When I went on a mission trip to Brasil years ago, the kids who came to our vaca
tion Bible school in Sao Paulo taught me how to make a kite, which they called a 'pipa' (they didn't speak any English, so everything they said was in Portuguese). We spent all afternoon finding the right materials and putting the kite together. They found a tin can in the gutter which was for winding the string. They took me to a corner store where I bought a reel of cotton thread for the string. Next was the 'casa do bamboo' where a man was leaning on his iron fence chatting with a neighbour, and trying to ignore annoying little kids. Finally he took me over to the boot of his car and sho
wed me an array of different coloured crepe paper, and sticks of thin bamboo. The boys asked me what colour, I tried some Spanish: "negro." The boys burst out laughing since "preto" is the more common word for 'black'. For the tail all I needed to do was cut a shopping bag into strips. I would soon be ready to chase the wind with my newly made pipa. One more thing the Brasilians do
to make chasing the wind even more ephemeral....they glue crushed glass to the string. That way they can cut down
the pipas of other kite fliers.
Ecclesiastes gives the advice, "God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few" (NIV, Eccl 5:2). Andrew Clements book No Talking has fifth grade kids taking this literally (with no mention of or allusion to Ecclesiastes) for 48 hours, much to the disgust of the teachers, and especially the head mistress. Inspired by Ghandi's practice of saying nothing one day a week, the girls and boys have a contest to see who can speak the least. They are allowed three words in response to direct questions from teachers. They end up with a better respect for each other, and for silence.
