After finishing up at Tamesna we headed out for the great unknown–even though I have been there many times, there are always many unknowns when you go to the dunes–(like are we going to get back alive!) First we were taking our training to a new group of women. We took along one of our experienced matrones, Fatima, to help us, thinking they would be more comfortable with a nomad who has been through the training. We also brought Moussa, our token male member who is valuable in helping us interpret and testing the comprehension of the students. For both of them who have lived as nomads nearby all their lives, they had never seen the dunes, or the mountains of the Air. Fatima is Moussa’s mother-in-law, so he took special care of her.
We took off from Tamesna in the afternoon for the 1 1/2 day drive over the most rugged terrain–jagged rocks, rubble, sand, dust–nothing that could be mistaken for a road. At the end of the second day we roll into Iferouane and see a crowd assembled to greet us with a song, dance and (very welcome) cold drinks!

Aghali with a warm welcome-he has become the Nomad Foundation’s rep in Iferouane–organizing everything for us. He is also a brilliant jeweler.

Iferouane set in the shadow of Mt. Tamgak is just on the other side of the mountain range from the grand erg of the Tenere–It is known as the gateway to the dunes.

The students were fully engaged as one of them, Tan Alher, demonstrates clean and safe birth techniques.

Through four days of intensive training–every day at lunch we fall into exhausted sleep to build up energy for the afternoon.
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