When we grow up in houses with wood floors or carpeting and have front yards with grass and concrete sidewalks, keeping the floor and the walkway clean is a norm. But what if your house has dirt floors, and what if your yard is nothing but sand or dirt? What is the purpose of sweeping a dirt yard? I’ve wondered that when I saw our neighbors doing just that on our first year in the village. They would come out early every morning with a short grass hand broom and sweep the entire area around their house, moving any would-be debris away from the house. I think I’ve come to realize a good reason for this. In the different houses that we’ve lived at in Chad, we’ve had scorpions at every one. Usually they are found in areas that have not been cleaned for days or longer. In an effort to prevent the extremely painful critters from invading one’s living space, sweeping the yard everyday is a pretty effective way to at least minimize the chance. Maybe this is not the only reason for sweeping a dirt yard, but it’s a pretty good one.