The fishing folk, a close knit community, are bonded by the nature of their livelihood and live about 100 meters south of the throbbing commercial area. The village as a whole sees all types traveling through from Africa, from Asia, and from Europe. It is satisfactory to have a military garrison, however small, for a frontier town with a customs office. In general, the soldiers are well-disciplined and unlike other places have a relatively good relationship with the community. Indeed this unusual gesture by a non-Jew continues to provoke certain comments in neighboring villages and towns as far as Tiberias.
Wives customarily busy themselves with daily household chores.
In fact, they are the quiet backbone of the community. This frequently happens in situations and places when the men may be cowering into reluctant silence by an occupying force. Sometimes the women help with boat repairs especially after storms, like paring wooden clamps and repairing torn sails, and things like that. Oil lamps begin to flicker from darkened windows and hungry extended families noisily reunite over supper. Then one day a lone, wistful figure is seen coming from the southwest.