Carys: Kaija

Abigail: Palle

Africa Trade Journal

By Carys Garvey and Abigail Martinez
Entry 1 (Palle): I make my way to the market place, keeping my walk
steady. I want to get enough food for me and Kaija to have a nice dinner
before I go today. I know she wanted to come along, but I would never let
that happen. Shes the last form of family that I have, and I have already
lost enough of that. We agreed to meet at the hut at 3:00 today, and I have
to meet up with the caravan at 4:05. I walk up to Karif, an old merchant;
whenever I go to the market place, Karif is my first stop. Karif is one of few
people who show Kaija and I kindness. I approach the merchant and give
him a smile. I eye the meat he is trading; Kaija and I never really got to
have a good meal with a proper amount of meat in it,we couldnt. After a
brief indecisive moments Karif breaks the silence.
Oh Palle you know your parents would have wanted you to have a bit
more to indulge in on your birthday. here take this. Karif hands me salt with
a shaky hand.
Karif thank- I being to say but he shakes his head.
Dont thank me, instead have a nice day, he says.
I head back to the hut in a rush, I am always late and Kaija wont be
expecting me to be on time, but since its my last day with her, I will try to
surprise her and be on time. I run towards the hut holding the salt that Karif
had given me as a gift, and quietly enter. I find the hut empty. I laugh, whos
late now? But after a few minutes of waiting the waiting turns into an
hour, and I have already ate the yams. I prepare more yams and pack them
up to take with me. I have decided that she wont be coming. I have to meet
the rest of the caravan and leave the hut deserted. I look around, but what
if shes late, really late. Maybe I should wait for her, I look at the time and
walk out the door sighing. Im late.
Entry 2 (Palle): Im not mad...just disappointed that Kaija decided to
disappear. This thought was ruining my life! As the caravan leader, I must
be orderly, a quick thinker, and an exceptional decision maker (also very
likeable). However Im being none of these right now. It took a long time to
prove myself leader worthy as the youngest, and now that effort doesnt
seem to have been made. I am late; what kind of leader is late? I am
clumsy and drop the bag off of the camel, and hear something break. One

of the boy's eyes me. Then looks away. Things could not be worse, yet they
could. As I hop up on my camel I don't remember that they were tied
together so as I proceed to ride away, my companions(which were
innocently attaching their trading goods onto the camels were suddenly
lurched forward and taken with the camels, holding on for their lives. I make
a sudden stop and the camels all fall on each other. The boys look at me
with irritation, shaking their heads. Thanks Kaija, thank you so very much, I
bow down to you.
Entry 3 (Palle): Dying...I think I might be dying. There is no way to explain
the torture of traveling through the Sahara desert. There is no safe move,
everything you do could lead to your death. The heat has us trapped in a
circle of suffocation and desperation. My caravan has been breaking apart.
Two members of my caravan have already died. one from heat stroke,
thinking he could take the heat, the other well the other wasnt cautious
of how much water he was wasting. I had watched as their transformation
took place, and ended up leaving them in their deaths. Now I think I might
be dying, but I am sure that everyone else here feels the same way. My
skin is flaky, red, and burning to the crisp. With a mouth so dry it could
dissolve into the sand around me, I ask a member of my caravan when the
new member had joined. We both turn and look over our shoulders at the
guy walking behind most us not really socializing but scanning the area.
The boy has soft face soft features, his face now rugged and toasted, must
of it covered by the hijab worn to protect himself from heat stroke. heh heh
b turns his head back, but I keep my eyes rested on his face for a while,
we make eye contact, then I turn my head back.
Entry 4 (Palle): Five days have past, and let me just say that it gets worse.
I can not stress how painful it has been t have to watch as more and more
of my caravan dies. I walk ahead of the others keeping my legs moving,
never stopping because if I stop I might never be able to continue. A
shadow appears ahead of me and I look behind to find the new kid next to
me. I had walked far from the rest of the caravan I turn my head and face
him. He only looks into my face. I was growing irritated and out of the
corner of my eye I dust clouds forming, but what happened in front of me
was more terrorising.
The boy had removed his turban, but not quickly, slowly, so slowly
that I was beginning to inch toward the turban to remove it myself. Finally
the anxiety got to me and I lashed my now thin and irritated fingers out and
removed the turban.

