The School of Life

Their is nothing like a trip to the Sahara Desert to force you to completely reorganize your priorities in life. Recently my friends and I took a trip to Morocco and decided that because we were in Africa probably only once in our lives, it was necessary to go to the desert. Little did I know this desert adventure would turn out to be something so incredible.

After a ball busting 2 hour camel ride into the dunes, we made it to camp. We dropped off the camels and immediately hiked up the biggest, baddest dune we could find. Barely able to walk straight and with my calfs burning I reached the summit and felt like I was on top of the world. To the west was the sun setting over the desert, with an overwhelming expanse of sand so large that I can't even begin to describe in words. To the east was exactly what you would expect, more desert. Dunes and sand for as long as the eyes could see.

We returned to camp after sunset where we chatted with the indigenous Berbere people of Morocco, discussing desert life, culture, languages and shared stories of our travels. This is where I began to understand the peaceful, tranquility of the desert. One of our guides, Ibrahim, told us his story; he described to us his life as a desert nomad, living in the dunes, exploring the Sahara and experiencing the raw, breath taking wonder that is the desert. We asked him "do you ever get lost amongst the dunes?" He replied smugly, "do you ever get lost in San Francisco?" I said "touche Ibrahim, touche." Then we asked him, "do you ever wonder about life outside of the desert?" He answered, "Never, I love my life here. I have drums to play, plenty of rice to eat, and I meet interesting people every single day." Ibrahim had never gone to school one day in his life and yet he could speak Berbere, French, Spanish, Dutch, German and English. He knew more about history and different cultures than all of us combined and yet had never read a history book nor written one essay. He said he went to a different kind of school, he called it ' The School of Life'.

Fascinated with Ibrahim, we all wanted to continue talking to him but he told us that first we needed to eat and after that play music and if their was time, we could talk more later that night. After a delicious dinner of rice and turkey stew we all sat down in a circle and Ibrahim and his friends brought out their drums. They played their traditional songs and we laughed and danced to our hearts content. Then they gave up the drums to us and asked us to play our countries traditional songs. I was starting to realize how this school of life worked, as I myself was currently sitting in the classroom. First our Mexican friends sang some traditional mexican songs and we tried to make up a drum beat to them. Next, it was time for the American kids to take the podium. We weren't prepared at all... None of us could think of one song that we all knew and were brave enough to recite. It was a shame. I guess we failed that class. Feeling our embarrassment Ibrahim picked up the drum, put it in my lap and said PLAY. With no rhythm at all I started banging on the drum, my face lit up like a kindergartner. I guess I have a long way until graduation.

Around 1 we were told that we should quiet down as to not wake other people in the camp and so we headed for a nighttime hike up the dunes. As we got to the top it was so windy that we couldn't even open our eyes without getting whipped by the sand. We descended the mountain and headed toward camp to go to bed. But little did I know class was not over and their were still many lessons to be learned. While laying down outside underneath the stars Ibrahim and his friends told their favorite jokes. We talked some more and gazed at the sky. He told us about ancient Berbere nomads that used the stars to navigate their way through the desert, as it was often too hot to travel during the day. I couldn't help but think of all of the nomads and traders that had passed through this very desert long, long ago. I fell asleep, finally with all sorts of thoughts running through my head.

I couldn't wait to tell people about this... the most interesting lecture I had ever heard.