Siwa

"Welcome to Siwa Oasis"

(Jamal) said it to us as soon as we arrived.

Then he added, " Before we head to the station, let me apologize for the car failure by inviting you to lunch in my humble house."

(osama) said, "I know that the people of the oasis are known for their generosity, but let's postpone it for another time."

(Jamal) said, " I insist, You can rest in my house for a while, before we go to the market to bring supplies to the station. Today is resupply day."

We found no way in front of his insistence but approval.

...

As soon as we arrived, we got out of the car and headed to his house, which was a two-storey building and was built in the Siwian style

Which was built using clay mixed with salt, which is called "Karshef" in the Siwa dialect,

To maintain the building temperature in summer and winter.

And in the front yard of the house, a little boy and girl were playing, and when the little ones saw (Jamal) they smiled and shouted (Baba) and went quickly to him

(Jamal) bends down a little, opening his arms, and hugs them tenderly

then he introduced them to us "these are the reason for my happiness" to put his hands on the boy's head

"This (Naeem) is an 11-year-old troublemaker."

Then he patted the girl's head, "This (Nasma) my little angel, she is 9 years old."

The two children say to us in unison, "Welcome to our home."

Then he said to them, "Go tell your mother that we have guests."

Then the two children ran home, shouting, "Mom, Mom, we have guests, we have guests."

(Jamal) laughed and said, " The whole oasis heard that we have guests."

(JAMAL) opened the door wide and said, "Come in and make it your home while my wife prepares lunch"

Then he pointed with his hands to the room to his right, which seemed to be the guest room

we took off our shoes at the door of the house and head to that room

Which was medium in size with Arabic-style seats, with a rectangular table made of palm wood in the middle

As for the walls, they were decorated with kilims (flat tapestry-woven carpet or rug).

And the corners were decorated with the famous Siwa salt lamps, which were made by hands from Siwa rock salt.

We sat down and stretched our legs, tired from the long journey

Then (Naeem) entered, carrying a tray containing four cups of juice

then (Jamal) takes the tray from him and puts it on the table in front of us, then hands each one of us a cup, saying, "Please drink our favorite Siwa juice, which we call (Al-Labbaji )

Or what is known as the juice of the heart of date palms."

(Adel) raises his cup to his mouth to sip from it, then he asked (Jamal) "Are you from the local oasis people or did you move here for work?"

(Jamal) answered him, "I was born here and I come from the dynasties of the early Siwa people, and I own a souvenir shop for Siwa handicrafts, and I also work at the station part-time because of my good knowledge of off-road and quicksand areas in the desert."

"can you Tell me about the history of the station" asked (Osama)

(Jamal) replied, "It was in the past a small surface mining station, After it started operating for six months, it was closed because it violated safety conditions, which caused a tragic accident that took the lives of half of its employees.

This is what the newspapers covered after the accident, but the true story of what happened..."

He was interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door.

He stood and went to the door and opened it.

Then he came back and took out the empty juice cups,

He says, "Excuse me for a moment."

Then he left the room.

(Osama) whispered, "Did I not tell you, (Salem), that this station has a mysterious secret behind it, but from the beginning you refused to believe me?"

I replied, "What is the mystery, don't jump to any conclusions now."

Osama's voice rose, "Conclusions, huh, look who's talking, you're always the one who jumps to conclusions.

I replied, "I always jump to conclusions when it's purely scientific, but you jump to conclusions based on myths."

(Adel) interrupted us, "Shhh, you two, lower your voice, and stop arguing right now, we're guests here.

(Osama) calms down and says, "Okay, let's continue our conversation when we get to the station, but (Salem) what you think are just myths, it may be the truth, but you were unable to find a scientific solution to it that satisfies you."

Then silence fell over the place

And at this silent moment (Jamal) came back carrying in his hands a large tray full of food dishes.

He puts it on the table in front of us, saying, "Go ahead, have lunch , I hope you like this humble food, as my wife made it in a hurry."

I replied to him, "What are you saying, it is a royal table, you have showered us with your generosity."

Jamal's face glowed with happiness

And before we start eating, we hear a knock on the door and (Nasma) enters with a plate of pickles in her hands

To give it to her father, who in turn put it in front of (Adel).

(Adel) smiled and said, "Thank you (Nasma), you are really an angel."

After we finished eating, we went to wash our hands and went back to the guest room

Jamal came in behind us, carrying a tray of tea cups and placing them on the table in front of us

He said, "Please have some tea."

And While we're sipping the tea,

(Osama) asked, "(Jamal) you haven't finished talking about the station."

Jamal replied, "I beg your pardon, Mr.( Osama), but we must reach the station before it gets dark, and I haven't brought the supplies yet, so we'll continue our conversation while we're on the way to the station."

(Osama) replies, "It's okay, we have the whole time ahead of us, but first leave these titles aside. We are friends now."

(Jamal) smiled, "I am honored to be your friend"

...

We quickly finished our tea and then left the house saying goodbye to the two young ones (Nasma) and (Naeem).

We got into the car heading to the Oasis market to stand in front of one of the shops. Jamal got out of the car and went to the owner of the shop, who seemed to be waiting for him next to a small cargo trailer.

To connect the trailer to the car

Then he thanked the owner of the shop and got into the car

And he says, "Thank God he packed the supplies so quickly it's almost dark"

(Jamal) ignited the car's engine and then we headed to the station