It is very unusual for women to travel alone, or travel really at all, so this was a very unique experience. This is a quote from Lucy about the trip.
From the time I have been very young I have wanted to go to far out places and reach children and young women and girls you can understand how important this trip was for me. There are countless small and tiny villages all across this country. I have always wondered, how will they hear? I have always thoughts this from the time I was very young as I watched hundreds of tiny hamlets drift by the car window as we drove to places all across This country. These small places are known for their ignorance, suspicion of outsiders, treatment of women and girls, and a stubborn holding fast to the only way of life they have ever known in just the day to day matters. I was going way east so I didn’t know if I would be harassed by men or stalked by gangs of teenage boys or what to expect. I had been praying about this idea for weeks maybe months, I can’t remember. There were so many things that could go wrong....
This is an account of the trip.
Today was a very good day we made it to six villages and hope to go to three more tomorrow. If we make it to three villages tomorrow we will have gone to ten total. We spent a lot of the time out walking about, talking with kids and taking pictures so it made for a tiring day. The area is amazing though and the villages are so cool. There are a lot of old buildings and historical sites in the area. The villages look like they haven’t changed much in the last hundred years. We stopped at several old buildings and also took some walks to see the area. There are lots of foxes and they are not afraid of people.
There really are no other wild animals around since the people have killed off all the deer and anything else. I didn’t even see a rabbit. We have had a really good time and would like to stay longer.
We left pretty early on Tuesday. People here are not big on traveling and lots of people haven't even seen the nearby cities let alone go as far as we where planning on going. We didn't want to have to try and explain why we where going. We drove for quite a ways past the city on the hill which is a cool city and then into the mountains.
After we got to the mountains the road got a lot more interesting so we would stop some to take pictures or look at the view. We also kept an eye out for fruit we could pick and did end up finding some of the orange fruits. We drove on again for a long time, up over the mountains onto the plains where we where going to be staying. The landscape really changed and it is a cool different kind of place where we went. It is kind of like a plateau but kind of like farm land, and the whole area is scattered with ruins and is a history filled place. When going over the mountains to this place we passed through a little snow and some woods but on the other side their were no trees and no snow. We thought we might have to use snow chains to get over the pass but the road was completely clear it was really nice.
After driving for a little longer we saw a small village and decided to stop and eat lunch while watching to see if there were any people. We spotted a group of kids playing. The game seem to involve 2 of the kids attempting to carry the third kid who they would drop after only a short distance. The kid who got dropped would then attempt to beat up and drag the other two kids to the ground before they all made up and did it again. When this got old they settled for throwing dirt and splashing water at each other from a nearby stream. We decided that these would be great kids to meet so we got out of the car and started to wander around. We knew we couldn't just walk up to the kids as this would be weird and freak them out. So we hoped they would think we where tourists and become curious and come over to us.
Having blond hair is very rare so even if we where just more tourists we hoped my hair would at least attract attention. However the kids did not go along with our plan. They did not come over to us and should we wander in their direction while ignoring them of course, they would wander off. We where just about to admit defeat and go back to the car when finally a lady showed up and greeted us. Lucy told her we where tourists and were just stretching our legs after a long drive then started complimenting the village and asking some questions about the weather and such. The lady was very friendly and proud of her village and happily told Lucy all about it and then mentioned that they had a school. Lucy was very surprised to hear this and asked the lady if she could see it. The lady agreed and called one of the children to come over to be our guide.
Two of the kids both young girls ran over and took us to the school. They warmed up to us pretty quick and started to tell Lucy all about the school and what grade they where in. Lucy had a good talk with them and got to share a story from the fathers book. She discussed the holiday with them also and asked if they had killed a sacrifice. We took their picture and they were delighted with being able to see themselves on the screen. Most the kids we would meet in the next couple of days would never of had their picture taken and be delighted with getting to see their picture on the screen of the camera. The kids walked with us back to our car, waved goodbye, and invited us to came back again.
