7/3/2015

I spent much of my time in Kenya with children. Here I must confess that initially I couldn’t escape the clichéd perception of Kenyan children. I was taken in by the eurocentric perspective; I felt pity for the children’s bare feet and ragged clothes, I wanted to give them sweets and toys and couldn’t help thinking that I should be doing something to help them. They were so poor, weren’t they?

But was it the case? Except for the fact that some children were indeed malnourished and deprived from having a roof overhead (as it happens in my home country too, there’s a difference in the scale of this phenomenon though), many children were just having an ordinary childhood as seen through the lens of their culture.

I was a newcomer, a mzungu, and it took me quite some time to become accustomed to the locals’ way of life. Once I managed to transcend the trap of seeing the world from the viewpoint blurred by my own culture’s values and priorities, everything turned upside down and I found myself seeing so rich a world!

I saw children having loads of fun, spending time playing together and inventing new games. The few items they had served as a starting point to give free rein to their wild  imagination. Their world was free from computers, tablets, gameboys, xboxes and so on. Everyone would just stay outside and play until it got completely dark.

There was no ball, yet crumpled papers immediately became one. Rules of the game where decided arbitrarily, based on what brought the loudest bursts of laughter. An old bottle, two sticks and four bottle caps were engineered to become a toy vehicle whereas a tire found by the side of a road turned into an escaping animal which children bounded to catch. Hopscotch, tag, hide-and-seek, wrestling - they were all played on a daily basis, not to mention climbing old cars, balancing on fallen trees and teasing cats and (sic!) chameleons.

I feel as though toys or pastimes organized by adults for the sake of developing children’s personalities, skills, talents or whatever only detract from the precious experience provided by children’s own play. Also, I think that never can organised learning unit replace the importance of pure play.

As scientists put it, play is central to the survival of every mammal and many bird species. It prepares us for life , works as kind of a dress rehearsal before testing ourselves in a real battle for turf, status, food or the mate. It encourages to expand creativity as well as problem solving and imagination. As Ian McCallum states in the book "The Rediscovery of the Wild" - "the more dependent a species is on trial-and-error learning, apprenticeship and mentorship in order to thrive, the greater the need for play".

Hustling and bustling from one goal to another, burdened by the strong work ethic ingrained in "western" cultures and the need to generate revenue and focus on pragmaticism, we must not forget that human need to play is tremendous. I believe that the less structured and more freely invented the play, the more fun, learning and satisfaction it brings. Long live play! Children of the world, unite in play!

Back to the monthly competition - the correct answer to the quiz question in February is RAZOR BLADES!

Also, March is infamous for being the month with no photo quiz on Afrikanize.com. As much as I'd love to post the photo question, I must stick to the rules dictated by the cruel March. I hope you understand.