Le Héros de la Casbah

5:45 AM, early July. A clammy heat already clings to my clothes and the ancient stones of this place. While Algiers still sleeps, the true guardians of the Casbah are already at work. No diplomas—just backs bent by five centuries of history, bearing the invisible weight of these alleyways. 

Their worn hooves know every cobblestone better than our fingers know smartphone screens. That’s when I spot one of the members of the «Casbah Cavalry Unit,» equipped with his « chouari »(those twin baskets turning each beast into a mobile waste station). He lifts his head. In his dark eyes swims all the patience in the world. 

No quest for glory, just this unshakable certainty: tomorrow, at this same hour, the Casbah will need him again...

True heroes wear no capes,but scars of sweat and dust.