The next day we headed out early. We first went to the tourist area of town to look at the ruins and castle. This served a double purpose we really wanted to see the ruins and be able to wander around in the off season and we hoped the street urchins which we fondly called beasties would come out and talk with us. We did have a good time wandering around and it was nice having the area to ourselves but that was also a problem... where were the beasties? We wandered more into the local neighborhood but no one was out! Not even adults. This was very odd but what could we do? We gave up and headed back to our car.
We then headed into the hills to find our first village and see if they had a school we could photograph. Our new plan was to find villages, tell them Lucy was a teacher and that we would like to see the local schools. We saw a village and pulled off the main road to check it out. As we drove through the village we saw a lot of guys! There were guys everywhere. At least 30 of them, most of them wandering the roads in packs. But we could not see a girl of any age anywhere. There were no girl babies, no little girls playing, no women in the yard, not even an old lady sitting in a doorway. There were boys playing and guys walking with boy babies but no girls!!! This was a rather surprising find and a little freaked out we drove through without stopping and now refer to that village as the man village.
We then headed further down the highway hoping that not all the villages would be this way. We saw a very small village, only a couple of houses really, a little way off the main road and decided to pull off the road and walk to it. If we had to walk we would not be able to chicken out. We started the walk and were delighted when we were greeted by a lady. She hurried over to tell us we where lucky we hadn't been attacked by the dogs!! We asked how many dogs she had and she said 5 !!! And that they would go straight for our throats. She turned out to be really nice and we had a good talk as she walked us back to our car so we wouldn't be attacked by the dogs.
We decided to press on even though things where not going as nicely as the day before. We had much better luck a little later as we stopped at a bigger village and asked about their school. They had a new big boarding school with all the grades 1-8. We had three girls as tour guides this time and they were so proud of the school. We got to see everything- the class rooms, the bathrooms, the laundry room, the cafeteria, the kitchen, even the basement! This was cool. We got to see just how it was for the kids and how big the classes our and stuff. The girls then asked if we wanted to see anything else. We asked what else they could show us and they promptly led us to the village pump! This is when we realized that the village pumps are very important and this would be the first of several pumps we would see. Then they showed us the village mosque. We even got head coverings and got to go inside. Lucy had lots of time to talk and share stories and stuff with the girls and they were good listeners and got the point of the stories.
After this village we ended up going to three more and meeting more kids then it was starting to get dark so we decided to take a walk and not try and visit any more villages since the few girls who had been out would be inside now. We hiked out into the nearby fields and walked and talked until it was too dark to walk without stumbling over rocks and then headed back to eat diner. We ate at the same place and watched the TV stories of peoples sacrifice bulls getting loose and running wild in the bigger towns. Luckily not to many people where injured but they did cause a lot of commotion and block traffic. Lucy says animals get loose every year.
Then we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for one more day of visiting villages and then a long drive home. We started out early but realized it might be too early to visit and that there was a sign for a museum. At first we where going to ignore the sign and I pointed out that the museum could be anywhere! Just look around... there is old stuff everywhere. I pointed to what looked like a normal old rock house with ancient looking rock things in the backyard. Wait! We thought that was a little unusual, even here. So we turned off and checked it out and we had found the museum. It was a small free museum but it had a lot of cool stuff. We enjoyed seeing what they had but doubted the informative little plaques they had telling us about stuff and dating it back to 6,000 BC or some other crazy date. While we doubted the information at times they really did have a lot of cool things.
After spending more then an hour enjoying the museum we again headed out to see what awaited us in the villages. We soon spotted a village and a school so we pulled over. Two lady's greeted us and agreed to show us the school. We quickly bored one of the lady's but the other invited us into her home for tea. We quickly agreed since we had been wanted to see the inside of the homes so we could better understand what the living conditions where. We enjoyed our visit and got to not only have tea and meet her two kids but were shown the pump and got to take lots of pictures. Lucy asked if she returned in the summer could she teach English to the kids? The lady was delighted and said of course they would love it if she could come back and teach for a few days. She then added that of course Lucy would stay with her.
