ABSTRACT
Hbira, a town with about 4,000 inhabitants, sits in the semi-desert plains of rural Tunisia, about 150 kilometers south of Tunis. Salah, age 12, is en route to his primary school. Founded in 1957, the school’s most impressive feature is a large, shady central playground where students gather whenever classes are not in session. By the time Salah arrives, dozens of his classmates are milling around outside the school gate, some buying penny candy or sunflower seeds from the vendor stationed outside. There are 33 children in Salah’s class, the larger of two fifth grade classes in the school. Wooden desks, each with two seats, are arranged in four columns facing the blackboard in his classroom. Sunlight brightens the space on the side with windows, and four bare light bulbs hang from the ceiling. The walls are decorated with pictures cut from magazines—a soccer team, several individual players, a smiling girl petting a white horse, two men doing karate, and hunters on a hillside.
