The Women at the Well

June 10, 2008

Every time I go to town I try to walk past the well that our douar uses. Generally there are two or three donkeys and a handful of women drawing water to load on the animals and carry back home. As I pass, we greet one another and they invariably ask if I'd like to help draw water with them. They have seen me helping carrry water from another source before, and know I need to learn how to do such things. My host family has a cistern behind the house, so they don't use the well that often.

Usually when I pass the well, I'm on my way to the sbitar and don't stop to help; I just pause long enough to be polite and greet them.

I'm considering renting a house that doesn't have running water in it, and so may have to draw water for the next two years. The women warn me that this will be difficult. It sounds weird, but I really have to learn how to draw wellwater. There's a technique to it, and a sort of rhythm. Maybe next month it'll happen...