From this village we went to two others, one of which we stopped at because all the housed were identical and in perfect straight rows. It made the village look like a concentration camp or military out post. This village did not have a school but we learned that the reason for the identical houses was that there had been an earthquake that had leveled the village and the government and built these houses for them. It was not the nicest looking village but it was good to see that the government was willing to step in and help the people.
We decided to head for home around noon so that we could be back around 5 and not have to drive in the dark for very long. But as we where driving along we saw a lady washing laundry by a stream and wondered if some nearby buildings were a school so we pulled over to see what the lady could tell us. She was very nice and informed us that they did have a school but that the buildings we were pointing to was the local hospital. She invited us in for tea but we refused saying we had to be on our way but then her husband showed up and delightedly waved us into his home while chasing off his growling dogs. We ended up staying for over an hour and being served not only tea but lunch. The lady brought us a tray filled with homemade yogurt, homemade bread, homemade cheese, and some of the lamb they had cooked up from the sacrifice earlier. The lady simply wanted to marry Lucy off much to Lucy’s annoyance, but her husband was full of stories which he dramatically acted out for us. It turned out he was one of 9 kids had 4 kids of his own, had been in the military, and an extra in a movie, and knew about everything from the nearby road that used to have camel caravans to the best places to stay in the big cities. He was a little hard to understand and talked like Lucy should know everyone in the area by name, but we enjoyed hearing what he had to say. They were really a sweet old couple and clearly didn't get a lot of visitors and missed their kids. We finally said we really had to go and so they let us go.
We drove nearly non stop and made it home around 7. It felt much later to us though. We didn't even make it through our doorway before our neighbor rushed out demanding where had we gone and insisting we come straight over for diner. We didn't mind since we had no food and didn't feel like cooking. So we went over and enjoyed a delicious meal, desert, tea, and then fruit and nuts for a snack a little later.
We had a really good trip and Lucy plans to go back in June. She thinks that if she is with guys she won't be able to talk with the women and children and she is probably right. When it is just girls the guys ignored us but if we had a guy with us they would of had to come over and then the guys would dominate the conversation. This is a male dominate culture. If she goes with her mom that will also change things. The only way to spend time with the young girls and kids is to be a young girl and as soon as older people or guys join the group things change.
Today was a very good day we made it to six villages and hope to go to three more tomorrow. If we make it to three villages tomorrow we will have gone to ten total. We spent a lot of the time out walking about, talking with kids and taking pictures so it made for a tiring day. The area is amazing though and the villages are so cool. There are a lot of old buildings and historical sites in the area. The villages look like they haven’t changed much in the last hundred years. We stopped at several old buildings and also took some walks to see the area. There are lots of foxes and they are not afraid of people.
There really are no other wild animals around since the people have killed off all the deer and anything else. I didn’t even see a rabbit. We have had a really good time and would like to stay longer.
We left pretty early on Tuesday. People here are not big on traveling and lots of people haven't even seen the nearby cities let alone go as far as we where planning on going. We didn't want to have to try and explain why we where going. We drove for quite a ways past the city on the hill which is a cool city and then into the mountains.
After we got to the mountains the road got a lot more interesting so we would stop some to take pictures or look at the view. We also kept an eye out for fruit we could pick and did end up finding some of the orange fruits. We drove on again for a long time, up over the mountains onto the plains where we where going to be staying. The landscape really changed and it is a cool different kind of place where we went. It is kind of like a plateau but kind of like farm land, and the whole area is scattered with ruins and is a history filled place. When going over the mountains to this place we passed through a little snow and some woods but on the other side their were no trees and no snow. We thought we might have to use snow chains to get over the pass but the road was completely clear it was really nice.
