Timbuktu

 The sun burned down as we all sat in the clay hut. The host offered us tea and apologized for not having much to eat. We graciously accepted. The hear was almost unbearable, yet the house was still somewhat cool. The translator explained that the hut was built in the traditional style. It allowed for a continuous air flow and kept out the heat as much as possible.

After exchanging some pleasantries Tom asked for what we came for. We’ve heard that this man owned some manuscripts from before the fall of the Mali Empire. We didn’t know what these manuscripts are about, because the man never learned how to read. As the translator asked for them the mans face grew stern and his smile vanished in an instant. He looked at us gravely. He explained to us that for generations they have protected these books and scripts. The whole village stood up against assailants to defend them from being stolen. He said that his family has been the keepers of them for a very long time and he would not betray their work.

We tried to explain that we are here to protect them and that we could take them places where they would be safe. We would study them and learn from them their secrets of the past. At which point his face lit up a bit. He asked if we could read Arabic and if we could tell him and his village what was written on these pages. We assured him that his was the case, and we would happily work together with them to decipher the works.

We kept talking for another hour, the sun almost set, and our guide was getting anxious to get back. Yet finally we were able to convince the man to allow us access to the manuscripts he had, yet he would allow us to take them. We would have free access to them, whenever we would come by. We were allowed to copy them by hand, but not to take pictures of them or the village. For weeks we commuted back and forth to the village to transcribe about a dozen manuscripts, always having a villager standing behind us, watching that we would not break the rules.

Half of the texts were excerpts and discussions of the Quran, with integrated illustrations of the first conquests and decorations. The others were talking about medical procedures.

One day we arrived at the village, and they refused us access to the manuscripts after an ever more heated argument they chased us away and we were never able to return.