Braiding with the slum children…
Our first week of uni we did a braiding workshop. On Saturday we went with the teacher Errol (named after Errol Flyn) to teach braiding to the slum children. This took place at his rich friends house, or perhaps I should say mansion, a lush spacious oasis. These people live just on the river, but between them and the river are the slums, hundreds, maybe thousands of people live there. The council has reclaimed the land and aims to turn it into parks and recreational areas, thus the slum people need to be relocated. They were allocated land, but it got sold, somebody made a profit and now they are going to be displaced people. Simple classes are being held at the house to teach the children skills so perhaps they can make some money for themselves, that’s what the braiding is all about. A traditional Indian craft form- split ply braiding.
It was a really strange experience, sitting there with these rich educated adults who were also learning to braid with the street kids. After the informal class the children took us down into the slums. I felt like the pied piper; we started with five children and over the course of the journey attracted a group of close to thirty. Extremely friendly; falling over themselves to introduce themselves, holding our hands, touching us, wanting their photo taken- so serious in front of the camera. Arriving back at the main gates the children tried to follow us in, a couple of the leaders shoved them back outside in an almost brutal manner at the same time as pulling us through the gate, there was a certain desperation it the children wanting to stay with us, to hold onto the moment.
Then back to the adults; sipping exotic tea from fine china and making polite chit chat.We are going back next week, I think it is going to be a regular thing. India just seems to be this crazy juxtaposition. I can’t get my head around it. The poverty is heart breaking, but the kids are so friendly, I felt like an intruder, but the occupants of the slums were extremely polite; very different from our adventure out into the city of Ahmedabad, we were harassed by men and the beggars were hitting us and grabbing at us. In the slum if someone went to harass us they were immediately chastised by the group.
