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| One of the handmade puppets |
If you really want to see excited faces and extremely enthusiastic children, then come and see a the puppet show in one of the communities here! Although the materials are very basic, the crowd of children always seems to get so excited that they almost want to become a puppet themselves. The local puppet players really know how to engage the children (-and I have to say that they do a great job with engaging the adults as well! ;) and create story lines that contain both a great fun factor and a moral. Yesterday, the puppet show was about 'eating healthy food'. I can imagine you would think that the emphasis would be on 'eating fruit instead of junk food', but the reality in these communities is a different one. The word 'healthy' here refers to only eating food that has been covered (to keep the flies and insects away) and food that has not been standing in the sun for too long. Besides that, 'healthy' also means not eating too many chillies on an empty stomach, because it could give you stomach ache. This awareness raising element seems to have a great impact on both the children and their families. Once again, it shows that you only need a bit of creativity, a curtain and some puppets to create both a highly entertaining and educational event.
