00:00:02foul-smelling place in all of Fez
00:00:05Morocco tanning hides may be dirty and
00:00:08smelly work but somebody has to do it
00:00:11every day
00:00:1217-year old mo seen must wind his way
00:00:15through the ancient alleyways of Fez he
00:00:18is following in the footsteps of a
00:00:20countless generations who have labored
00:00:21before him in this 600 year old tannery
00:00:24my first time here the smell was
00:00:27terrible I felt like I was suffocating I
00:00:30couldn’t bear but it’s been a while the
00:00:33smell simply became normal it’s at the
00:00:34end I no longer noticed it at all after
00:00:37just three years here Messines tenure
00:00:40has been relatively brief but his father
00:00:42Abdel has been reading in the tannery
00:00:45stench for more than three decades each
00:00:48delivery of skins fresh from the
00:00:50slaughter means the start of a stinking
00:00:52wet filthy process of all the foul tasks
00:00:56no scene must do few are worse than
00:00:58washing the animal skins and there’s no
00:01:02other way to do it than to climb right
00:01:03into the tub a fetid sewer of animal
00:01:06hides flesh hair and bacteria exposure
00:01:11to the filth makes mo seen and his
00:01:13co-workers more susceptible to
00:01:14infections particularly if they were to
00:01:17have any open sores or cuts while no
00:01:20scene rinses his lamb skins others
00:01:22prepare cow hides for tanning scraping
00:01:25their leftovers into the Seine near
00:01:27stagnant pool nothing about this job’s
00:01:30for the faint of heart
00:01:31but mo scene has learned to appreciate
00:01:33its benefits
00:01:35my friends who work in other professions
00:01:37tell me that my job is good because I
00:01:40can take a swim in the water to the some
00:01:43it’s not like other jobs such as working
00:01:46for shoemakers where you have to stay in
00:01:48the same place all day long
00:01:50the reward for carrying out this
00:01:52unappealing job brings beginning
00:01:54Tanner’s just two dollars a day and very
00:01:57experienced ones about five dollars much
00:02:01of the tanneries odor comes from its
00:02:02potent and pungent secret ingredient
00:02:05pigeon droppings most scene gathers the
00:02:08droppings from the rooftops of Fez then
00:02:11he’s ready for the dirtiest and the
00:02:13smelliest job of all wading into a vat
00:02:16of excrement the stench is overpowering
00:02:19but most seen must keep his head and be
00:02:22sure to add just the right amount of
00:02:23water to the pigeon droppings the
00:02:26perfect mix will help make the skin
00:02:27supple but not too soft
00:02:32pigeon droppings have a burning quality
00:02:34so when you put it on the skin it bites
00:02:36into it and softens it and then the skin
00:02:39becomes like a piece of cloth but to
00:02:43transform these raw hides into leather
00:02:45cloth requires most seen to get down and
00:02:48dirty shoeless he can use his toes and
00:02:51heels to knead the skins over and over
00:02:54for almost three hours he Trump’s around
00:02:57the VAT even apart from the smell it’s a
00:03:01difficult chore requiring strength and
00:03:03endurance
00:03:05finally the skins are soft enough to
00:03:08please the expert his father AB doubt
00:03:11this is a very good job just look at
00:03:13what we produce it’s beautiful
00:03:17my son made this it’s a product to be
00:03:21proud of and few who end up wearing this
00:03:23leather on their feet will ever know
00:03:25that it was crafted in one of the
00:03:27foul-smelling places on earth
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