Everything started in the late 1990's, when the whole family went to Egypt. I was young, really young and had no knowledge why or when and why I was there, all I remember is I was playing with a bunch of petite humble girls in the middle of the dessert. They were herding a flock of sheep's and I merged them, those memories were concealed somewhere in my head over the years. 4 years or 5+ years ago we went back there to that dynasty which I have no images left in my head. I wasn't thrilled about it, I still remember the hours I spent in the car, my feet felt like they were on fire! The flooring of the car had a hole and the car was speeding, the back seat floor temperature was high and I tried to lift my feet up to cool them down.
As soon as we reached the house, after a 4 hour flight + 4 hours of driving + 30 minutes until we reached the house. It was after mid-night around 1:00 AM. When I saw the door, everything burst out of my head and I regret being here, for some reason I had a feeling I wouldn’t be satisfied.
That night I slept on my bed which is jam-packed with sand and dust, I felt deprived, I felt as if I was plucked out of my world. I woke up the following morning looking out of the window and saw women herding, kids carrying water in torn gasoline bottles, and men walking up the hills and then at that precise moment I remembered everything, the day I met those people, the day I played with them. It's like I had amnesia or something.
An Emirati girl why would she be there? Let me answer you, it was in the late 70 and 80's when my dad is obsessed with falcons, he crossed the world for those birds. I still remember the day he told me when he stole falcons from China and got away with it. I saw the photo's when he was in Frankfurt with David holding those treasurable creatures. My dad was passionate, he crossed the Middle-East, Africa, and Asia for falcons. He went to Sena with my Grandpa and Saif emleeh, they came across the people who lived in the Sahara of Sena, the people who until this very day still live the same way they did 100 years ago. Years later my dad bought a property nearby a tribe and built a house on the side, on the highest dune in the area.
Hello and welcome to our house, as you can see there are no shops around us the only brick build base beside us was an abandoned school which was an unfortunate attempt in educating Bedouins in Sena. Let’s look at the superior picture and pinpoint our exact location on this earth, the nearest town is around half-hour drive and 1 hour drive to Israel.
Every night for the past 2 months I've been hearing the sound of missiles and explosive, it didn’t feel right. I imagined this where my life would end, they would hit us any day. The sensation was unreal. I even thought if i spoke to my friends about it would they ever believe me?
The reason is, nobody would be around such tough zones, well let’s outlook it differently, would anyone be interested in visiting those places? My answer to that is we were there because new crops were deported from Spain to Egypt for plantation.
Pure evil.
but I'm fortunate , a seed of such experience was grown in me, this made me appreciate life, appreciate god, appreciate people, humanity, life as a whole. I've been to a place called "Zaraneek" it is where salt is produced, before we went there we passed by a house across the street and I saw a man, a man that I not once thought I'd see in my entire life 'Salaam'. When I saw him I had flashbacks of the past, this man was the gentleman I played with when I was a kid, this man worked for my father, and he was looking after the camels in the manor. Oh dear 'Salam' I missed him, I never knew he was Egyptian. However, the Zaraneek was a snow-like field, it was filled with salt. The endless piles of salt, before this visit I remembered when my brother and sister tried to walk in these salt pools which didn’t dry yet, they said it felt like knifes. I wanted to dip my feet inside them, but it was so red and looked like blood, I chickened out and just meditate god’s creation.
The Zaraneek was an interesting story my dad told us, I envy my father, he is such a great man, I believed one day I will get my husband and children to these area and just share my experience, my dad and grandpa's adventure. At least I did something different in my life. Every time these images arise into my mind, all I could think of is this phrase "الحمد لله الذي فضلنا على كثير من عباده"
As soon as we reached the house, after a 4 hour flight + 4 hours of driving + 30 minutes until we reached the house. It was after mid-night around 1:00 AM. When I saw the door, everything burst out of my head and I regret being here, for some reason I had a feeling I wouldn’t be satisfied.
