On the Nile, Cairo, Egypt, 1994

"On the Nile, amidst the harmonious coming and going of feluccas and impressive cruise ships, the fishermen are the masters of the river. The Nile seems to belong to those thousands of men and women living on makeshift rowboats—their home, refuge, work place, and means of transportation. Before the day dawns, before the call to prayer resonates from the minarets, the rowboats leave the river banks and silently split the water. The four-month-old baby and the other two children are still sleeping in the hull, as Om Ali and Mahmud, her husband, perform the daily ritual of throwing the fishnets in the hope of getting a good catch. If the catch is fruitful, they will separate. He will go to the market to sell his fish while she will gather the fishnets, prepare the only meal of the day, and do the laundry. The children are woken by the first rays of the sun, and use the polluted river as a generous playground. After the trip to the market, in the overwhelming heat of the afternoon, the gathered family busies itself with the nets, their tool for survival. The nets are meticulously checked and any hole is mended. As the twilight settles, they curl up against one another and fall asleep, anxious to forget the unattainable luxury of hotels and villas whose opulence and splendors reflect in the silent Nile."