BYM, Inc. (Bedouin Youth Marketers)

Nomadic Bedouins are the inhabitants of the valley of Petra. Some live in the nearby public housing King Hussein built for them within the last twenty years, while many choose to continue to live in tents, caves, or primitive dwellings along the far end of the valley. They have roamed the desert for centuries, and live simple and unhurried lives in a difficult land.

I am not sure if the children attend school. It didn’t appear that ANY of them were in class today. From what I gather, the country of Jordan provides them with an education and schools, but many Bedouin families choose not to send their children, instead keeping them close to home so they can work to earn money along with the rest of the family unit. It is somewhat of a problem that the royalty of Jordan is trying to deal with, though it sounds as if there is not much evidence that their truancy has led to crime, vandalism, drugs or any other negative behavior. They choose to be a people set apart.

The children of these Bedouin families roam the valley here in Petra, and it is hard to go more than twenty feet without being offered a friendly but persistent (MAJOR understatement) offer of trinket beads, postcards, or just plain old rocks from one of these children. They are everywhere underfoot. “Please, Mister. One dinar (about $1.50 USD).” “One dinar, please, for gift.” “Lady, yes, one dinar, please, you take.” These youngsters do not know how to take ‘No’ for an answer and never quit selling, never are deterred by rejection. Several in our group bought things, and right after transacting the sale, the children would run after the purchasing individual saying, “You buy more, Mister One dinar. Please Mister, one dinar.” It is impressive, cute, sad, touching, amazing….and all part of the landscape.

Here are a few of them.

The last photo (below) is of a girl who would not let me out of her sight. I was targeted, zeroed in on, and she was bound and determined to make a sale to me -- with the sweetest and most engaging voice you can imagine. But tough as nails. She sounded as if she had some mastery of English, until I talked with her long enough to realize she must have known just enough phrases to make a sales pitch, but not much more. (About as good as my Arabic at this point, so we're equal.) She said her name was Kel-salaam.

I didn’t know if I bought some postcards and rocks from her because she was so doggedly persistent, charming in her marketing, or simply because she was just so darn cute. I was even going to tell her that she was actually earning more than I was at this point in time in life, but figured a discussion of global economic conditions wasn't going to deter her from her sales goals.