Page - 12 - in Hanadi & Christian - English

5 10 15 20 25 30 35 12 Episode 3: At the river “What’s happened? The pond is nearly empty!” Mohamed shouts in surprise. Mohamed is always the first one to get to the pond because he loves swimming. He says he must have gotten it from his father, who was always telling him about how he and his brothers enjoyed swimming in the sea near their house in Morocco. Mohamed was very little back then, and he doesn’t know if his memories are his own or if he got them from seeing the pictures of his dad and uncles swimming in the Mediterranean. As soon as I reach the pond I see that Mohamed is right. I say, “It’s true! But it was full yesterday! How can you empty a pond in just one day?” Some people can’t tell if they are angry or freaking out. Others feel they need to hold on to something to release the tension from see- ing that they can’t go swimming. Others feel like time has stopped, and they can neither move nor think. As we are trying to understand the situation, Pedro arrives. He’s from the village, and he’s been hanging out with us. We all like him. “That’s Rufino’s land. The river crosses his land and he has a little dam. Whenever he needs water, he closes the dam and leaves us with almost no water at all.” Silvia is angry. “Well, that Rufino sounds quite rude.” “Well, the land is his and so is the river, right? So he can do whatever he likes, since it belongs to him,” Elena reasons. “Well, it’s not his any- more. He sold the land to some outsiders, but I don’t know to whom exactly or what for. My uncle, the shepherd, knows.” “I don’t care whose land it is!” Mohamed is getting angrier. “Just because you buy the land doesn’t mean you have the right to decide about the water.” “But if you buy something you have the right to make deci- sions about it, don’t you? I mean, my family owns a house in my mom’s village, and no one is going to tell them what they can or cannot do there,” Elena insists, “and in the house there is a well, and according to your reasoning, are you sayig that they can’t make