Monday, September 23, 2013

Fifty Years Ago Today - Learning and Improvization


Monday, September 23, 1963

Bossboy Gul's daughter, Koram, picks up some bits of fiber her mother is making into twine and tries her hand at twisting the bits together.



For a few minutes she concentrates intensely, but as the bits of twine refuse to turn into twine for her little hands, she loses interest and runs off to play with other little girls.

Eventually twisting twine will become a skill she will use to make clothing and string bags, an activity that will keep many hours of her future days occupied. There are no shortcuts for making the bilums (string bags) necessary for carrying small children and garden produce.

The young men who are earning money by working for us as cooks and translators, have found a shortcut for carrying water from the stream to our house. Empty cans from the kerosene we use to fuel our camp stove, Tilley lamp and hurricane lanterns, are slung like a hunted pig from a pole.



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1 comment:

  1. Awww, that cutie-pie Koram! Trying to twist twine w mama, but her little hands...

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