On our hike a few days ago, we stopped to have tea at a nomad’s camp. One of the women, Tuda, who tends to the flock, was having eye trouble. Apparently, her eyes and nostrils have been getting infested with small black bugs that are attracted to the sheep. She asked Brahim for a cigarette. I have never seen a Moroccan woman smoke, particularly in the rural areas. It’s definitely not culturally acceptable. But she didn’t want to inhale. Her intention was to take a drag, then exhale out of her nose to “smoke out” the bugs.
We talked about the preventative potential of regular handwashing with soap after handling animals and before eating. And the old motto – Don’t stick your fingers in your eyes. They were equally as skeptical of my remedy as I was of theirs. Guess I’ll have to go back to that camp sometime to see if she’s still there and to see if her situation has improved.
