play

I was greeted with big smiles at the container the first day I arrived. Not long after I sat down, a sweet girl named Winnie asked me to help her get an email address. I was touched to be asked and eager to help. So began my day, as I showed various members of the community how to get an email address and then how to use them. Emails began to fly back and forth between myself, Winnie and Dahlia. Even though we were sitting right next to each other, the novelty of being able to send an email and receive an email from each other was too exciting to resist. We giggled and responded to each others emails and impatiently would ask if the other had received our email yet??? Friendships were born through learning and helping. Everyday I was given beautiful mango's and gunieps, a generous gesture which i found profoundly touching. Then, on Friday, I led a drama and writing workshop. Kids, teenagers, Elaine, Jim and myself gathered in a circle outside, shaded by the container. For an hour we played drama games, and improvised the event of the fire across the road the day before. We finished the class by speaking gibberish ( a made up language) to each other. This was a very freeing and fun way to communicate with each other. The next part of the workshop was writing. I had asked everyone who wanted to participate to bring paper and a pen. Mainly the younger kids stayed to do this workshop. I asked them to write 5 "I am" statements that were facts, example: "I am a girl, I am Jamaican, I am 13 years old", and then to write 5 creative "I am" statements to describe themselves, example, " I am a rushing river, I am popcorn, I am a starry sky." The kids quietly contemplated and wrote, then we all shared them. I then asked them to do the same with "I am not". I was delighted to hear how creative and interesting their statements were. I brought one of the macbooks outside where we were all sitting and typed each one down. As I was doing this, the kids all gathered really close and read aloud their statements as I typed. It was darling. Abigal was draped on my left arm, Briteny slung herself on my back and peered around my neck, while stroking my hair, Dahlia leaned in on my right knee. I wished someone could have taken a picture, but I will always remember the feeling of the kids in Palmers Cross piled on top of me while I wrote down their beautiful words. (see previous blog for all the kids statements). At the end of the day I gathered up the pens. Shontae came running up to me, asking if I had seen the pen she had brought with her. It hadn't worked, and so we found a pencil for her, so I carelessly had thrown it into my bag intending to throw it out. She explained to me that she had borrowed it from someone and needed to give it back to them. I was struck by her integrity, making sure that she returned what she had borrowed, even if it was as small as a pen (that didn't work). The day before I left I saw Shontae again at her house. In a stunning bright and clear voice, she recited a poem, and sang a song. Thank you Shontae! Thank you container project, thank you Palmers Cross.