- A Virtous Woman
Morocco, Tafilalet Region
A Berber nomad sits in front of her tent and spins. She has been widowed and she no longer travels from one spot to the other. Her home is her tent. The wool she is spinning will be used to repair it or to make it larger. Her tent is set behind the dunes of the Erg Chebbi where the reg desert begins and there is forage for her goats.
Tour guides bring tourists to look in her tent and to photograph her. She earns some money from tips. She cannot get to the market and must ask the tour guides to bring her sugar, tea and flour. They don’t always do it. People in the village know she has a hard life, but they do not seem to feel that they should make an effort to help her. I visited her many times and, over the years, she did well without any help. We never know what we have in us if we aren’t put to the test.