First Tie Your Camel, Then Trust in God

by Chivvis Moore

An American Feminist in the Arab World

On a fateful evening in 1978, Chivvis Moore, living as a carpenter in California, stops by the house of an architect friend. “What if I wrote to Hassan Fathy?” Chivvis suggests, eager to meet the Egyptian author of the influential Architecture for the Poor. Less than three months later, Chivvis arrives in Cairo knowing virtually nothing about the culture and religion of the predominantly Muslim Middle East.

What begins as a trip to meet Hassan Fathy becomes a 16-year odyssey that stretches from a year working in the shop of a master carpenter in Egypt to fraught years teaching English in Palestine.

Offering a portrait of a land and a people not found in newspaper headlines or on television screens, First Tie Your Camel, Then Trust in God humanizes the misunderstandings, misconceptions, and tragedies that arise when we fail to appreciate the humanity at the core of us all.

*****

First, Tie Your Camel, Then Trust in God is the story of an American feminist’s remarkable adventure in a part of the world that these days is uppermost in Western minds. Having earned her living as a carpenter in the United States, Chivvis Moore traveled to Egypt in 1978, knowing almost nothing about the culture and religion of the Middle East. The book describes her encounters in mostly Muslim societies, beginning with the year she worked in the shop of a master carpenter in Cairo. We move with her through both her attraction and the resistance she felt to a culture so different from her own and come to understand the result – a life turned from then on toward “the middle” of the world. We leave her as she returns to the US, after living and teaching for eleven years in the West Bank. This is a detailed and intimate journey, both spiritual and geographical, and it humanizes in depth and detail a part of the world at once embattled and unknown.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

422 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Chivvis Moore has earned her living as a journalist, carpenter, editor, and teacher. She is fluent in Arabic, having lived 16 years in Arab countries, returning to the US in 2008. She now works with Zawaya, a nonprofit organization that seeks to contribute to the multicultural discourse of the Bay Area with the Arab arts. She lives in Oakland, CA, with her partner.

Reviews

[Sue Granzella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written memoir of fascinating subject matter. The author (a single woman from U.S., a feminist who also happens to be lesbian) goes to Egypt in the '70s, sort of on a whim. She wants to meet a famous Egyptian architect who has developed a technique of building low-cost homes. She ends up staying - first for a year, then returns later for two years. She ends up spending a total of 16 or 17 years living in that part of the world -- Egypt, Syria, and (for most of the time) Palestine.

I got the book for its subject matter, and have fallen in love with the book for the content and for the beautiful writing. The author weaves words and images in a way that is lovely, and often makes me ache. I think it's a very timely read in this age of Islamophobia. I know embarrassingly little about Islam, but reading this memoir makes the learning very accessible. She demystifies a little of what it means to live in the Arab world, in a Muslim society. She has a real eye for and appreciation of culturally distinct practices, which I found fascinating. I've never been good at understanding politics or history; I learn best through story. The book has enabled me to learn a lot about the Middle East, and what it's been like for years in Palestine.

She writes with a very self-deprecating, honest tone, which I find very appealing. I tend to love memoirs, and this one has burrowed its way into me. I highly recommend it.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book. Maybe a 7 out of 10. It's always interesting to learn more about places, and more intimate details than what you get on the news. I read another book about Palestine written by an American and this story echoed hers. It was also intriguing to learn how differently a non-Muslim woman was treated. She was free in a way, but an outsider.

I did think there were a few parts where she got a bit caught up in naming friends. I guess she wanted to make sure she included them in the book.

Also, I wondered if there were two stories, rather than one.

I would have liked to hear more about her personal life here in the US, just out of curiousity, I guess. And, I'd like to understand why, when she seemed so drawn to Islam, she didn't convert.

All in all, not a bad read. One other small thing: I wondered why she decided to put feminist in the title. Not that it isn't ok, but I guess I didn't see that it was necessary.

[amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Was recommended as a way to learn more context about the current atrocities in Gaza - an older Berkeley lesbian’s experiences living in Egypt and Palestine in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

[Barbara Ridley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating memoir, so relevant in these times of continuing conflict in the Middle East. An American woman, a lesbian feminist, recounts her many years of living first in Egypt where she studied the art of intricate wood hand-carving, and then in Palestine where she taught English through the Second Intifada. She provides an intimate and brutally honest account of her experiences learning the Arabic language and culture, and what it means to survive under military occupation. What shines through is not only the indomitable spirit of the Palestinian people, but the author's own courage as she takes great personal risk to help the people she has come to know and love.

[Leigh · Rating 4 out of 5]

An unusual perspective on the Middle East, from a writer who spent time there in 2 periods of her life pursing carpentry the first time and university teaching the second time. Interesting and compelling observations about the Middle East from 2 very different experiences. Also, a very interesting life which could not have been predicted by Chivvis's upbringing. Those of us who have never ventured very far from home can only stand back in admiration of her curiosity and courage!