THE AFRICAN WOMAN

The woman walked down the mountain path of the valley, with a large woven basket on top of her head. She balanced the basket with her left hand, which curved to above her head. The basket was filled with the dirty laundry of her family.

When she came to the bottom of the path, she arrived at the small mountain stream. The water was cool and crystal clear. She put down the basket and took out the dirty clothes. She also took a wooden scrubbing brush and a box of detergent from the basket. Then she knelt down by the clear mountain stream, and started to soak the clothes in it. When the clothes were well soaked, she took them from the water and laid them on a large flat rock nearby.

Then she applied the detergent to the clothes, and commenced scrubbing them with the brush. She scrubbed the wet clothes well with the soap and brush, and repeated the process until the whole heap of clothes was done. Then she started to rinse the soap out of the clothes in the river. She watched as the clear water turned murky from the dirt being washed out of the clothes. The stream carried the dirty water slowly away.

The birds were singing merrily in the treetops alongside the river. The water rippled pleasantly, and the wind blew gently. She had finished the washing, and carefully packed the clean wet clothes back into the basket. When she had done all this, she replaced the basket on top of her head, and walked back up the mountain path.

She balanced the basket with her left hand as she walked, and her curved hips swayed rhythmically with her steps. The wind stirred the tall grass beside the footpath, and the sun shone brightly in the blue sky above.