The Boularbi family lives in a modest two-room house on the edge of al-Ksour. Mr.Boularbi is almost 60 years old. Since his youth he has worked in the local forestry and charcoal-making business run by his commune. His salary barely keeps food on the table for the family of four, with meat at most once a week. But poverty in al-Ksour does not mean destitution. The Boularbis are proud of what they have accomplished, and that their son has a “real job,” working with the local gendarmerie in a neighboring village.

What really concerns the Boularbi family is their health. Mrs.Boularbi has chronic pains in her chest, and Mr.Boularbi was injured in his job 2 years ago, having seriously cut his leg with an ax. Both adults have made numerous visits to the local hospital, but without noticeable relief from the pain. Mr.Boularbi has just come home from the pharmacy with the latest prescription from the nurse. He has been told the number of pills to take in the morning and evening, over a period of weeks.

Even though the prescription is for an over-the-counter drug, it is confusing to Mr.Boularbi. His Arabic reading skills, acquired during Quranic schooling received decades ago, would be of little use in any case, as the complete medical instructions are in French, with only a partial translation into Standard Arabic. The technical terms are, in any event, far beyond the literacy skills of an unschooled woodcutter. […]