Sahara Sisters: A Journey of Resilience and Respect

A long time ago, a little girl was born. Her father was a traditionalist, a man who's whole life revolved around the customs of his tribe. Every day, he would wake up before the sun rose and pray to Allah. He would read the Koran, then go and tend to the goats and sheep, then head back inside to make breakfast for his family. By the time she was eight years old, her mother had died in childbirth and her father was raising her alone.

"She is your daughter now," her mother had said, as she lay dying in bed. "Take care of her."

This is what he did. He took care of his daughter, raised her to be an obedient little girl. Whenever she asked why they didn't go outside their village, or why they couldn't talk to other villagers, he would simply tell her that if they did these things it would bring them great harm and sadness. This caused the young girl to grow up with a fear of going outside the village. She couldn't even remember the last time she had stepped foot outside their home. She knew only what her father told her: that there were many bad people out there who wanted to hurt them. That if they left their home (which was surrounded by a tall wall) they would die a horrible death at the hands of these bad people. But she didn't know why bad men wanted to kill them or how these men could ever catch them when they never left their house!

It was on one such day that everything changed for the little girl. It was hot outside, especially for this time of year, so she went into the kitchen where her father was making lunch for the family. As he turned around to greet his daughter with a smile on his face, she noticed something strange: there was a large gash across his chest! Blood poured down his shirt and dripped onto the floor below him. The next thing she heard was shouting from outside the house; men screaming and yelling in Arabic while guns fired all around them! Her father tried to protect her from them but he fell over dead before he could do anything more than grunt on impact with the floor. The girl ran upstairs into her room and closed every door around her; when she finally reached the window overlooking their garden she saw two men dressed in black uniforms walking towards her house holding assault rifles pointed at her home! They pushed open their front door and walked inside without hesitation; after several minutes passed and no gunshots were fired, she dared herself to look from behind one of the walls in her room. What greeted her eyes brought tears to them: both black-clad men had been shot dead by another armed man wearing tribal clothes who stood over their bodies; he pulled off their masks revealing they were indeed not human but large dogs wearing black hoods! The dogs lay lifelessly on the floor dead as well; blood seeped from bullet holes in their heads and chests. As soon as this happened four more men entered the room armed with assault rifles just like those that lay dead on the floor below! They wore tribal clothes as well...this must be my fathers tribe! She thought to herself excitedly! Could it be? Are these my peoples?! One of these men approached him cautiously pointing his rifle right at him; he must have sensed that something wasn't right because suddenly and without hesitation this man jumped upon him pushing him to ground with one hand on each side of his head! Before anyone else could react he twisted his neck breaking it instantly and killing him instantly! The other three yelled at once in surprise at what just happened! He looked up at them angrily but when one of them shot at him twice hitting him in both shoulders, he caught both bullets within his hands causing them to explode like firecrackers in front of their eyes! They screamed again retreating all together away from this mysterious man who just killed three of their friends without lifting a finger!

"Who are you?!" The leader yelled up at him looking terrified by what just happened as well as confused beyond belief as well since nobody had ever seen anything like this before! "Why are you here?!" He added quickly trying to gain composure before continuing: "You're not one of us!"

"Yes I am!" The stranger replied "I am your son!"

The man's mouth dropped open in shock clearly not knowing what he should say next; instead he simply repeated himself "You can't be our son!" He exclaimed "Our son has been dead for years..." Realization dawning upon him "Unless...you've returned for vengeance?" He asked hopefully "Is that why you've come back?!"

"No!" The stranger replied calmly despite being wounded badly "I'm here because I want nothing more than to leave this cursed place forever!"

The leader looked confused again: "We built this city for you!" He said angrily "Our entire village exists because you told us that we needed to stay away from everyone else!" He looked furious now "But now you're telling us you want us gone?!"