Let's Go Fly a Kite

There is one second grade boy here named Nahum who tends to stand out from the rest as being particularly bright and inquisitive. He has been fascinated with the idea of flying kites. Now this is not a readily available thing here where you can just go to your nearby big box store and pick up the kit or supplies and there you go.
I noticed a pouch labeled pocket stunt kite among the treasures of books and boxes in the storage area and had given some thought to trying it but had to think about a plan as there is one kite and there are 46 children. So with chart in hand we set out to fly kite with grade 2 boys first followed by grade one boys and grade 2 girls and grade.
Never underestimate the relative difficulty of flying a frameless parafoil kit. It needs a great deal of wind and it wasn't really windy enough. Also never underestimate the tiring effect of the sun here where we are at nearly 6000 feet and not that far from the equator. Also never underestimate the energy and enthusiasm of young boys.
Luckily for my cohort and I the kite lodged itself in an Acacia tree after about 2 hours and we quit for the day.
Sunday afternoon went better all around because the wind was stronger and we had learned a thing or two. Now slowly we are getting some time in flying with different children as the wind and schedule permits. Young Nahum has not been completely satisfied so he built his own diamond kite which is too small and too heavy to fly and has maybe 15 feet of yarn for kite string.
This inspired me to get busy with some sticks and make a better diamond kite. First try has been highly unsatisfactory. The sticks are sharp enough to harm someone and my sad little kite makes fast dives pretty randomly, not a good combination so I disconnected from the Stunt kite string and redid the stunt kite and have flown it a bit more with the young ones today.
The wind is about perfect right now so I am sure I am going to be hearing from Nahum soon about another chance to fly the kite.
Sometimes the village here feels like an oasis for convenience, comfort and protection, but this is Ethiopia and much of what I take forgranted at home is just not here. Longing for a chicken filet Sandwich and my YMCA Gym and pool.