Around the world I’ve seen communities at work together, but these folks really stood out to me.
As a stretch of beach opened up alongside the road in West Africa, we pulled over for a look.
It seemed a small boat, perhaps an artisanal canoe, had placed a net some distance from the shore. A large float, just a bobbing dot in the water, showed its position and a heavy rope ran up to the beach.
All at once song sprang up and hands reached for that heavy rope, hauling with the rise and fall of the waves and the chorus both. Men, women and children grappled together, and sang together. It was mesmerizing.
Though we couldn’t stay on long enough to see the net emerge from the sea we paused while returning to the car to watch a boat being crafted by hand.
The base was a dug-out canoe with the sides (gunnels?) being formed with heavy timbers. The craftsman seemed to be fixing all the pieces in place with heavy nails and sealing the seams with tar and sawdust. There wasn’t a power tool in sight.
Remarkable work.
This Social Media Photo Pack features 10 images from West Africa in portrait orientation, sized 1080 X 1350.
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