There are 3 villages in this area. Each village consists of open-air dwellings with dirt floors, separated by low walls. People from extended families live in compounds (a number of dwellings close together, enclosed by a common wall).
This is a traditional Muslim community: some men have more than one wife, and mothers and young children seldom leave their compounds.
Some of the compounds have their own well for drinking water, but people in other compounds use a common village well.
A few of the villagers begin to wonder if the drinking water is contaminated.