27. The small engineer of the desert

Baba is not one to get underfoot. I have been seeing him for a few days now by the water tank, alone and playing with the sand, but I have not paid attention to what he was doing.

I only discovered his game today; Baba is building a miniature well. I called Ibrahim and said, “Look, you’ve found a pupil!”

Baba had dug a narrow hole in the sand that was moistened by the water leaking from the bin, and installed a pulley and wire on top to imitate what we do.

After some time I became curious to see what he had attached to the wire at the bottom of his well. I went to the bin and pulled the wire. Attached to the end was a replica of our cement cylinders, and also of the sandbag that the diggers bring up.

We laughed a lot, baffled by his intelligence, and took this opportunity to ask Grandfather something we had been thinking about for some time.

“Send Baba to Timbuktu, to Ali’s house, he will look after him and make him study at school. He is too intelligent to spend his life running after goats, he needs to study so that one day, when he is grown up and educated, he can be of great benefit to you and your people.”

Ali confided in me that he might even become the head of these families.

Grandfather immediately refused, but after some discussion it, he agreed to send him to his eldest daughter in Timbuktu, where he will sleep while Ali will take care of him.

It is understandable that Grandfather is afraid that his grandson will be stolen. Knowing that he is staying at his daughter’s house, he feels secure. It makes no difference to us. Ali will look after his health and education. We’ll look after his clothes and the little one won’t be a very heavy burden on the old man’s daughter.

Today, Grandfather has prepared Baba for the trip and he is all dressed up, and all happy about this adventure. When I told him he had to wait until we had finished the well, Baba was very disappointed and had to hold back his tears, but until the work is done we will not be in town to look after him, and I want him to see the conclusion of the well story too, so that it will remain in his mind when he grows up.

The fact that he is so ready to leave his old life for a new one is a sign of a great spirit. Perhaps Ali is right and one day Baba will be the leader of his tribe. More than once Ali has given me evidence of having visions of the future.