They will recline on jewelled couches

They will recline on jewelled couches

As the senior officer approaches with a baton, Layma stands up with deliberation, reaches her arms up over her head, and begins, very slowly, to untie her headdress that covers her hair.

Sigh, but not aloud, make no mourning for the dead bind your headdress on you, and put your shoes on your feet, and don't cover your lips, and don't eat men's bread.

But if you can imagine this young man with his headdress and his flowing robe, learning a new language, Portuguese, not to mention English, going to Rio, building a bridge to reach out to people he'd never met before a pretty hostile world.