Calheta de São Miguel, Cape Verde - The seventh day (the 11th of March 2011)

Calheta de São Miguel, Cape Verde

Friday, the 11th of March 2011
The "Arts and Crafts" group 2
08H00/10H00 AM

Being the final day before the exhibition party they all seemed to be fairly nervous because it was  obvious that the "pieces of Art" the children would not be able to complete by Friday wouldn't be exhibited the day after, though I felt that maybe with one or two exceptions they would all have enough time to finish them.

Cinthia (Left) and Leinira (Right) with their finished coloured sand and sticker paintings.

Filomena (Left) and Marline (Right) with their finished felt tip pen and tempera paintings respectively.

Veronica (Left) and Nélida (Right) with the finished squirrel and boar origami figures respectively.

Leinira with her finished tempera painting

They still had time to complete the sticker colouring or reading books their "godmothers" sent for them and these were (as expected) fairy like moments for them. They take great pleasure in doing things our "western" children would  (eventually) find "boring"... and  one could easily see the happiness in their looks as they held their "precious" books (I am sure the only ones they have apart from the school ones).

Some of these books cost around 0,95 cents up to a maximum of 3,00 Euros ... I couldn't therefore help thinking about the "price" of happiness ...

Simone (Left) and Artemisa (Right) with their sticker and colouring books.

Carla (Left) and Neuza (Right) with their sticker reading and sticker colouring books respectively.

I will only see these girls Saturday and  ... might not see them for a long time after that, but I am sure that this will be  (it has certainly been) an important moment in their lives ...

The development of the Portuguese Language group

10H00/midday

The children who attend this class were so busy  "challenging" the capability to test the acquired knowledge by means of individual "trips" to the whiteboard  to write down  the accurate words corresponding to descriptions and cues that I would provide them with ... that I  myself got so carried away and ended up not taking any photos ...

Some things cannot be accounted for in "measurable" terms ... that is, the progress some of these children have made will eventually only be felt in some months' time or even years ...

I must confess I am really proud of them and what they have managed to "achieve" in such a short period of time ... I feel almost speechless ...

They will be coming to the party Saturday, as they will be handed the books they have worked on all week long ... and I do sincerely hope the "seeds" of the Portuguese language development will continue to be further tended ... and that one day they might see the "fruitful" outcome of this experience.

(To be continued)