A QUEST FOR WATER: (Based on actual events in the southern Sahara)
CHAPTER 3: BURIED ALIVE! (5)
At the well, men were tying a teenage boy around Mouheini’s age onto a rope. The girls drew nearer to watch as the boy was lowered into the bowels of the earth; he was being sent into the well to dig the bottom deeper, in the hope that more water would seep through. The process seemed interminable, and Mouheini felt badly for the boy.
“If it’s hot up here,” she told herself, “I can only imagine what the heat must be like so deep into the earth!”
Just the thought of it made her shudder. They watched and waited, but nothing happened for quite some time. So, they returned to their mat beside the acacia tree, to snack on their food.