| words by @neilshea13 — In every large family there is a

| words by @neilshea13 — In every large family there is a child who could eat forever. My parents say it was the third of us, tall and hollow, a silo, a swimmer, a locust who daily raked the shelves. I recognized in her that same hunger, saw the sweeping hungry gaze. In the village there was celebration that week, endless rounds of song and dance, and many times I saw her peel from the girl-crowd, with their cowrie belts and clay-dressed cornrows, to go for milk. Sometimes she was sent, must have been—given the pitcher by her mother or aunt, ordered out to fetch. But more often she came empty-handed. In this place where milk is often saved for boys and men she’d pick a sharp-shouldered house cow, swat its rump and bend to work. Pressing her head to the rough gray flank she’d slide a hand to the teat and squeeze a thin stream into her palm. Handful after handful she’d cuff down hot milk, the cow chewing, not looking, never minding, an old deal firm between them. Once she offered up the pitcher, flies and froth and all, but I balked. Felt frail. She shrugged, drank, then went for more, her hair painting red clay streaks on that patient mother’s hip.

These Instagram pieces are part of our ongoing project, #NGwatershedstories, and they’re linked to our feature article on Kenya’s Lake Turkana in the August issue of @natgeo magazine. For the last six years, we’ve been documenting culture, change, and conflict in the ecosystem that connects southern Ethiopia and northern Kenya, and we hope you’ll join us @randyolson and @neilshea13 as we follow water down the desert.

Photo by Photo by @randyolson for @thephotosociety and @natgeo

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