Morocco still has lots of nomadic people, who live in temporary, tent-like structures, and who move with their flocks in order to access good grazing lands. As we were driving through the area of the gorges, off in the distance we saw one such family. Their large flock was spread out across the rocky hillside. We stopped to take a few photos, confident that we wouldn’t bother them since we were very far away.

We hadn’t counted on the fact that the Berber children were as nimble as their goats.  Before we knew it, one of the youngsters ran down the rocky hillside and appeared at our car window. He and our guide Omar chatted in Arabic while, with his permission, we took more pictures.

After speaking for a few minutes, we gave the young fellow some coins and pulled away.  Curious, I asked Omar what the little boy had asked him.  “He wanted to know,” Omar replied, “if we had any clothes or shoes we could give him.”  I felt just awful.