Saturday's presentation was for troops near Draper, UT. There were about 10 tables set up, and each troop hosted a table with information about a country, including local costumes, objects, food, and often some kind of craft. I showed up with a few bags of textiles -- felt chair covers, quilted decorations, felt and quilted purses -- a book on Kyrgyz crafts, a leather kumyss bottle, hats, a head scarf, a shawl, a few pieces of posterboard with information about the country, and a handful of postcards. I spread them across a table that had been set aside for me, and then waited for the girls to come.
The woman who had organized the event, S, gave me a handful of girls from her troop to help at my table. They were curious about everything on it, and I told them what the leather bottle was for (fermented mare's milk), who wore which hat, and had them try them on, along with the head scarf and the shawl. They stuck around for a little while and passed along what they knew to visitors who came to our table, while I swooped down on unsuspecting third graders and asked if they wanted to wear a head scarf. After a little while my helpers wandered off, but I kept putting scarves, shawls, kalpaks and dopas on little girls, and for the most part they seemed to enjoy it. I only wish I had gotten a few pictures of the girls wearing everything! Every once in a while they'd stick around long enough for me to tell them about leather bottles and horse's milk. I would have liked to go visit the other tables as well, but I was too busy, and that was just fine.
 |
| Asel |
 |
| My village |
I started with Asel waking up, doing chores and helping make breakfast before school. Then she walks to school, and I explain how she has been in a class with the same students every year since first grade. Then she comes home from school, does some more chores, and then goes to the bazaar with her mother. Then she helps with dinner, does her homework, plays cards and watches TV, and finally goes to bed.
 |
| The bazaar |
To emphasize the resources angle of the story, I spent some time talking about what it is like to live without running water, and where the family gets water from, how they wash dishes, clothes, make tea, cook dinner, etc. I also talked about some of the uses of empty soda bottles, including to measure gasoline and cooking oil. I should have spent more time talking about how nothing is wasted or thrown away, but I'll have to get more of that in my next presentation.
Well, a room full of 2nd to 7th graders did a great job of listening through my whole story. They raised their hands and asked lots of good questions as we went, and then while some of the littler ones got restless, we had a question-and-answer period where they asked more good questions at the end.
The last half hour was supposed to be an arts-and-crafts project, where the girls cut the tops off of water bottles, covered them with colored paper, and turned them into pencil holders. In reality, it was 30 mintes of pure chaos, but in a good way. By the time we were done, there were paper-covered bottle bases of all shapes and sizes.
And I get to do something similar on Wednesday afternoon -- but this time, I'll definitely take pictures of the girls!
No comments:
Post a Comment