The Brinquedos and Brincadeiras
Second part
In this exhibit, the readers can find some important tips to base a most deeply research on children lore of this part ofAfrica, joints to a special educational filter to see and compare different childhoods, looking at children’s rights and participation.
Naturally, more can be offered by the authors, both Marzio and Maria are available to travel with their “suitcase full of… children’s toys and pictures”, connected at many hidden life stories. Happy to meet children and open minds, offering a different imagery, dreaming a new possible better World.
Here there are some more examples of handmade toys created by children of these beautiful islands for themself or for their mates. The small tinplate boats without sail are pushed by hand, usually from the younger, close to the shore - where the waves are breaking and only expert hand of the boat’s owners can avoid shipwrecks and sinking. Often, they try one hands in risky competition, making a good use of the under tow wave. In these contexts, rarely people agree on who is the winner. The small boats with plastic sail and rudder rightly anchored they fasten sail. These floating playthings are followed by their makers by swimming. But sometime they are lost away.
Generally, the modelled clay objects (os brinquedos) the usual traditional domestic tools. Or they reproduce tale's animals, as Bulimundo (the bull, symbol of proud and strength) and its mate Tio Lobo "Oncle wolf" (symbol of cunning). But fantasy takes children to create myth animals, like owl or the elephant and many other so difficult to classified. As habitual, among the dom
estic utensils there is the pilao, the big national mortar, everywhere utilised to prepare the caiupa, the loveliest main dish, corn flour based. Also for this production, people use cheaper materials, as discharged clay from the potter. And potters are patient artisans, always ready to cook these toys in their basement stove nearby their made by hand production to sell. In a Sahelian country, is not considerable that natural combustible is rare, and the artificial costly. So, how poorest people get fuels? In these stoves, people use the dry cow dung as fuel source.
The popular toy is carrinha - the small tin plate car - where the main source to build the bodywork is made with food cans, recovered from international cooperation gifts. But also copper, coming from electrical wire and plastic tops and lids. The rubber is recovered from broken flip flap, used it to make the wheels. Then a bit of string to keep the steering. A fine piece of wood or a reed to control direction. Otherwise a iron rod properly modelled, but this is the case only for the “richest people”. The making tools are: the blade of a broken handle knife, a stone as hammer; a big nail with square section, as bradawl; a nails as tool to mark on the plate the reference points; a straight wire as ruler. Technology to build is connected with difficulty to find resources, because also a rusty nail is often got after several searches in a dump, through rubbish. In fact, we can notice some difference between products of town and country makers. In the country there is a greater poverty of resources, and this is a way to devise solution really smartly.
Using only one pieces of tinplate - with hazardous and audacious - this is why children toymakers are use to hammer and bend tinplate, finally obtaining a bodywork for their small car without junctions. Currently, the fashionable toy car is the “Van, Volvo tipper lorry” or truck, so useful to carry the sand when children are playing on the beach.
To organise an exhibition around London and UK, you can contact me. Or if you prefer, you can directly send a message to the authors: marziom@libero.it - Marzio and Maria have a good understanding of Italian, Spanish and French.
Marzio Marzot is a professional reporter and photographer, travelling and working with FAO an other international organizations; teaching in schools, making research and writing books. The most important of these are:
- “Giocattoli di là dal mare”, Unicef, 2001
- “Racordai: vengo da un isola di Capo Verde”, Sinos Editrice,1996
- “La Cina è un aquilone, oggetti dell’universo infantile nella Terra del Drago”, Comune di Firenze, edizione FOS, 2001
- “Capo Verde una storia lunga 10 isole”, in collaboration with Maria de Lourdes and others, D’Anselmi Editore, 1989
- Futuro è un Lago Antico, (Il). Conoscenze tradizionali, biodiversità e risorse genetiche per l'agricoltura e l'alimentazione nel Bacino del Lago Ciad - see PDF introduction.
- Scatti in bianco e nero per raccontare la drammatica storia dei bambini in Mozambico
Both travellers offer us their availability for their book translations in other languages.