Let's go fly a kite up to the highest height - Let's go fly a kite and send it soaring Up to the atmosphere, up where the air is clear - Oh let's go ... fly a kite!

I never appreciated the sheer joy in the simple pleasure of flying a kite. I treasure it even more now that I've seen the joy it brought to twentysomething young boys last weekend. I asked to assist the matrons at the Bosco Orphanage with the boys on an outing Easter Monday (a holiday here) to fly kites on the seawall in Plaisance (about 10 minutes down the highway from me). It was GREAT. Kite flying is an annual easter tradition in Guyana, the kites representing Christ rising from the dead on Easter. The skies are filled with kites of many shapes and colors, and they fly HIGH - like hundreds of feet high in the air, and stay there, supported by the stiff tradewinds coming in off the Atlantic.




























My day with the boys started off with the typical confusion of who was actually going where (and when?), which faded into getting dressed, hair brushing (must be presentable before going out), showing me the star kites, me desperately trying to learn the names of the 20 small boys that I don't know as well and general tomfoolery before we left the orphanage. We walked about 10 minutes down to the Plaisance seawall, and the kids knew what to do from there and set to work getting the kites together and up in the air. My job was mostly to watch spacing, so they wouldn't tangle in the air, and to go after the ones that were caught along the fence or in high bushes nearby. It was a hot hot day, so it was a good thing we just flew from nine to noon. I was still beat red, even with my 45 spf sunblock on. Other highlights included: the boys losing their kites and having to sprint after them through a field of dried tall grasses and mud underneath that had all kinds of holes in it from where local cows left their prints during the rainy season (needless to say, there was lots of tripping); playing "soldier" with one little boy, who would crawl on his belly across the grass while I crouched behind a bush and "covered" him; exploring the seashore after the tide went out and finding hermit crabs and their shells everywhere; and hoisting little guys up and down over the seawall (a precipitous drop at low tide). We were all exhausted by the time we got back, and the boys conked out after lunch wherever they could find space to conk. After a bus ride home, I did the same in our hammock.

Not a bunny rabbit to be seen, but the day still felt very special.

Easter also included several choir performances (one each day of the Tridium) a brunch with the gals from the choir and a lunch with the sisters and friends at the Meadowbrook Convent. That last lunch did provide little Easter baskets with bendy rabbits, which we twisted into creative poses and joked with after sipping our nip of after-dinner Bailey's.

There are also lots more pictures to come on this site - sorry, but downloading the pics onto the web seems to be the hardest part of this. If anyone more computer-savvy than I has an idea about how I can share my pictures more easily (or use the blog more easily) please please let me know, because these images say so much, and I would really like to share them with you.