Field Notes 1 / Interview with Bedouin family: Museibheen
Museibheen family members showing hospitality with Dirksen
Found camped near Bir el Buhai- lower end of Fajj el-Useihir (Tribes that own land in this area: Tarawna, Majalay, Sarayra).
Family lineage: Huwaytat-Najad, Husaineah, Jazi - Museibheen
Came from Al Husaineah - Bayir (150 km away - stay here in winter time - Oct 15 till May 30 - then move until harvest in place where we found them. Stay here until first week of July - then will move to Ar Rabbah (just north of Karak). Some of group goes to Al Resheih - border with Iraq in Mafraq Governate for wheat stubble. On the Karak Plateau the sheep are eating barley stubble.
Every year come to same place - near this well, came here this year too late to buy grain. Now has to buy not from gov't but trader and it is much more expensive.
Winter and spring in Bayer - 10/15 to 5/15; in summer time (harvest) 6/1-10/15 in Mubaybi and 7/2-10/15 in Rabba.
Sells live animals in Karak in summertime. Estimate of capital investment 60-90 J.D. per sheep (Raid believes a lot less) Own 200 sheep = 18,000 J.D. total value of herds and some Shammi goats.
He has already received 1,000 J.D. credit from the ACC (Agricultural Credit Corporation).
Attitude about being a Bedouin: would settle if he could. Said they can't get jobs in off-farm and have no land.
Camp size: (said 10 in camp) mother, her brother, her son and older nephew, two children, wife of son, paralyzed wife of brother. Only one working woman. Are poor because women do all the milk processing and there is no one to work. Son had 7 children and brother had 18 children. About 200 families in migrating group.
Problems: 1) no health insurance. Paralyzed wife gets 50 J.D. a month from the government. 2) cost of feed is increasing 3) must now pay tax to government when buying a truck that before they didn't have to 4) None of the seven children go to school 5) government doesn't offer to give them land to farm.
(Explanatory Notes from Raid - granting right to graze will first go to villagers and relatives before Bedouin. Land is becoming scarce with the selling and buying of land since 1990-1991. Land scarcity was in northern Jordan but now is becoming so in this area.
Previously, decision to move could be made by the women. He asked a Bedouin man and he said the women make the decision when to move because they are the ones that milk the sheep and the goats and know how much milk they give and the quality of the milk. How much of the butter they can make from the milk indicates the quality of the plants the sheep/goats are eating.)
We drank coffee and tea. Only owned two glasses. Cooking with sheep dung and roots of bushes. A totally nomadic group. Sat on ground with lengths of carpet (western) and some woven carpets. Owned a large truck and pickup. Had propane tank and gaslight. Rather simple, poor conditions.