The Merissa drunkard, unlike the ‘Aragi, sherry, or beer drunkard, is a clown-hero.
-The Art and Science of Merissa Fermentation, Hamid Ahmed Dirar, Sudan Notes and Record, 1976
If Dirar had ever met Bilal Bakhīt, he would have known a hero and not a clown, for Bilal at his ripe old age was still riding the 40 Day Road, still taking his turns as Trail Boss and still leading one hundred camels eight hundred miles across the Sahara Desert to Africa’s largest city. Yes he took a nip or two when offered and yes I saw him fall off his camel once when well lit, but nothing broke and he climbed right back up. The gravitas of his poetry- Listen to it in the film!- at the campfire one night silenced all of us, even the ever voluble drover Hamid.