Down by the River wash day

    Every day is laundry day in Mogpog. A few do their laundry at home in washing machines. Most do it at home in their front yards using buckets of water, one for soapy suds and the other for rinsing. Some few still go the river to clean their clothes, using cane sticks to pummel their laundry into submission, then rinsing the laundry in the river and hanging it to dry on bushes nearby. Around town you can hear clothes pounded with boards throughout the day, slapped against rocks like a potter slaps clay at his wheel, shirts and trousers rubbed together hard to work out the dirt and grime. When laundry is done, these kids swim in the river, in a pool scooped out by a backhoe. On this day three girls stand on the bridge above the swimming hole and drop pebbles to startle the boys swimming below. Giggling, they run when one of the boys stands up and tosses a rock back towards them that falls harmlessly into the river Norman Rockwell would be pleased with this moment. Kids seem to be the same all over the world.