Okaz/Saudi Gazette

ASYAH – Hundred-year-old Mulfi Bin Sharaan Al-Areema Al-Harbi does not want to live in a city and preferred to live in the desert with his herd of sheep.

Al-Harbi does not bother about what is happening around him in Thuwairat desert, northwest of Asyah, but he uses a transistor radio to know about developments around the world.

He listened to the news, prayer times, the Qur’an and other programs on the radio.

Al-Harbia has been living in the desert away from his family for several years, bracing challenges of the desert weather, which fluctuates between extreme cold and sweltering heat. He depended on dates and milk to maintain his health and slept in the open air.

Al-Harbi remembers many of the historical incidents in the Kingdom. He recollected his long desert trips to Jordan with his wives and Abdullah Al-Shurada, a friend from Qassim. They purchase sheep and other livestock in Jordan and sold them in Buraidah.

“Then the journey took two months. We used to start our journey in the winter to avoid the extreme hot climate in the Kingdom,” he explained.

“In one of our journeys we did not have water to quench thirst and we lost our camel. We had a very difficult time. Fortunately we found the camel after a long search and it gave us a new lease of life,” he pointed out.

Al-Harbi continued: “In the early years of King Faisal’s rule we purchased a camel for SR400 and sold it in Buraidah for SR800.”

Al-Harbi said he adapted to the life in desert after staying in the hot weather for a long period. “I cannot leave this place now because I have been living here since my childhood,” he told Okaz/Saudi Gazette.

He detested the Internet, cell phones and television. “I can understand what’s happening around the world from the radio and the travelers passing by.”

Al-Harbi enjoys good health even at the age of 100 because of his desert life, taking natural food and drinks. “Drinking a lot of water every day protects me from diseases,” he added.