After driving for a little longer we saw a small village and decided to stop and eat lunch while watching to see if there were any people. We spotted a group of kids playing. The game seem to involve 2 of the kids attempting to carry the third kid who they would drop after only a short distance. The kid who got dropped would then attempt to beat up and drag the other two kids to the ground before they all made up and did it again. When this got old they settled for throwing dirt and splashing water at each other from a nearby stream. We decided that these would be great kids to meet so we got out of the car and started to wander around. We knew we couldn't just walk up to the kids as this would be weird and freak them out. So we hoped they would think we where tourists and become curious and come over to us.
Having blond hair is very rare so even if we where just more tourists we hoped my hair would at least attract attention. However the kids did not go along with our plan. They did not come over to us and should we wander in their direction while ignoring them of course, they would wander off. We where just about to admit defeat and go back to the car when finally a lady showed up and greeted us. Lucy told her we where tourists and were just stretching our legs after a long drive then started complimenting the village and asking some questions about the weather and such. The lady was very friendly and proud of her village and happily told Lucy all about it and then mentioned that they had a school. Lucy was very surprised to hear this and asked the lady if she could see it. The lady agreed and called one of the children to come over to be our guide.
Two of the kids both young girls ran over and took us to the school. They warmed up to us pretty quick and started to tell Lucy all about the school and what grade they where in. Lucy had a good talk with them and got to share a story from the fathers book. She discussed the holiday with them also and asked if they had killed a sacrifice. We took their picture and they were delighted with being able to see themselves on the screen. Most the kids we would meet in the next couple of days would never of had their picture taken and be delighted with getting to see their picture on the screen of the camera. The kids walked with us back to our car, waved goodbye, and invited us to came back again.
The next day we headed out early. We first went to the tourist area of town to look at the ruins and castle. This served a double purpose we really wanted to see the ruins and be able to wander around in the off season and we hoped the street urchins which we fondly called beasties would come out and talk with us. We did have a good time wandering around and it was nice having the area to ourselves but that was also a problem... where were the beasties? We wandered more into the local neighborhood but no one was out! Not even adults. This was very odd but what could we do? We gave up and headed back to our car.
We then headed into the hills to find our first village and see if they had a school we could photograph. Our new plan was to find villages, tell them Lucy was a teacher and that we would like to see the local schools. We saw a village and pulled off the main road to check it out. As we drove through the village we saw a lot of guys! There were guys everywhere. At least 30 of them, most of them wandering the roads in packs. But we could not see a girl of any age anywhere. There were no girl babies, no little girls playing, no women in the yard, not even an old lady sitting in a doorway. There were boys playing and guys walking with boy babies but no girls!!! This was a rather surprising find and a little freaked out we drove through without stopping and now refer to that village as the man village.
We then headed further down the highway hoping that not all the villages would be this way. We saw a very small village, only a couple of houses really, a little way off the main road and decided to pull off the road and walk to it. If we had to walk we would not be able to chicken out. We started the walk and were delighted when we were greeted by a lady. She hurried over to tell us we where lucky we hadn't been attacked by the dogs!! We asked how many dogs she had and she said 5 !!! And that they would go straight for our throats. She turned out to be really nice and we had a good talk as she walked us back to our car so we wouldn't be attacked by the dogs.
We decided to press on even though things where not going as nicely as the day before. We had much better luck a little later as we stopped at a bigger village and asked about their school. They had a new big boarding school with all the grades 1-8. We had three girls as tour guides this time and they were so proud of the school. We got to see everything- the class rooms, the bathrooms, the laundry room, the cafeteria, the kitchen, even the basement! This was cool. We got to see just how it was for the kids and how big the classes our and stuff. The girls then asked if we wanted to see anything else. We asked what else they could show us and they promptly led us to the village pump! This is when we realized that the village pumps are very important and this would be the first of several pumps we would see. Then they showed us the village mosque. We even got head coverings and got to go inside. Lucy had lots of time to talk and share stories and stuff with the girls and they were good listeners and got the point of the stories.
