Growing Up bin Laden by Jean Sasson

Author:Jean Sasson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Published: 2009-03-24T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 17

A Far, Far Country

NAJWA BIN LADEN

In Khartoum we waited in uneasy suspense for four long months, left on our own to wonder what was going to happen to us. Perhaps I was melancholy because soon after Osama had left me I had discovered that I was pregnant for the tenth time. My husband did not even know. We had not spoken since he left. And, without Osama around, I was unable to leave the interior of my home even once during those four months. Our family driver organized provisions for the women and children.

My husband had taken long absences all through our married life, yet this time was different. I felt a slight shift, as though as I was being forewarned, something comparable to the alarm raised by frantic animals as a speeding tsunami moves quietly under the tranquil sea. My instinct warned me that our lives were changing, and not for the good. Even my smallest children, Iman and Ladin, became sad and listless.

Omar had never been away before, and over the years he had become the son I most depended upon. Although younger than three of his brothers, Omar was my most sensitive and mature boy. My two oldest sons still with me in Khartoum, Abdul Rahman and Sa’ad, seemed to miss him more than the other children, perhaps because they spent the most time with their brother. Abdul Rahman was generally a quiet boy, rarely creating a disturbance, while Sa’ad couldn’t stop chattering. Since Omar had been away, I realized for the first time that Omar was a calming influence on his siblings.

I thought of my husband and Omar every day they were away. I tried to be patient, but after they had been out of my sight for nearly 120 days, I began to despair of ever seeing them again. Then one happy day my husband’s faithful employees suddenly informed us that on the following morning we would all be leaving Khartoum to join Osama and Omar. I was not told where we were going and I did not ask. I was most surprised when I learned that my husband had ordered that we were to leave all personal items behind. We were instructed that we could only bring two changes of clothing for each person. We were not to take any household items. I was not even to take a sewing needle! I could only assume that our belongings would follow us later. My husband always organized everything just so.

There were other considerations more worthy of my worry: How would the move affect my children? My thoughts also drifted to Omar and his love for the horses. Once again his father’s beloved horses were to be abandoned to an unknown fate. Since Osama’s departure, some of my husband’s men had taken Abdul Rahman, Sa’ad, Osman, and Mohammed to the stables, so the horses were still fit. But what would happen to those beautiful horses once my sons were unable to supervise their care? I did not know.

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