After last week’s grapple to find a suitable response to the photo challenge theme word, this week was simply child’s play.
Week #3: Play Time
Malawian kids astound me with their creativity when it comes to play. When you have no Toys-R-Us to resort to, you make your own fun. Besides “football” (which came up in virtually every conversation!), we encountered some unique ways the children had of entertaining themselves.
One of our first days in Mlonyeni, this little boy was happy to show me his homemade source of entertainment- a discarded bike rim and a stick. He would roll the rim ahead of him, and place a perfectly chosen stick in the natural groove in the top. He ran along beside it and had great control over his speedy projectile.
An innovative teenager I met, made this remarkable car out of wire and tires crafted from the caps of water bottles. It has a completely functional steering mechanism and I can’t imagine the amount of time it must have taken to create this intricate masterpiece.
And if nothing else, amusement can be made by using the playground you have around you – in this case a labyrinth of knots in the trunk of the baubau trees.
There isn’t anything in Malawi that isn’t reused or recycled. How African children play is a testament to their incredible resourcefulness. And that creativity and drive will serve that community well as World Vision winds down their sponsorship program in that area.
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