As we can observe, there has been an extreme amount of change in the world with many advances in technology that make a shift in the appearance of items. Although these advances may seem as normal, there are also other people who might believe that change is not so good and that keeping things as how they were originally might be better, to keep it “traditional”. As we saw on Salih’s story, the Doum Tree of Wad Hamid was a treasured and for as many times as the government could try to take over the space and install advances, they were hesitant and resisted to that change. The message that this story was trying to portray was that it is more important to stick to the roots of tradition and to keep the tradition going than to install some new advancements that will perhaps have people leaving town for something more modern. As it was said in the passage, the villagers did not travel unless it was something necessary because there was no need and it was extremely difficult to do so, therefore, by giving them a clearer passage to travel they will not be able to move out and forget their origin instead they will stay where they are and try to maintain it as traditional as they can.
But what about the very end of the story when the old man says that the pump and the steamer can coexist with the doum tree? How does that fit in with what you are saying about the need to hold onto tradition by refusing these technological advancements?