Adonis Diaries

On the road: Ethnic and latest hyper connected nomads

Did you hear of the Inuits of Nunavut in the Arctic, the Rainbow families in the USA, the nomads of Quasrtzsite in Arizona, the connected trotters, the nomads of the Big Dams in Brazil, the nomads of nuclear waste (within a minute’s notice, hundreds from all over Europe converge to a site where nuclear wastes are to be shipped), the Roms or Gypsies, the Bedwius, the Tuaregs of the Sahara desert, the Bushman in South Africa, the Nenets in the Arctic region of Russia (surviving on eating raw the flesh of the rents), the Moguls, the Tibetan nomads…?

Most of these last-shot primitive or ethnic nomads have undergone forced deep sedentary habits.  Their territories for survival have been shrinking, mostly due to oil exploration and excessive exploitation of natural resources.

Modern new forms of nomadic life-style are taking the relay. Retired people are going nomad; rich-family youth are going nomads…

The Swiss photographer, Nicolas Bouvier wrote:

“Nomads don’t go on the road in order to gather exotic encounters and anecdotes. We (adventurers) are on the road to be plucked of our feathers, to be rinsed, to be dry spinned, until our cloths are tattered thin…Without these sorts of detachment and transparent  how could we hope to make people witness what we have seen? You think you are taking a long trip, and it is the journey that does you…”

Author Abdul Rahman Waberi of the State of Djibouti (Africa) wrote:

“We become nomads to either escape the knot of hunger, or to be deleted of our fat, what is superfluous…The ethnic nomad has a swift heart in all travels. Nomads get on the move out of necessity, and they take well-tested and known routes, they don’t look out for traces and imprints on the road: It is a question of life or death.

The ethnic nomads must fly; they don’t look at their watches for the time.  They keep walking with their families, tents, sheep, and pet animals… They are on the march, regardless of varieties of boredom, lack of surprises, picturesque scenes…

The ethnic nomads have no time to indulge in extreme exotic kinds of sport activities, fancy backpack, Ray Ban sun glasses, salad of exotic dried fruits, solar cremes…

It is hard to locate the ethnic nomad:  He is already far away and had crossed the horizon.

You are left with the alternative of dreaming up a story, create new words and images…Why sweat it out and run out of breath?

Time to experiencing humble attitudes, loving time advancing like snail, creating solitude around you, and learning to listen to the chant of silence…”

Note: Abdul Rahman Waberi is an English teacher and an admirer of the Somali author Nuruddin Farah.  He published a book of novellas “Book of nomads” and a collection of poems “Eye of a nomad, a trip across the country of Djibouti“.