After this village we ended up going to three more and meeting more kids then it was starting to get dark so we decided to take a walk and not try and visit any more villages since the few girls who had been out would be inside now. We hiked out into the nearby fields and walked and talked until it was too dark to walk without stumbling over rocks and then headed back to eat diner. We ate at the same place and watched the TV stories of peoples sacrifice bulls getting loose and running wild in the bigger towns. Luckily not to many people where injured but they did cause a lot of commotion and block traffic. Lucy says animals get loose every year.
Then we headed back to the hotel to shower and get ready for one more day of visiting villages and then a long drive home. We started out early but realized it might be too early to visit and that there was a sign for a museum. At first we where going to ignore the sign and I pointed out that the museum could be anywhere! Just look around... there is old stuff everywhere. I pointed to what looked like a normal old rock house with ancient looking rock things in the backyard. Wait! We thought that was a little unusual, even here. So we turned off and checked it out and we had found the museum. It was a small free museum but it had a lot of cool stuff. We enjoyed seeing what they had but doubted the informative little plaques they had telling us about stuff and dating it back to 6,000 BC or some other crazy date. While we doubted the information at times they really did have a lot of cool things.
After spending more then an hour enjoying the museum we again headed out to see what awaited us in the villages. We soon spotted a village and a school so we pulled over. Two lady's greeted us and agreed to show us the school. We quickly bored one of the lady's but the other invited us into her home for tea. We quickly agreed since we had been wanted to see the inside of the homes so we could better understand what the living conditions where. We enjoyed our visit and got to not only have tea and meet her two kids but were shown the pump and got to take lots of pictures. Lucy asked if she returned in the summer could she teach English to the kids? The lady was delighted and said of course they would love it if she could come back and teach for a few days. She then added that of course Lucy would stay with her.
From this village we went to two others, one of which we stopped at because all the housed were identical and in perfect straight rows. It made the village look like a concentration camp or military out post. This village did not have a school but we learned that the reason for the identical houses was that there had been an earthquake that had leveled the village and the government and built these houses for them. It was not the nicest looking village but it was good to see that the government was willing to step in and help the people.
We decided to head for home around noon so that we could be back around 5 and not have to drive in the dark for very long. But as we where driving along we saw a lady washing laundry by a stream and wondered if some nearby buildings were a school so we pulled over to see what the lady could tell us. She was very nice and informed us that they did have a school but that the buildings we were pointing to was the local hospital. She invited us in for tea but we refused saying we had to be on our way but then her husband showed up and delightedly waved us into his home while chasing off his growling dogs. We ended up staying for over an hour and being served not only tea but lunch. The lady brought us a tray filled with homemade yogurt, homemade bread, homemade cheese, and some of the lamb they had cooked up from the sacrifice earlier. The lady simply wanted to marry Lucy off much to Lucy’s annoyance, but her husband was full of stories which he dramatically acted out for us. It turned out he was one of 9 kids had 4 kids of his own, had been in the military, and an extra in a movie, and knew about everything from the nearby road that used to have camel caravans to the best places to stay in the big cities. He was a little hard to understand and talked like Lucy should know everyone in the area by name, but we enjoyed hearing what he had to say. They were really a sweet old couple and clearly didn't get a lot of visitors and missed their kids. We finally said we really had to go and so they let us go.
We drove nearly non stop and made it home around 7. It felt much later to us though. We didn't even make it through our doorway before our neighbor rushed out demanding where had we gone and insisting we come straight over for diner. We didn't mind since we had no food and didn't feel like cooking. So we went over and enjoyed a delicious meal, desert, tea, and then fruit and nuts for a snack a little later.
We had a really good trip and Lucy plans to go back in June. She thinks that if she is with guys she won't be able to talk with the women and children and she is probably right. When it is just girls the guys ignored us but if we had a guy with us they would of had to come over and then the guys would dominate the conversation. This is a male dominate culture. If she goes with her mom that will also change things. The only way to spend time with the young girls and kids is to be a young girl and as soon as older people or guys join the group things change.
She would really like me to go with her again but I am not sure how that would work. I would love to go it was a lot of fun but It is a lot of money to come back in June. But it was a cool trip and we are very excited to see that people can go to these places and that she can return and teach.
