Oh why me?

Little villages linked by a dusty thread of road weaving in and out of the desert . The wall was rarely seen in this area as expansion and farming have taken its toll on the very sensitive mud structure. All that is left of the tail of this grand old dragon are the odd watch tower, I would call them scales on its back.

As we ran along this parched dust road a gaunt bent over figure, clad in khaki clothing and a dusty hat shuffled across the road in front of us. I got a glimpse of his face, but it was not his face, but his eye that caught mine, it was as if for a second it locked into mine. An intense piercing stare that for a second I was unable to break away from, the glazed, the tearful look that has stuck with me for the past week.

His badly deformed and twisted face had caught our attention as we passed Braam and I looked at each other, I could read his thoughts, mirror image of mine, the run, why we are here, a desperate reminder of why we were doing it. The most disturbing part to me was the desperation, the inner pity and entrapment that that person was going through life with. Visible to us, was his only facade to the outside world. That split second that I had made eye contact, seemed to pour out years of ostrsization and asking and searching within, why me. As I now sit in my tent writing this, a storm is brewing and the thunder is rattling in the distance, makes me wonder how the thunder of frustration must rattle in his mind and the tears of frustration rain down his desolate twisted and parched face. As I sit, I am running my hands over my mouth wondering, imagine what it must be like not to be able to kiss your child good night. We all take this simple thing for granted.A smile