Newspaper Page Text
CORRIE BROWN
m cousinTu/as'
worried that I would take it with me! Newborn goats are like pup
pies for Bedouin children.
Nabil said only four children—this is a small family, why not
10? The father laughed and said that in the old days 10 was nor
mal, but nowadays families are smaller and four is easier to man
age and more affordable.
They have 200 sheep and 50 goats. Nabil explained the value—
the sheep are worth $100 each, so the family is worth S20,000, a
substantial amount for a country where the average annual income
is 54,000. They live simply and only sell sheep when they need
cash for something: gasoline for the truck, money for school, a
celebration. There is no refrigeration, no running water. Meals have
to be cooked from scratch every day; there was a small propane
tank in one corner of the tent.
ueslions
Nabil encouraged me to ask them questions about anything,
including politics.
Do they vote? Yes, they vote in elections when someone they
like is running. They feel well represented in the government.
What kinds of health problems do they have with their animals?
They have periodic problems with infectious diseases; brucellosis
and foot rot are the most common. And when forage is scarce, the
animals tend to eat plastic bags 3nd then they waste away be
cause their intestines are plugged. When animals are ill, they rail
a veterinarian who comes out from the Ministry of Agriculture to
help them.
How do they decide who watches the animals? They take turns,
but mostly it is the first one of the brothers who giceted us out
side. They stay with the animals all day long, to keep them togeth
er and also to watch out for poisonous snakes. Snakes are a big
problem for the animals and also for the people when they need to
leave the tent at night. At night they bring the animals close to
the tent and put them inside a movable enclosure.
How do they feel about America? They like it and they don't.
They unhappy with the American government and feel that the
government does not understand the nature of Arabs. They like
individual Americans and feel that Americans are good people and
won't do anything bad to you unless you do it to them first. They
cannot understand how the American people could have elected
the government that they did. They would like to be able to ex
plain to George Bush what it means to be a Bedouin and then he
would feel more kindly towards all Arabs.
Do they think that individuals could do anything to help
improve relations between Americans and Arabs? They want
Americans to know that they are always welcome to come to
Jordan and share anything they have. But without the participa
tion of rtie governments, they were not hopeful that things could
improve just through individuals' efforts.
What would they like for me to convey to the people I know in
America? They asked me to please ask everyone I know to come
and have coffee in their tent.
They invited us to stay for lunch and promised to cook mansef,
the national dish of lamb with yogurt. This takes several hours to
prepare and would require the slaughtering of a lamb. Their sincer
ity was evident as they repeated the invitation maybe six times.
A big lump formed in my throat as I thought about the unfair im
pressions of Arabs that so many Westerners harbor.
|iU
Everyone I met in Jordan extended themselves in some way or
other to me. Whether through offers to take me for lunch, dinner,
shopping, or to see a nearby sight, the hospitality was genuine.
Similarly, walking through the streets of Irbid, I felt very safe.
Great shame would fall on a family if they did not extend them
selves to help a visitor or if one of their relatives caused harm to a
guest. Taking care of others is just a part of life.
In addition to the obligation to take care of guests, Muslims
also have a responsibility to defend their land and to t ke it back
if it is stolen. It is the underlying reason behind the justifica
tion for fighting for Palestine. Unfortunately, it is on this fighting
aspect that the Western world focuses its attention on Muslims,
and Arabs in particular. On my last day in Jordan, Israel had in
vaded Gaza and taken numerous Palestinian lawmakers in the West
Bank into custody, in response to an attack on Israeli soldiers
and kidnapping of one. I watched the drama unfold on BBC in the
mcining and then was invited for Friday lunch at my host's home.
As we arrived, Nabil and his biother were just coming from the
noontime service at the mosque. The imam's sermon that day was
about Israel's incursions, and the imam called this "governmental
terrorism" and was asking why other countries in the world are not
labeling it as such. He certainly has a point. Of great concern is
that Jordan represents the most moderate country in the region,
and with public sentiment running in this direction, we can only
expect far more strident urgings from mosques in the hard-line
countries. The repercussions will be far-reaching. Rather than
focusing on annihilating terrorists, perhaps our time would be bet
ter spent building relations and promoting mutual understandings
across these cultural divides.
As a perfectly fitting etymologic end to the visit to Jordan, my
ride to the airport was organized oy a man named Jihad. When
I asked my host Nabil if that was really the man's name, he said
most emphatically, yes, and he is proud of it and I should use it.
On the two-hour pre-dawn trip from Irbid to the Amman airport
with Jihad, he and I talked about many things—his career, his
daughters, his hopes for the future. In Arabic, every name has a
meaning. The meaning of his name is pride and defense of the
land, and that he will do. As he explained with a broad smile, not
the BIG jihad, but the small one is very important—I love my
home, my family, my land, and it is important to me. He looked at
me and asked, isn’t this what our life here on Earth is about—our
home, our family, our land, and our connections to others? I had
to agree.
Corrie Brown
Corne Brown is Professor and Coordinator of International Activities in the
UGA College of Veterinary Medicine.
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