Hopeton01 - The Bigger Picture

MonoMonday
I spotted this African lady as I pulled out of the school gates - She's carrying a load of shopping in a large bag on her head: totally hands-free!  I've seen this on my visits to the Caribbean and on TV programmes but never before in UK streets!

In some parts of the world, carrying loads on the head is often associated with the poor & subservient in the developing world. Yet the 'bigger picture' is much more  interesting!
Efficient - in E. Africa, ' and India, 'Luo' women carry up to 70% of their body weight on their heads. Indian women may carry baskets of bricks to workmen on construction sites.
Practical -  on rough, rural African terrain when no wheels are available,  buckets of water and bundles of firewood are easier to transport on the head (rich Southern Ghanaians employ poor young migrants from the North to labour as 'head porters for $2 a day.)
Influential - in the Victorian era when finishing schools for young women flourished, manners and comportment were rigidly taught & expected among 'decent' girls; so much so that these society girls were instructed to improve their posture by balancing books or a teacup & saucer on their heads while walking and getting up or down from a chair. They were told to model themselves after "the Egyptian water-carrier, with a jug of water poised so prettily on her head, and her figure so straight & beautiful."

Back to my blip - who knew that her 'local access' problem would be solved by her inter-cultural know-how?!!  :-)