KIDS R US

Today we held two very successful workshops making kites and painting blocks for the abacus. To distract the kids (some of whom came from Sakhelwe Primary down the road and others of whom were kite flyers we’d met and invited) before the blocks arrived (Build Plumb and Tile let Robyn down), we sent them off to find beer bottle tops. They had to find 50 to earn R5. We now have a huge number of bottle tops ready for the launch. Then I started the kite workshop with the group of boys, while the painters sang like angels to keep busy until they could get going. There was a howling wind, probably the worst conditions for trying to make kites, if the best for flying them in, and the kids seemed not to speak a great deal of English, and crowded around impatiently so Khula helped me to keep the chaos at bay by telling the kids to ‘Hlala phansi’ with space around themselves and by helping to distribute wool and plastic. But we got a system going and the boys resourcefully used the half bricks from the pile on the court to hold down the plastic while they tied it onto the sticks. We used danger tape for the tails. After a few test flights, Guy gathered up all the kites in readiness for next week’s launch: he looked like a multi-limbed monster walking around with a great pile of them in his arms. The painting workshop run by Guy and Robyn produced wonderful results. Mrs Cindi allowed us to use her kitchen to prepare the hotdogs. After we’d fed the masses of kids who seemed to have gathered, we planted another group of trees – this time on the north east of the beerhall where the path across the open space begins at the road side (our ANCYL volunteers had spent the morning virtuously digging these holes). We completed the invasion of the poor Cindis’ house by holding a meeting in their lounge to discuss our way forward with one week to go. En route home, Robyn, Guy and I commiserated about how difficult it is to relate what we’re doing to other people. We are so immersed in something and it is so far from the realities of our families. I think this – as well as our exhaustion - is why we are so difficult to live with at the moment! I’m sure that if I’d had more sleep, I would have been able to react more quickly in my accident last night.