Week 3 in Tofo, July 2022
This week started on a high note for the Vanderful team. On Saturday 9th of July we facilitated a Surf Craftsmanship workshop with Manuel, which was his first workshop with the children since 2019.
Shaping with Manuel
In this session, Manuel demonstrated the process of making a hollow wooden surfboard. The participants had to glue the first deck of a ‘fish’ surfboard. He showed them how to use the template and how to align the wood. He emphasised the importance of making sure the wooden planks were perfectly aligned before they were attached to one another. With assistance from the participants, he added rapid glue which usually sets within 3 minutes. Then, with assistance from Lidia, using our sponsored Bessey clamps, he demonstrated how to hold the planks together whilst the glue dried.
Whilst the glue set, we planted Paulownia tree roots. Paulownia is recognised as the fastest growing tree in the world. Within seven years, one tree can produce enough wood for three surfboards! Each participant took their tree root home and promised to water it, love it, replant and even talk to it.
Manuel is a great influence on the participants as he is very dedicated to his craft. He is also a great teacher and we are so excited about him engaging young people at the workshop again. This time we also had a number of girls who were interested and participated; Lidia and Julia who are both surf instructors. Julia is in fact the first Mozambican female surfer. Both are a big inspiration to the younger girls in the community.
On Monday 11th of July, we had a rehearsal with the children for Thursday’s parade with Gutsakisana as well as facilitating an activity that helped gather some interesting facts about the children’s lives. Throughout this week, we focused on implementing a ‘needs assessment’, interviewing different people in the community to establish an understanding of how Vanderful can best support them in the future. This process was incredibly motivating and we are looking forward to evaluating all of the ideas, suggestions and opinions at the end of this project.
Vanderful / Gutsakisana Parade
On Thursday 14th of July, we had a parade through the village of Tofo, it was truly wonderful! We all had face paint, played with circus equipment and sang our song which has lyrics in Bitonga, Portuguese and English.
We made some flags from local fabric called “capulana” and “canisu” which is similar to bamboo. We paraded through the town, singing our song and went on the beach and played some games. There was a fantastic communiy spirit! Everyone involved and people in the village were happy to see that the children’s project Gutsakisana has started again, we even had some new children join!
“Gutsakisana ngungunua guta takisa sanana!” “Gutsakisana ta a voltar vem fazer-nos felizes!” “Gutsakisana is back, coming to make us happy!”
Give children the chance to play.
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