Kite making is offered children of the North Hamilton area an opportunity to get away from the technology driven activities to a more vocational driven activity.
Young Men’s Social Club yesterday put on a fun Good Friday program that instructed young ones on the techniques of making traditional Bermuda kites in their Blue diamond lounge, led by Judy Virgil.
“We are keeping the tradition alive getting them to learn about focus, skill, attention and putting good quality into work, said Virgil. “What we want them to do is learn the skills of kite building, using tissue paper, applying glue, color coordination and then we’re going to do a three-step process, teaching them about the sticks to use, which types of nails, how to treat the sticks and the third part, from the entrepreneurial side of things, teach them how to earn cash off of these kites”.
In regard to enabling the children as entrepreneurs, the program is going to be having the children solicit businesses in order to have them place the kites as part of their stock for sale.
The program is based upon a theme of ‘learn to earn’, which was instigated by Virgil and Troy Lewis a member of the club’s executive and prime mover within the clubs senior and youth coaching and teaching programs.
Goodie bags, an Easter egg hunt, camaraderie and an all-around fun-filled time was said to have been had by those that attend this free event.
Master kite maker Eugene O’Connor and Duvon Powell was the chief instructor teaching youngsters the art of making kites. Powell started making kites as a young boy and continues with the craft decades later and is the part of a local kite club that fly kites all year round.
“I started making kites when I was 4 years old and I’ve been doing it for years,” said Powell. “Pretty much all my life and I had noticed that kite making had died down in our community and me, as a kite maker, I wanted to just make sure that it’s something that’s passed on to our younger generation, so that we don’t lose that tradition.
“Because it’s a Bermudian tradition and is one of the traditions that we can hold on to that’s uniquely Bermudian.
“A lot of islands make kites, but not kites like we do in Bermuda, with the way that they sound, the way that they look, it’s very unique to our Island.”
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