Bustling streets

In Mauritania life happens on the street. The wide sandy roads of the capital city are teaming with life — donkey, cars, kids, goats… people are about their business.

Most mornings, mom and I walked down the road to buy bottled water for the day. A couple houses down from where we stayed a few guys had a laundry washing business. They’d scrubbing linens, sloshing water out of the tubs on to the street, and then hanging the clothes up to dry on lines stretching from two trees along the street. Across from them was a water vendor. These folks had running water! Neighbors lined up to fill their yellow containers, and donkey carts waited to have their barrels filled.

The openness with which people lived their daily life made an impression on me. It allowed me to see how people live here in the capital city of Mauritania.