The Groans and Grumbles of Camels

I have never met an animal which groans and grumbles like a camel! Oh…! I know this because I have a herd of my own in the desert in Mauritania, in a place called Benichab. I visited them several times some years ago when I lived in Nouakchott, the capital. “Hhngh …hhngh….hurrrh…hurrrh”! they went, especially in the early hours of the morning when sleep was at its most comfortable. Unlike the animals, the nomads were very hospitable; in fact, I found them to be the most hospitable people in the world. They slaughtered animals for me, filled my tent with food and drinks, invited their neighbours to visit me, chatted me to sleep at night and, once, even brought a flutist to blow his melody for me. Once too, I took the son of my Canadian boss with me and he was amazed that “people who looked and dressed so much like Al-Qaeda” could be so warm and welcoming. He had never been so famous in his life, because all the old women came out to welcome us and all wanted to “marry” him. Unfortunately, Yusuf (that was his nickname!) was only 17!

One day, back in Nouakchott from a visit to my friends and my animals in the Sahara, I met a gentleman in the home of The Gambia’s Ambassador to Mauritania. Badji Bassen (that was his nickname!) was an Ambassador of rare qualities. He, it was, he, who, introduced me to his boss, Dr Omar Alieu Touray, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. In those days Ministers did not last for long in office in The Gambia and I think our country was the gold medalist in the world in the turnover of former Ministers. 

Last year, far from the soft and golden sand dunes of Benichab, I met Dr Touray in Mecca. He works now for the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, after serving as Senior Regional Policy Adviser to the Regional Bureau of the UN World Food Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. He is now a certified Islamic banker and has added to his qualifications a Master’s degree in Islamic Finance.

Professor J. Ayo Langley (the late Secretary General of the Gambian civil service) told me in the 1990’s, “A competent man will always find a job”!