Clint agreed to take us to the desert to look for camel bones for Jon to make musical ribs. Langston surprised us by being the first out of bed, with his clothes on and bed made! We should go to the dunes more often! Clint and his two boys, Nate and Luke were our guides. First we went to the animal souk in town. There were cars everywhere with sheep and goats herded together in tight quarters. This is the time to buy animals for their Eid sacrifice. The animals are to be killed facing Mecca and have their blood drained and then butchered. We found the back of the slaughter house and could see a man working on some animal. There was a stack of skins (probably sheep) on the back stoop. The stench was very strong. Clint found out that the next morning is when they would butcher the camels, so if nothing turned up in the desert Jon could come here first thing in the morning.
After an hour's drive to the desert Clint turned off to find some camel herders. We went over a few small dunes which the kids loved. They're okay for me as long as they're small. We saw a camel herder in a camel pen but he spoke something other than Arabic so we went on. Next we stopped on top of a dune to look around and let the kids play awhile. We could see a tent and some camel pens not far away and a four wheel drive vehicle. That was a sign that a Qatari was there. With Eid beginning Clint was doubtful we'd meet anyone. While we were stopped the SUV came our way. The man was on his way for a needle and thread for something. Since we were there he invited us for tea. Clint was great at befriending him and speaking his language. I wondered what I was suppose to do being a woman but it didn't turn out to be a problem. Abdullah is from a Bedouin tribe. He is Qatari and has a job in the city but prefers the desert life. You could tell he loves his camels. There were 2 pens with camels in them. One was for the mamas and one several feet away was for their babies. This made for some loud bawling from both pens. I was able to pet one of the babies. I'm not sure why they were separated. One mama was particularly upset because her calf had died. Abdullah had cut its head off and its tail. He would have his herder stitch the mouth together and place it near the mama. The smell of the baby was to keep her producing milk. Two bulls were separated so they wouldn't fight. One was hobbled with rope tied around his front legs. The other was beside a small leanto not far from the tent. This one would stick his tongue out to the side in a very strange way. This was a sign of mating.
The tent was maybe 15 feet wide with carpet and other floor covering. There were pillows along the edge to recline on and a couple of camel saddles to lean on as well. There was a treasure chest of sorts where he kept supplies, a fur-lined bedroll was folded to one side and at the entrance of the tent was a place for a small fire. While the kids explored he and Clint and Jon got to know one another and he began preparing tea. He offered us small muffins, small packaged crackers and two or three kinds of tea. I chose tea with canned milk as opposed to camel milk.
A few feet away from the tent was the "sink" area with a large basin for cleaning utensils, etc. There was a bowl with some cream-colored mush in it. I went back and forth from watching the three boys and listening in the tent.
Abdullah, dressed in typical Arabic style, enjoyed telling us about himself. He is a single man in his thirties and loves being out in the desert. He had sold 10 camels for Eid so he was pleased. His father died when he was four. He said next time he'd have his mother and sister there to visit with me. Tea was served in small cups. The custom with tea is when you've had enough you shake the cup back and forth. If you don't do that they'll keep giving you more tea! I had 2 cups of the tea with milk (my favorite) and another of red tea.
By this time Clint had told him we were looking for camel bones to make music with them. He said he'd take us to a place. We got in our cars to trek over the dunes not far from his campsite. We were so excited! Lots of camel bones, a skull in tact, the backbone and lots of ribs. All clean and bleached from the sun. A stone's throw away were more bones. We made our haul and Abdullah had still another place to visit. This was across the highway past another sheepherder's place. He must have spent 30 minutes looking for this last place. We never found it. All the while Clint was telling him we had enough, we understood if he needed to go. He had said he was going to town to clean up and go to work.
In all we spent two or three hours with him. We were able to leave him a gift which we pray God will grow in his heart. He certainly gave us a special gift of hospitality. We hope we can see him again. I must say I'm definitely with him on preferring the desert over the city. The whole event wiped me out. It hit me when we got back to town but we were excited at the blessing God had given us. It was more than we could have imagined!
Posted by nellie at February 4, 2004 04:26 PM