

Sarah and Hans mounted the horse and us girls took of down the sandy path once again, this time shouting, "Affa, affa, affa." and waving good-bye to our new found friends, friends who would always welcome us into their home even though we could not speak their language. It was the fellowship that mattered, the smiles, and the play time with the kids. It was a time that will not be quickly forgotten by them or by us.