Entry 5 (Palle): My heart sank down so low I fell with it. All I could do was
pretend that this wasnt real. I wanted to turn back and walk away without
saying a word, but as I rose upward. She looked at me and I walked
towards her.
Im sorry, Kaija whispers,I had to.
Kaija.. why- I began, I wanted to scream at her. WHY!WHY!WHY! But at
that moment the dust clouds surrounded us trapping us in a spiral of
merciless spades lightly tapping into our skin all over, it devoured us and
we devoured it. Kaija is not in sight well really nothing is, since I cant
see. I am blown to the ground with such force, the torture continues as I
see the camels and our trading items, my caravan being destroyed.
Entry 6 (Palle): Kaija wakes up at the crack of dawn, the first thing she
does is try to find our valuables, the camels anything, but I see in her face
how she realises that they are gone. I eye from the other side of the tree.
We are not siblings, and we are certainly not friends. I scowl at her as I rest
my head and head back to sleep. I am quickly shaken awake to find a
desperate Kaija looking down at me. I shake my head at her. I mutter to
myself so often that Kaija has grown used to it and doesnt listen, but
whenever I mutter something she thinks is about her, she gets defensive.
Funny how the only phrase she caught was, her fault.
She spits at me with force as the threat rolls out of her mouth, What
was that?! she asked.
You heard. We lost everything...And its your fault! I boom at the
end. now so close to her face.
And how is this my fault? she exclaims.
Oh so you dont know? Well, allow me to inform you that first you lied to
me, then you reveal yourself to not only be a stranger to the caravan but
also a the one person who could have prevented this, I can see that I am
hurting her but I continue, If you hadnt come this could have been
avoided, my caravan would have been saved and the valuables would
have been safe, but you distracted me because you always have to have
your way this is your fault! I could tell that she was angry. Inside she was
a monster always bubbling with rage, and the end had hurt her because
she new that I sincerely meant it. I walk away leaving her, I dont know how
I will go or what to trade in Cairo but it doesnt matter. As I leave I hear a
bloodcurdling scream in the distance.

Entry 7 (Palle): I ran up and down sand dunes, my hope burying itself
deep inside. I know that I wont make it not without water. But out of the
corner of my eye I see patch of dull green and without thinking I run
towards it. I see it just out of my reach and I cant run anymore, so I walk,
but when I cant walk anymore I crawl. Crawling towards the oasis, then I
rise up and walk towards it, so close to me now, but when I look up I see a
familiar face watching me. I walk past kaija as I if I hadnt seen her and
crouch down and fill my canteen, keeping my breath steady, trying not to
make a sound. I look up at the date tree and look at the sad camel spiders
in my hand, then back up at the date tree. I am exhausted and probably
cant climb but I do it anyway. I stay silent. I see her watching me, and
retrieve from the tree with dates and gesture for her to sit. she looks around
her, not sure if I was gesturing to her, I raise an eyebrow.
She finally sits and I hand her two camel spiders and two dates. We look at
each other
Im sorry, I apologize, feeling ashamed.
She shakes her head, Its okay, dont worry Palle. We will make it to Cairo.
We will.
And just like that we fall into deep sleep under this shelter.
Entry 8 (Palle): We wake up early to avoid the heat, and I gather more
water and food. Kaija climbs up the palm tree to gather seven dates.
Palle... she whisper, Palle! I look up at her with confusion.
Cant you speak normally, or are we being watched Kaija? I mock her
then I turn and see the thieves. There is no point in hiding, the thieves have
a clear view of me, but they have not spotted Kaija, and I am going to keep
it that way. Five thieves dismount their camels and walk towards me, my
legs are planted into the ground unwilling to move. I stay calm as one of the
thieves walk toward me. He turns his head to the side to view me from
another angle. Then shakes his head, almost as if he didnt want to do this.
Then before I know it his giant fist collides with my cheekbone. No. He
meant to do that. I spring upright and run away from Kaijas direction. I
dont mind being out numbered, being small comes with an advantage.
One of them attempts to grab me and carries me with the intention to slam
me into the ground, but I use his strength against him and flip him over. I
am on top of the thief and roll over so that I am at optimal choking position.
I wrap my arm around his chubby neck and feel as his sweaty skin collides
with my elbow crease and rid his throat of air. The next one was easy, a
skinny fellow, one hard clip on the head from my boot was all it took. I
swings both legs into someone's ribcage, blowing the wind out their lungs. I

