For seventeen year old Ansetta, the day starts early. She wakes up at 6 am to the sounds of the morning call to prayer in a bed she shares with her 20-year old relative, Adja. During the school year, Adja and Ansetta, along with six other girls around their age, live at the house of their relative here in town so that they can go to the local middle and high schools. Their smaller villages don’t have upper-grade schools, only primary schools.
Today is Ansetta’s turn for sweeping and mopping the main house, so she doesn't get to roll over and go back to sleep; it's time to start the chores! She fetches a broom (a bunch of dried grass tied together) and gets to work. After sweeping all the tile, she goes to the well, as the sun is starting to come up, to get a bucket of water for the mopping. She probably won’t use soap, unless there’s some nearby that she spots. Other people in the house will begin to wake up to start their day. Sixteen year old Seynabou is on coffee duty today, so she’ll fetch water and coffee and start making a big pot so that there is enough for almost everyone in the house, or at least enough for everyone who wakes up in the next hour or so.
They live at the mayor’s house, which is a bit bigger and has a lot more going on than many other houses around town.
