Squeek, squeeeekkk. The sound of latex rubbing against latex is a bit like nails on the chalkboard. Yet I could hardly avoid the sound as I demonstrated the making of the one and only balloon animal I learned to make from a YouTube video. The Hassett family left behind a few balloons for making animals and I knew the children in Bugembe would love the silly toy. I decided to practice with Robert’s children, Stephen and Mary. They hardly needed any teaching as they quickly twisted the balloon parts into place. They were squeaky too. In the end I tied a knot for Mary and managed to help her make this giraffe-dog. Okay, we didn’t blow the balloon quite enough for a giraffe so the compromise was a shorter neck and body…thus the giraffe-dog. The children said that tomorrow they want to make a monkey and an elephant. Um…I’d better get busy.
We decided we were ready to gift the children of Bugembe with our works of art…right up until they crowded us so much that we couldn’t even work. Dozens, though, came away with some kind of animal that had ears and four legs…usually a long neck too. It was fun while it lasted but we were about to be trampled so we ran for our lives as the children trailed behind us.
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| Stephen shows off his first work of art. |
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| Mary needed a bit of help but quickly got the hang of balloon art. |
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| You can barely see Stephen in the way back with the red shirt.
Mary is entirely burried. Poor girl.
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| Because the mob was too much, Stephen and Mary stockpiled the balloons and then planned to give them away later. |