Growing Up Bin Laden - Jean P. Sasson [57]
We had a very large private garden with grass, flowers, and short trees with fat trunks. Nearly every day when there was no one else around, and it was not too hot, I would take the younger children into the garden and watch them there. Sometimes the other mothers would bring their little ones out to the garden and we would guard our playful children.
With so much to do, the morning passed quickly and the boys would return one hour after noon. After their mental and physical exertions, their stomachs would be empty, so I would make certain the cook had prepared a good lunch. Afterwards, I might enjoy a nap. My girls often slumbered with me but the boys were left on their own as they were getting older.
My husband was not a believer in modern playthings for our children, but boys without toys will find many activities to pursue. Once I remember waking up from a nap and looking out the windows of my apartment to see my sons busily engaged constructing wooden tree houses in those short trees in the garden. The tree houses emerged as elaborate constructions with walkways from one tree house to the other. Where they found the large pieces of timber I do not know, but some of my husband’s employees probably provided my sons with the building materials.
After completing the tree houses, they lived in those make-believe homes for many long hours. Many times I would observe each boy perched in his house in the tree, to my mind resembling a big bird, staring at the blue sky or over the large walls surrounding our home. Sometimes they would devote whole days of their free time to doing nothing but sitting and staring. What dreams they were spinning I will never know.
I observed yet another special project lasting many weeks as they put together an oven under the ground, installing pipes for the air to transfer. Afterwards they started a project of growing kidney beans. Once mature, they picked those beans fresh from the plants and cooked them in various dishes.
Since moving to Khartoum, Osama had more time for his children. My husband spent hours explaining to his sons the importance of growing fine vegetables and other produce on the land. He set an example with his many farms growing corn and soybeans and even sunflowers. Perhaps that is where the boys got the idea to grow those kidney beans.
Whatever the reason, I was glad to see the boys entertaining themselves. They had led such isolated lives when we lived in Saudi Arabia that now their boyish games and pursuits created gladness in my heart. They grew bold, sometimes escaping from the al-Riyadh compound to explore our neighborhood. I believe that my husband was mainly unaware of their daring adventures. Knowing they were good boys who needed some little freedoms, I chose to remain silent, although I would have never lied to my husband had he asked me directly.
There were other good things about living in Khartoum. I was happy that my husband did not travel so much, and that he seemed more at ease tending to his many important projects. He had negotiated with high officials in the Sudanese government to build roads and factories and various businesses, including the farms I mentioned. Osama’s favorite undertaking was working the land, growing the best corn and the biggest sunflowers. He had seriously overworked his mind to discover new ways of producing the largest sunflowers in the world. Nothing made my husband happier than showing off his huge sunflowers.
I smile when I remember those rewarding days. In fact, some of my fondest memories are the times when the corn or the sunflowers were ready to be harvested and off we would go to one of the farms, usually to al-Damazin, which was south of Khartoum.