Today Sabet and Albino took us to the cattle camp, which was about a thirty minute drive up from the In Deed and Truth compound. As soon as we arrived, we were greeted by lovely dark children with big smiling faces many of which were just babies holding babies. They all loved having their pictures taken and then being able to see them on the camera. Laughing hysterically they would point to their images on the screen. We actually had to limit our camera time because of what we called the ‘reverse paparazzi’ effect of being almost swarmed by the children.
As we walked through the camp the dairy cows were all around us, tied to a short rope which was then staked in the ground. Most were laying down, as the sun beat down on them. Big long horns protruded from their heads and our group kept joking about not ever wanting to be on the ‘business end’ of those. We paraded through the grounds like the pied piper, our following growing ever larger. We started seeing more adolescents and adults at this point, in addition to the babies group. A couple of young men even demonstrated to us their fighting technique with short thick sticks in hand. I loved how they would laugh and then hug each other after a bout. The single woman among us got many offers for marriage in exchange for a number of their cows. Usually they would ask the man standing closest to her if he would accept the offer.
Eventually even the older workers wanted their pictures taken and we obliged as much as we could without disturbing the peace. We were able to buy a couple of spears from the men and we’ll have a great story to share about their origin. No marketplace purchase here! As we left, one of the guys donated a shirt to a young boy and we watched as he proudly put it on. It was much too big for him but his face was beaming. As we pulled away we saw he and his friends around him pulling the fabric up to their noses and taking in deep breaths. Amongst the dung filled cattle field I guess a fresh clean shirt with the smell of laundry soap was pretty amazing. Ah, the things we take for granted…
What a lovely morning this was, and what incredible, resourceful and hard working people are the Sudanese.