The Tunjours

Happy Tabaski! Today is the Muslim holiday commemorating the Abraham – Ishmael “go sacrifice your son. Oh wait, there’s a sheep” story. One of the physics teachers at school spent several years studying in Baghdad. He speaks excellent English, so naturally we chat at school. I ran into him in the road yesterday and he said, “What do you eat?” “Huh?” I replied, “ I eat whatever my family prepares.” “No, no, what do you eat for the fete?” he asked. “Um…sheep?” (everyone slaughters sheep for Tabaski) “No, he says, “I’m inviting you to my house for the fete. What do you want to eat?” Man! I have gotten so good at dodging shady invites from men, but he came in so under the radar I couldn’t think of a refusal in time. He totally got me. CaCa said, “No no, don’t go alone, take one of your sisters with you.” BeBe said, “Don’t go. Everyone who sees you walk into his gate will talk.” But I couldn’t think of a tactful way to get out of it. So this morning I asked Pops what to do. He said, “He’s a Gouran (fierce camel herding group from up north of here). He’ll make trouble. Tell him your Papa wants you to celebrate with your family.” Aww, thanks Pops! He’s so got my back. It’s funny that he’s so anti-Gouran. Maman is ½ Gouran and he grew up in their main town, Moussoro. After doling out this advice he launched into the story of the Tunjours, his ethnic group. I think it’s really interesting, but if you’re the kind of person who’s not interested in interesting things, feel free to skim and get back to watching E! True Hollywood Story. Here we go.

The Tunjours came from Tunisia by way of Sudan. There’s still a ton of them in Sudan, specifically Darfour. Pops know. He went to Sudan in the 70’s. He had to spend the night in a small village while traveling. They asked him his ethnicity and it turned out he was in a Tunjour village. They treated him like a brother. Anyway, some Tunjours settled in the east of now Chad. One day, an Arab muslim came. He tried to tell the Tunjours about Islam but they didn’t want to hear it. He tried everything, even writing Surahs (verses from the Koran) and throwing the papers into the well, in order to open the people’s eyes (and digestive tracts; paper = fiber) to Allah. The daughter of the Sultan fell in love with the arab and wanted to marry him. “Why do you want to marry an outsider? No one knows him or where he came from!” said the Sultan. “There are plenty of good Tunjour men here for you to choose from.” But she wouldn’t give in and they were married.

She converted to Islam and became dedicated to helping her husband spread the religion. She came up with a plan. She invited all of the important officials to a huge party with lots of billibilli (pre-Islam, so drinking was okay). When everyone was good and drunk, she told all the slaves to take their animals up to a hill, tie branches to their tails and walk them in circles. This kicked up an enormous cloud of dust.

“Look, Papa! It’s the enemy! They’re coming.” She cried, pointing at the dust cloud on the horizon. Princesses always call their dads “Papa”.

“Oh, we must prepare for war!” slurred the Sultan.

“No, Papa, they’re too many. I don’t want to see you killed. You’d better take your men and flee,” replied the princess winking craftily at her husband.

So the Sultan and his men, under the influence of all that billibilli fled to the North. His daughter and son in law, who had power over the slaves, forced them to perform the Muslim ritual washings, and the “ouadda” and the “ouaddai” kingdom was formed.

The Sultan and his followers bounced around, trying to find a suitable place. Each time they settled down and then decided to move again, a segment of the group decided to stay. Finally they arrived in the west (of not-yet Chad), not far from the then much larger Lake Chad. Something about that random little sand dune must have been appealing because they stayed and called the place “Mondo.” Unfortunately, Pops didn’t know the significance of the name, but I’m pretty sure it means “Future Home of PCV Darren G.”