fall hard. I make my way toward another thief and when I am about to
strike again, somebody leaps from behind me pinning me to the ground.
The person crushes me and I have no way to move or escape this giant
Another thief comes forward to join the fight, and punches me square in the
jaw. Then, he takes a hard swing at my nose and I felt the blood flowing
downward, I glare at him, daring him to hit me again. Then, he his large
foot makes contact with the side of my head. My ears ring, no noise, but
that doesnt bother me, how can it, when the pain is taking over my body.
The thieves rummage through pockets and yell with frustration when they
find nothing. They are talking to each other intently when I see kaija and
wink. I want her to know I am conscious and alive.
She realizes the plan. When the thieves turn the other way, Kaija fall
from the tree and tries to land on her feet. She cringes with pain (bad for
the ankles Kaija), but starts sprinting towards the back of the caravan. Most
of the camels have no thieves riding them, just cargo. Thats a relief. She is
out of trouble, but a thieve appears and kicks her hard. She may seem
weak, but she actually a good fighter. She kicks her leg so high that it hits
him in the head. He is knocked to the ground - probably unconscious - but
she continue to punch him just in case. When shes sure he is out cold, she
finds a camel and hides amongst its cargo. The thieves mount their camels,
and the caravan starts to move. I am still on the ground, but when the
caravan has almost passed me, I hide in the cargo of the camel behind
Kaija. I give her a small smile, and we prepare for a long journey.
Entry 9 (Palle): After two days of riding on this smelly camel, I am sure
think we are closer to Cairo. I look over at Kaja, who looks cramped and
hungry. I chose a more comfortable camel.
She looks at me, and it is as if I can read her mind. The thieves are
gathering food since we have reached an oasis, so I slide off the camel and
take bags and bags of trading items with me. Kija was holding back the
urge to laugh, but it was ironic, but I was having a good time. She
dismounts the camel carefully. Instead of just taking bags like me, she
unties the whole camel from the caravan. I look at her in disbelief, the
camel is tied to all the camels behind it. She smiles obviously amused and
re-ties the bags she took to the camel. The thieves arent even insight, so
we guide all of the camels to a large cluster of palm trees. We tie each one
to a tree and cover them with palm fronds and sand. Then, we notice one
thieves at the front of the caravan that we didnt notice before. I hold onto
the rope the guides the front camel and start to lead the camel in the
direction that the other thieves went. After about thirty minutes of waiting,

the caravan is out of sight. Kaija and I meet each others eyes, and we
burst into stomach clenching laughter.
Entry 10 (Palle): We have been traveling with these camels for days now. I
think we are only about 20 miles away from Cairo! I see three camels
approaching, but the men riding them dont look like thieves. They must be
traders. As they near our caravan, Kaija hops off of the camel and get
some items out of the bags to trade. Kaija pointed out the items in the
thieves bags. There is gold, salt, silver, rubies, and beads.
One trader comes closer and says, Greetings, my name is Sadiq. I
am from Mecca, and have brought perfume and language to trade.
With the bag in Kaijas hand, she lies the way out of the situation,
trying to sound weak and helpless she says, I only have a small amount of
rubies, copper, silver, and beads. I take off the cloth around my head,
revealing the girl hiding under. Sometimes, she gets away with things like
this because of her gender. The trader immediately looks surprised and
sorry for her.
I will teach you the written arabic language for 1 dozen small rubies.
Kaija seems pleased she thinks it over and replies, I suppose it is a
fair deal, and hands over the rubies.
Deal accepted. Where is your destination?
We are headed to Cairo.
Then we shall meet in the trading plaza of Cairo every other
Saturday for 3 months so I can teach you how to write.
It is a deal, I reply
We all shake hands, and load our trade items back onto our camels.
Now, we use the written language to write our journals.
Entry 15 (Palle): Over the past few hours, there have been more traders; a
sign that we are reaching Cairo. My sister and I now have spices and yams
along with some salt, gold, and silver that we kept. The last trader we saw
told us that there was just another mile to Cairo, and now I can see it
getting closer. The pyramids are golden in the evening light. A smile
spreads across my face; I am ready to start my new life in Cairo.