That night I slept on my bed which is jam-packed with sand and dust, I felt deprived, I felt as if I was plucked out of my world. I woke up the following morning looking out of the window and saw women herding, kids carrying water in torn gasoline bottles, and men walking up the hills and then at that precise moment I remembered everything, the day I met those people, the day I played with them. It's like I had amnesia or something.
An Emirati girl why would she be there? Let me answer you, it was in the late 70 and 80's when my dad is obsessed with falcons, he crossed the world for those birds. I still remember the day he told me when he stole falcons from China and got away with it. I saw the photo's when he was in Frankfurt with David holding those treasurable creatures. My dad was passionate, he crossed the Middle-East, Africa, and Asia for falcons. He went to Sena with my Grandpa and Saif emleeh, they came across the people who lived in the Sahara of Sena, the people who until this very day still live the same way they did 100 years ago. Years later my dad bought a property nearby a tribe and built a house on the side, on the highest dune in the area.
Every night for the past 2 months I've been hearing the sound of missiles and explosive, it didn’t feel right. I imagined this where my life would end, they would hit us any day. The sensation was unreal. I even thought if i spoke to my friends about it would they ever believe me?
The reason is, nobody would be around such tough zones, well let’s outlook it differently, would anyone be interested in visiting those places? My answer to that is we were there because new crops were deported from Spain to Egypt for plantation.
Throughout the period my dad started to buy grounds near the farm and expanded it. So most of the time we were left home alone in the internal of the dessert, all I did is read books and sit on top of the dunes, those volcanic sand dunes. I ended up walking around the dessert, I met some familiar girls, they remember me so well and I can barely recall them. Talking to them was an inspirational moment, the purest minds you will ever find, they know nothing about the contemporary female fashion world or about sex or about edifice your guru happy life. Can you imagine how peaceful is that?
The only problem I faced is those little evil creatures that bite! These live on sheep's and camels. I think he accomplished his goal drawing “the last supper “on my body. I was itching day and night.
Well, one day my dad decided we should visit (Shaikh Ziwayd) famous Wednesday market, when we went there, all we did is buy veggies, eggs and poultry. 10 minutes later we were in Rafah, yes, never in a million years I thought I'd be there, but somehow destiny dropped me there. I saw dreadful matter which I don't want to evoke, I saw those unfortunate people standing on the roof across the borders, Palestinian, yes, palestinian.
I didn't want to recollect this stage of my life, because that wasn't my life, I can't live like that, I just felt immoral being among those people, wait, don't get me wrong, I meant I felt as if I was trying to elitist on those people, no haram I would never do that. I'm used to dress in decent clothes and wear makeup every day. In my simplicity those people look at it as if I'm a monarch. Those societies know nothing about the outer world, can you visualize if they went to America? They'd consider you Aliens, I speculate, ya they would probably think that way.
but I'm fortunate , a seed of such experience was grown in me, this made me appreciate life, appreciate god, appreciate people, humanity, life as a whole. I've been to a place called "Zaraneek" it is where salt is produced, before we went there we passed by a house across the street and I saw a man, a man that I not once thought I'd see in my entire life 'Salaam'. When I saw him I had flashbacks of the past, this man was the gentleman I played with when I was a kid, this man worked for my father, and he was looking after the camels in the manor. Oh dear 'Salam' I missed him, I never knew he was Egyptian. However, the Zaraneek was a snow-like field, it was filled with salt. The endless piles of salt, before this visit I remembered when my brother and sister tried to walk in these salt pools which didn’t dry yet, they said it felt like knifes. I wanted to dip my feet inside them, but it was so red and looked like blood, I chickened out and just meditate god’s creation.
The Zaraneek was an interesting story my dad told us, I envy my father, he is such a great man, I believed one day I will get my husband and children to these area and just share my experience, my dad and grandpa's adventure. At least I did something different in my life. Every time these images arise into my mind, all I could think of is this phrase "الحمد لله الذي فضلنا على كثير من عباده"
Shaikha x
It's such a great article... I am happy to know more about you. At the first sight, I knew you were a good person !
ReplyDeleteI really like you Sheikha !