UPSIDEDOWN TIME IS HERE AGAIN !
Every so often, maybe once each year, the children of Tarawa, especially of Primary age, male and female, decide to go upside-down ! This is done with no organisation, no interference from adults, simply a spontaneous what ? A copycat show of joy ? It always needs one group / school to start the craze again, and then soon the whole island has kids doing hand-stand, hand-walk, "kick-fighting" (a traditional sport done in a handstand position). Seven or eight years ago, the whole field next to my teaching school had groups up on their hands ! And then, like all periodic crazes, it dies again.
GETTING STRONG STARTS EARLY.
With many families still relying on gathered wood for fuel (for open cooking fires), the need to "employ" the children each day in picking up rice-sacks full of branches is obvious. The older children organise the younger ones, but all are expected to help. One can often see "family lines", oldest at the front with the biggest bundle, youngest at the back with what they can manage ! This is, for many, part of normal daily life. The older people also have strengthening work to do, e.g. manhandling fishing "canoes" off and on the beach, climbing trees to cut "toddy", hauling fishing nets, or carrying sacks of sand or gravel up from the beach. The trick for us in Athletics is "How to cash in on this natural talent ?"
Last Modified on 19/03/2007 18:31