Even though they are really poor people they have pretty good lives. They all have good land and good animals. They are a tough people and work hard but they all have houses, stoves, food, clothes. There houses are small but that just makes them easier to heat. They don't have a lot but they all seem to have what they need. Almost all the villages had a school, and a doctor and several had small markets. I think they have pretty healthy of lives and that their living is way better than a city slum.
A few people had cars but most do not and women do not learn to drive. The fact that Lucy drives is very unusual and people do not expect to see a women driver. Not a lot of people own cars. There are buses and sometimes they are close enough that they can walk but it takes awhile and must be very hot in summer and cold in winter. The guys hitch hike and get rides from passing cars. Most villages try and be very self sustaining. The one lady we talked to said they had all they need. They had cows so they had meat, milk, butter, cheese, and they grew wheat and made their own bread. We asked if they ate fruits and vegetables and she said no they didn't need to. They probably grow cabbage and potatoes and eat at them at least. They also had chickens and geese so they had more meat and eggs.
There was some running water but I am not sure about bathrooms. I didn't see out houses so I guess they must have some sort of indoor bathrooms. We did see the bathroom and shower room at one of the boarding schools. They had indoor plumbing squatty potties. The showers where a surprise. They just had a big open room with a cement ledge/ bench running along the wall. There were spigots with running water over the ledge and the kids just put a bucket under the spigot and take a sponge bath. I am not sure but I would assume the water is the same lukewarm temperature year round. Is there running water in the school? No they have out houses outside in a separate building. I think they have wood stoves for heat or they don't, then I guess the buildings are unheated. I am not sure if they have electricity in the smallest schools.
Lucy thought that the little schools had been made illegal and shut down. She was very surprised to see that they where still being used. They are very small two room schools with 2 teachers. One teacher and room is for 1-4 grade and the other teacher and room is for 5-6. After 6th grade the students have to go to a bigger village or city and go to school there. They are boarding schools so they only have to travel a few times a year.
Even though they are really poor people they have pretty good lives. They all have good land and good animals. They are a tough people and work hard but they all have houses, stoves, food, clothes. There houses are small but that just makes them easier to heat. They don't have a lot but they all seem to have what they need. Almost all the villages had a school, and a doctor and several had small markets. I think they have pretty healthy of lives and that their living is way better than a city slum.
A few people had cars but most do not and women do not learn to drive. The fact that Lucy drives is very unusual and people do not expect to see a women driver. Not a lot of people own cars. There are buses and sometimes they are close enough that they can walk but it takes awhile and must be very hot in summer and cold in winter. The guys hitch hike and get rides from passing cars. Most villages try and be very self sustaining. The one lady we talked to said they had all they need. They had cows so they had meat, milk, butter, cheese, and they grew wheat and made their own bread. We asked if they ate fruits and vegetables and she said no they didn't need to. They probably grow cabbage and potatoes and eat at them at least. They also had chickens and geese so they had more meat and eggs.
There was some running water but I am not sure about bathrooms. I didn't see out houses so I guess they must have some sort of indoor bathrooms. We did see the bathroom and shower room at one of the boarding schools. They had indoor plumbing squatty potties. The showers where a surprise. They just had a big open room with a cement ledge/ bench running along the wall. There were spigots with running water over the ledge and the kids just put a bucket under the spigot and take a sponge bath. I am not sure but I would assume the water is the same lukewarm temperature year round. Is there running water in the school? No they have out houses outside in a separate building. I think they have wood stoves for heat or they don't, then I guess the buildings are unheated. I am not sure if they have electricity in the smallest schools.
Lucy thought that the little schools had been made illegal and shut down. She was very surprised to see that they where still being used. They are very small two room schools with 2 teachers. One teacher and room is for 1-4 grade and the other teacher and room is for 5-6. After 6th grade the students have to go to a bigger village or city and go to school there. They are boarding schools so they only have to travel a few times a year.
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