In nine weeks we will be tumbling out of our cars and onto dusty desert trails where we will spend three days finding our way back to our cars.

Why?

I asked you this question in our email group. I thought it would be good for us to get to know each other and learn about what inspires us to take long walks in hostile places.

Sister Syma is a brave pioneer and was the first to respond:

I find peace, healing, and an opportunity to reset and refresh when spending time outside especially on a trip like this with only necessities.

She was with us for the first ever Grind event in 2019. She was among the women in the first ever Grrrl! event in 2016 and she’ll be taking the women out on a houseboat in Lake Powell this coming March, God willing. Experience has taught her how little she needs and now it’s her turn to teach others.

Brother Nadeem was the next to share. A Machu Picchu veteran, he had this to say:

I love outdoor activities and traveling. I think I am physically active enough to do this gruesome hike with the bare necessities.

He hasn’t been backpacking before. And, in a tremendous testament to his character, he was the first to invite us all to a training hike. A really good idea and I’m inspired by his initiative!

Brother Yogi is an Assistant Scout master who I hope will make us sing songs and wear kerchiefs. For him, Death Valley is just a warm up:

This will be a good practice hike for me as I prepare for an 80-mile 10-day hike in Philmont, New Mexico with my Boy Scout troop in July 2020.

80 miles over 10 days. With children?

I don’t feel like a wimp at all.

I met Sister Randa and her husband Brother Omar in preparation for D&T Grind 2019 and they literally changed my life. This is not an overstatement. She tells us:

After doing the 30 mile backpacking trip last January with D&T, we decided to give it a try again, this time in different terrain. We both appreciate the opportunity to be fully unplugged from technology for a few days and more in touch with nature and Allah’s signs.

I will add that these are two of the most selfless and understated people in our community. For all of the magnificence that the desert has to offer us, it pales against the light of this couple. May God protect them always.

Brother Waqar is a legend. In a few weeks he’ll be setting out for his second trip to the North Pole. He swims with sharks and laughs through the terror of whitewater. His intentions are clear:

First of all I don’t want to have regrets. I hate to say “I should have.” I want to challenge myself and to prove to others that I can and will do it. I want to experience Death Valley in a unique way. I want to get back in shape.

The first time I met Brother Waqar was in Death Valley. I am looking forward to this most pleasant reunion, insha Allah.

My wife Sister Aisha was the next to offer her intentions:

These trips allow us to be removed from our comfortable surroundings and all that is familiar. In the process, we are forced to learn about ourselves, and engage and learn from others. I also love challenging myself mentally and physically, and I believe this trip will allow me that opportunity. So excited about this trip and the Bedouin in me is answering the call of the desert!

We were only married last year and we live 2500 miles apart, so I have no idea what this Bedouin thing is that she’s talking about. I had to Google it.

Yo. I’m hyped!

I learned of Sister Mediha through her participation in D&T Grrrl! 2019. Two things struck me about her. First off, her compassion and consideration of others is remarkable. Even more unique is her ability to communicate her experience through writing and photography. These are the reasons I invited her to co-facilitate this event with me. She is bringing along her lifelong friend Sister Selma:

I love being in nature and taking photos, writing, and exploring. I had a really great experience with Dust & Tribe’s women’s camping trip last March and have invited my friend Selma to join us on this one. We grew up in Sarajevo, went to the same high school there and now work across the street from each other in Irvine.

Together from the streets of Sarajevo to the deserts of California. What a story, masha Allah.

Speaking of stories, we never heard from Brother Baraa or his wife Sister Nessy. So I’m going to have to tell you all about them.

Their courtship lasted 17 years, hampered as it was by Brother Baraa’s detention in a Russian POW camp. It was all a big mix-up. He was doing refugee work in Afghanistan, somebody asked him to deliver a pizza, turned out it wasn’t a pizza.

But faithful Sister Nessy stayed in touch with letters sent by carrier pigeon. That turned out to be a really good thing. After nearly two decades of perfumed love letters, Brother Baraa was able to fashion an enormous paper airplane which he used to fly out of jail when the guards weren’t looking (it was borscht night).

The two were reunited shortly thereafter and, making up for lost time, they just welcomed their third child into the world only a few weeks ago, masha Allah.

All in all a happy ending. Brother Baraa has to deal with some mild PTSD stuff. If he hears loud noises he’ll try to eat his own toes. Not a huge deal, but Sister Nessy’s shins are horribly bruised because her husband has to wear boots to bed and he kicks a lot. They wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’m looking forward to meeting this fun couple in person, insha Allah.

We’ve heard something of our individual intentions, and I will offer a collective one to close:

We wish to gather together, in the Name of our Creator, our Provider, and our Sustainer, in gratitude to Him, in reverence for Him, and in pursuit of Him. We wish to acquire all knowledge that will make firm our gratitude, reverence, and patient seeking. We wish to deepen our relationship with all of creation, God’s plants, animals, and heavenly ornaments, that we may be drawn into a realized understanding of His Might and His Mercy. We wish to be transformed by this experience, entirely for the better. We further ask that God Most High expand us, that we might graciously accept all that He desires for us.

Amin

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