Afternoon Tea
Morocco’s desert, near the ancient caravan city of Siljilmassa.
I met a Berber boy years ago and through him, his family. I’ve kept in touch with them for nearly 20 years. The boy, now a man, used to take me to visit local people and places. Moroccans and Berbers, in particular, are the most hospitable people I’ve ever met and I took many, many photos of them in their homes, at their work, where ever I could find them. As long as I was with the boy, they did not object. He was their guest and by default so was I. When the women objected, the men would tell them to cooperate with me. I got every shot I could get.
The problem was that their homes were dark and many of my photos are underexposed. The houses have few windows and they keep those shuttered. The heat of the desert is oppressive and to have an open window heats the house quickly. Otherwise the thick adobe walls hold in the cool night air for most of the day.
Ali didn’t know the man in the photo. We simply entered his home, greeted him with the usual “Salaam” which means “peace”. and Ali, my young friend, asked him the ritual questions: how are you, how is your family, are they all right, are they really all right, is everything all right? That is the way it goes, each person responding with the traditional answer and then we took our leave. I grabbed a few shots while they were talking.
I think those ritual greetings are nice. You don’t need to think of any thing special to say and each person feels that he has been fully acknowledged. You needn’t waste each other’s time chatting about nothing in particular if you are in a hurry.
Back to the man. He was preparing tea on that little gas stove set on top of a bottle of gas. That is the way the people cooked in those days and probably they still do. I haven’t been to Morocco for several years.
Tea is drunk several times a day and it is offered whenever guests enter a home. A lot of time is spent drinking tea and chatting. They don’t have much money, but they do have a lot of time.
I returned the next year with a copy of this photo. We remembered the village, but not where the man lived. We showed the photo to some young men and they were delighted with the likeness of their friend. They were happy to take the photo to him. I am sure the man was pleased also. He does look handsome.