28. New well, new life

The well is about to be completed, inshaAllah, as we always say here. The day set to reach the depth of 5 metres of water is tomorrow.

We are very confident of success because the premonitory signs are multiplying.

The first sign has been the quantity and variety of birds that frequent the well; the trees are full of song.

Another sign is that people are arriving and setting up tents, they are moving to the well.

The last sign, however, that struck me most of all is that the butterflies have arrived.

They perch on the cool, damp, sand; I wonder who told them that there was plenty of water here.

More and more sick people hear that Ali’s medicines are good and they come every day in greater numbers to be treated.

Visitors sprout from the desert like daisies, they look around, see the water and decide to come and settle here soon. They say they plan to build earthen houses like those in Timbuktu.

The water from our well is the sweetest and best in the area, our luck is great.

I am amazed, I certainly didn’t expect this, but Ibrahim and Ali tell me: “It’s normal, water is life, there is no one here just because there is no water. If you come back here in three years, you will see a village.”