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| February 8, 2009 |
115 years old
Of the Fur tribe
From Treguine-which was then a small village
TO MARKET
‘When I was young we farmed cotton. Every day we did that and we wove it to sell at the market., and also to wear. We had just one shirt each. Only the rich people had two. The leaders were entitled wear the “glub’ which was costly and long with decorations of lions and things to show the leader’s power. There was no market near my village; the market was in the middle of Kordovan. People came there from the north and the south, bringing their things to sell. In the north were the Berti. Only the Fur were in Treguine.
In the past there was no soap. We washed our clothes with ‘savo’- the leaves of a tree called Lalo in Arabic. When we went to market we faced many challenges. There were no cars or bicycles. We walked, with our animals. The distance was very far. We walked day and night until about 11. Then we tied up our camels and donkeys and sat around by the fire before we slept. While we slept, one person would stay awake to watch for wolves or lions. But once the watchman was so tired he fell asleep and the lion came. I felt something breathing and awakened to see the lion. I grabbed my brother and he woke up shouting, thinking it was a snake but it was only my finger that touched him. The lion jumped away. Another lion was also there but they didn’t eat any one. We made a pact-with the lions and we became friends.
CARS
We were children when, one day a car finally came to our village. We touched it - we thought perhaps it was a hot thing or it might eat us. We saw the owner give the car water. So we picked grass for the car. But its didn’t eat. We asked the owner, “Why doesn’t the car eat the grass. The owner told me, “It’s metal. It doesn’t eat grass.’
I will never forget this