Joan
Almond on Desert Village Life
My first trip to the Middle East in 1976 began as
a quest which has almost turned into an obsession: to
show a side of life that we, in our comfortable homes
in the developed West, are losing touch with. I have
always felt that family life is at the core of the whole
human structure. In North America, we have lost many
of our traditions but out there, in the oases and deserts
of the Middle East, they have not; it's still strong:
the family comes first! Women, as always, hold the whole
thing together. They're much healthier, mentally and
physically, than the men. Women plant the seeds that
grow into the vegetables they eat. They fetch the wood
that will start the fires for the family meal they're
going to cook. Then they eat by themselves in the kitchen,
and it seems to me they're just as glad. First of all,
their marriages are arranged—and
usually a fait accompli by the time they are fourteen—so
it's an entirely different structure, held together
by roots, rituals, traditions which no one would dare
to break. Life is hard, very hard, yes. But I have tried
to show that out in the desert, they have space—so
precious! They have clean houses. They have the extended
family: not-so-lucky relatives can move in. Although
the men rule, the women in fact have it under control.
They may be in the background, but they are the healthy
ones, both mentally and physically. We have much to
learn from these tremendously simple and beautiful people. |
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Desert Village Life
