A Quest for Water, Chapter 5: Welcomed Like Princesses (5)

bathing in the marigotA QUEST FOR WATER: (Based on actual events in the southern Sahara)

Chapter 5: WELCOMED LIKE PRINCESSES (5)

Despite their weariness, the cousins washed themselves with the warm water, pre-heated outside in the sun during the day. It was the first bath that they had enjoyed in many months; in fact, they had forgotten what clean skin felt like. They had never been so clean, because their prior baths had all taken place in the marshes. Housseina laid out colorful clean clothes for them to wear; clothes that she had sewn for herself and her younger sisters. She also brought out a dish of millet laden with goat meat and vegetable sauce, which the girls ate ravenously.

photo: when Takat, Raichatou, and Mouheini used to wash in the marsh