The Idea
This week we were assigned the task to create a piece of text that explored a specific theme of writing (love letter, children’s story, instruction manual ect). This task couldn’t of come at a better time as my Grandma had recently returned from India where she had been helping the children’s charity, El Shaddai.
She returned with the most amazing stories about the experiences that she had had out there, she spoke about what the charity have put in place for the ‘street children’ of India and shared the most heart warming of stories – however not all of them were so positive of starts and it really struck me to hear about the conditions some of these children have been forced to endure. And although El Shaddai have been established for over 20 years now, they’re still finding it difficult to make first contact with families that are in need of help.
Of the back of this, I wanted this weeks written piece to be based on making first contact with one a ‘street child’, something that sounds like a whisper of hope that can lead them into taking their first steps into a better future.
Research
One of my favourite elements of the Indian culture are the colours. My Grandma brought me back a beautiful multi coloured scarf and I really liked playing around with potential colour combinations based from the photo’s she had taken whilst on her travels.
As for the text tone, as I wanted this to create some sort of magic back into the childs life, I thought I would use rhyme to keep it upbeat and easy to read. As the content was going to be reasonably heavy I thought this would be quite a complimentary contrast.
My first instincts were to possible pursue the idea of Dr.Seuss mixed with Sam Winston as both of these have a real element of play within their designs and/or text tone. I especially like how Sam used the text to literally move the story along and create new, exciting scenes within his collaboration book, ‘A Child of Books‘.
During her TED Talk, Linda Sue Park spoke about how empathy has a direct link to engagement and how she’s found this link to be an excellent tool to teach kids valuable life lessons and perspectives from such a young age. Children read stories and have put into practices the actual responses the main character has to the challenges faced within the stories. For example, her book ‘A Long Walk to Water’ motivated large groups of children to come together to create a charity aid to raise money for those in need of clean water.
They took the books main character, Sudaan’s, hope & perseverance into the real world and used it to make a change for good. How fantastic is that.
Based on this theory, I wanted to make sure that my text doesn’t get too lost in the fantasy world and that it did in fact manage to bring in a sense of reality to be able to allow the reader to engage and empathise with the story of the children of India.
Process
As I was writing in the style of a childs poem this week, I wanted to keep my deliverance light-hearted and playful to continue this theme further.
As my poem focuses on engaging with the street children of India, I wanted to use something that would be universally recognised as well as affordable/accessible. I saw origami a perfect fit for this as provides a way to generate something beautiful and engaging from just a single piece of scrap paper. Although origami can take many forms, I feel like the best way to communicate with my targeted audience would be through a paper aeroplane as I feel this is the most recognisable origami that has a direct link to school and child like memories. Not only does the paper aeroplane work as a nod towards the services the charity within my poem focuses on, but it also opens up a method of delivery.
The poem is written as if it’s a gentle nudge or a whisper in the childs ear, urging them to go find this magical place that will better their lives. So what better way to deliver this message than having a paper aeroplane land in front of them? It would continue the hopeful mystery of the poem, and intrigue the child to read on and discover.
I started by created a paper aeroplane to discover where a poem could lay within. At one point I did consider having the aeroplane have many secret compartments that would conceal the poem, however I think this would over complicate the simplicity of the message. Instead, I unfolded the origami and decided I would use this as the base.
However I still wanted part of the poem to still be visible whilst the plane was still constructed, to intrigue the reader to open it up. For this reason, within my first draft I made sure to move the first line of the poem to the wing area.
Although I liked the primary idea of this concept, there was far too much text on one piece of paper and I found the layout to be far too formal.
So instead, I went back and re-arranged the text to fit into the creases formed during the creation of the aeroplane. The lines of text created during this process defiantly gave me the Sam Winston vibes I was previously aiming for. And although this would mean the poem had to be spread across multiple aeroplanes, I quite liked this new deliverance could provide a way to bring more of a game like element into the poem. Collect them all? Follow the aeroplanes? It brought tons more child like play into the project.
Bright Eyes
Text Only – Bright Eyes
I see you bright eyes
Pleading each one that passes you by
Using that hopeful smile as a wearing disguise
Tell me, where do you go at the fall of night?
No shoes to shield your soles, no energy to hide
Do you feel safe, so plain in sight?
Why must you give up your daily rewards
Passing them straight into the hands that drink
Whilst you continue to sleep on damp cardboards?
I admire your courage as you keep your eyes dry
Watching over your siblings and mother alike
When there are far too many reasons to cry
What if I told you there’s a place you could go,
Where your body, your mind, your dreams
Your childhood fantasies would glow?
Within the school, you could learn all of the secrets
To discover an entire world of potential and play
And rise above your current state of continuing bleakness
A place where if you wished to dance, you danced
Allowing your body’s rhythm to take the lead
Watch as every move you make becomes enhanced
You could open your mouth wide and sing out loud
Express yourself through your own words or sounds
Letting your soul feel as free as a drifting cloud
There would always be fresh food to for you to swallow
The most colourful of fruits and the fluffiest of rice
Leaving you without worry on how you’ll fill tomorrow
There’s an open tap of water to quench your thirst
Cold milk and freshly squeezed fruit juice too
What’s there is yours, you can drink until you burst!
You’ll have the chance to create lifelong friends
They’ll be there to share your stories, create new ones too
To play games like hide-and-seek and make pretends
Each day you can create brand new adventures
Filled with the highest castles and the tallest trees
Who knows where you’ll go on your next ventures?
No more will you be shunned for having dirt across your skin
Or be forced to take rest within unfamiliar surroundings
As there will be hot showers in the home, you’ll live within
You could step out of the harsh rags you’ve worn for so long
And step into fresh cloth that will protect and warm your body
Choose any colour you like, with you is where they now belong
I promise, these words are not told to tease
This place is real, you’ll be welcomed, it’s not far
Follow me bright eyes, get up off your knees
We’ll walk together, I’ll take you there and you’ll see
Gather your brothers and your sisters
Let’s go get your childhood back, shall we?
Sian Laüra 