Papier-Mâché Messes November 28, 2015

Slime glistens over fingernails as it is squished off strips of paper slowly being pulled through. Music plays as the mind drifts. The cool soaked paper slowly covers the yellow neon balloon. Occasionally flour chunks will need to be rubbed out or a trailing dropped scooped up.  The sun outside in the picture book blue sky promises to help once the coat is finished.

This messy, easy craft has always been one of my favorites. I remember making a life size coyote in 3^rd grade and classic piñatas through various Spanish classes. There was a time Kara and I made a giant globe with a section cut away to show the layers of the earth.  We’d started with an old, giant umbrella that barely fit the doors at the school in 8^th grade. My junior or senior year of high school, I made the Alps for a project on Switzerland that were two feet long  It’s amazing what can be done with a little flour, water, paper and time.

I don’t think I did anything papier-mâché like in college. So, it’s been at least five years, half a decade, before I joined Peace Corps that I got all messy for some fun. However, since being here I’ve made multiple piñatas: a mosquito, soccer ball, traditional one, pumpkin, turkey and am starting an Ethiopian flag colored one for a friend.

When I first made the mosquito piñata, I didn’t really know what I was doing. My compound family was shocked and confused at what two balloons and some floured water could do. While the students loved it when I shook it and explained that there was candy inside, they didn’t mind being blindfolded for it. However, forgetting about how to hang a piñata was a lesson I would learn.

The soccer ball and traditional pinata were for camp this summer. The session had girls and boys talk about struggles and challenges that they encounter in their lives. Early marriage, harassment, sexual assault, and bullying were all mentioned and wrote on the black and white squares. After talking about how to overcome these challenges, we went out and had students take turns smashing their challenges. The other piñata was broken by hand and randomly used to hand out treats on the final day. An Ethiopian friend’s young son turned it into a hat!

A jack-o-lantern pumpkin was a surprise for an extra program at an orphanage. However, it had to be redecorated when it was brought to my attention that playing with food in a country dealing with drought and potential famine, isn’t a good lesson to teach. The kids loved it, even though it didn’t break until it was stabbed! I learned that I really have to count how many coats I put on a piñata.

And finally this week, there was an odd chicken like piñata being created in my compound. Trying to explain that a turkey is like a giant chicken for an American holiday was hard enough to explain without going into details. The looks I got on the bus ride and meandering though towns was also a shock that this is a very foreign thing. The insides though were stuffed with care package goodies to be shared with friends after a day of trainings.

As the wet goo slides through my fingers on this new one, I can’t help but smile. My compound is used to balloons drying out in the afternoon sun. I’m better at hanging and making them. It took time and patience, but I did learn.

In some ways these piñatas illustrate some great points about life as a PCV. For starters, it’s messy. There is dirt and dust everywhere. We have to dive in with both hands if we want our time to matter. We could stay in our rooms watching t.v., but where would the point be in that? Sometimes people don’t understand what we are doing, even if it seems like an easy things to do. This ranges from our pace of walk, to asking repeatedly for schedules, to making teaching aids daily. Eventually people come to the realization that what we do is fun, interesting, harmless, and inventive, but that takes time and patience.

I’m sure there will be more piñatas in my remaining time as a PCV. I’m not sure what they will be or if I will have any for Cinco de Mayo, but what I do know, is I’m still enjoying seeing the joy on peoples’ faces when they crack it open to some unexpected treats.