Reading as love making - Groundings 4 Dec, 2015

Thandi said she was leaving and had to go home - about four or five times.. but she didn't leave .. she got involved in encouraging passers by to get free books. "Come on teachers.. come on you have to read... "


There was a nice young couple holding hands and they blushed when we encouraged them.. 'go on. get some books, you can read to each other"..

They picked up a Star Wars book and another book. Another couple which passed - the young woman looked a bit suspiciously but the young man picked up a book

A lot of parents wanted their children to 'see what they want'.. and we said to the parents.. you too you have to read.

There were three rice bags of books which were to be shared out. Busy people doing groundings which was meant to be about love and sharing love but we forgot all the interactivity and questions and invitations to read poetry aloud.

One of the young men we had met doing the Groundings told us his family papers had come through and as with migration, caught them all of a sudden.

One of the men who stayed took a few books and put them in the empty carton box he had with other things inside. He said he would read all .  A man asked if they had books about education. Then he found a book and said 'oh this is war'. The man with the box said.. 'that is not education, that is war' and somebody else say is 'history'.

Some people picked up lots of the books. Others passed by. The women who worked as security guards picked up . Some men did not pick up any.

Some people looked at us wondering..

Some people keep saying ;'Oh I have books to give away'.. but is about the conversation and so on when you giving away the books.. not just about dumping things you do not want any more.

Lina took some pieces of books to add to her compost heap. 




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Turpentine mango madness

Image
Some of the mango was stuck on the stubble around my mouth. I looked at the mirror, a bit of shame because I had just collected an invitation from a well dressed guy and I wonder how I must have looked to him.. look at dis big man .. he cyan eat mango good . Thing is.. wiping off mango from stubble is difficult.. and the casual swipe with a hand which might have some juice is also useless. The turpentine mango is useless when it is green - it tastes awful, like turpentine.  Mother Nature works a miracle because the ripe one though, is sweet, juicy, no strings and no turpentine taste. And the colours on the skins are bright yellow/orange/pink/purple/red shades that are probably meant to draw all species of mango lovers. The trouble with turpentine is that you cannot pick it green or 'turnin' ' to ripen like say how they do it with Spice mangoes.  You have to leave on the tree until there is some point.. when there is no taste of turpentine. So you look at the m
Read more

Re-writing Irfaan Ali's disgraceful statement after accepting his comrade's resignation

Image
  (President Irfaan Ali made a Facebook post in which he accepted the resignation of his comrade Nigel Dharmlall from the Cabinet and the Party. This is an imaginary rewriting of that statement) Fellow Guyanese, as you’re aware, I am in Trinidad and Tobago attending the 45th session of the Heads of Government meeting of CARICOM and the 50th anniversary of CARICOM.  Tonight I want to address you in relation to the allegation that was made multiple allegations of rape and sexual violence which have been made against Minister Nigel Dharamlall.  From the inception, I advised the population that I would allow the system to work.   I would never and the government would never intervene in the system. We’ve allowed an independent investigation; the minister proceeded on leave to ensure that an independent investigation was conducted. I recognise that many survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence do not trust the system to work because it has failed many times.  I ad
Read more

My experience with depression - Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar

Image
(The University of Guyana held Turkeyne & Tain Talks 2 on Monday 12 September, 2016 on Suicide Prevention . Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar made a presentation based on her experience. This is the text of the presentation) by Raquel Thomas-Caesar I am not an expert on the issue of Suicide and Depression but this is my personal journey dealing with such issues. I have never spoken publicly about this at such a forum and I hope that it serves to help others even if only a small way- Dr Raquel Thomas-Caesar South East London,  June 9, 1995 As I sit under the tree, hidden from all eyes…I wait….to go. I wait to die. Then it hits me…OMG. I really don’t want to die. What have I done? My head is swinging, fuzzy, I can hardly walk. But I barely make it up and up the hill…I see two young black men in the distance…they come towards me, I could only imagine they thought I was on drugs..I beg for help. My Angels.  I wake up in the hospital. This was me- 21 years ago.  In a foreign land, drea
Read more