And remember when Moses prayed for water for his people and We replied, “Strike the rock with thy staff” whereupon twelve springs gushed forth from it, so that all the people knew whence to drink. And Moses said, “Eat and drink the sustenance provided by God, and do not act wickedly on earth by spreading corruption.”
-Sura 2, Verse 60, Quran
Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
-Chapter 17, Verse 6, Book of Exodus
We were worried about having to drink dirty water from open wells so David brought a carbon filter water pump from an outdoor gear store in the USA. We gave it a try on the first day on the trail when we poured water from freshly tanned goatskins into a bowl and it came out colored brown looking like strong tea, with wafting goat odor and floating hair. Dave pumped it into another bowl and it came out crystal clear and smelling sweet. Wallahi al Azeem, By Allah the Great, they said.
The pumping got harder gradually and then the pump froze up in its casing. We changed the filter, we had one extra, which was almost black from all the skin tanning it had cleared but the pump was still froze. Ma yinfaash, they said, It’s worthless.
So we threw it away on that first day and drank goat tasting and smelling water from the skins until they finally cleared up on their own. And we shared everyone else’s germs, their coughs and sniffles, until we’d passed them all around. I doubt the filter would have helped us avoid the common Sudanese cold in any case.
