September in Ubud - The Writer and Reader Festival - Besides all the
big happenings with famous writers from all over the world, there is
a small Festival happening. The Kids Writer and Reader Festival, for
me almost as important as the big one. Who knows which famous writer
with be the phoenix writer of Ubud in a near future? I visited some
of the kids programs and had a great time. My features are on Kerry
Pendergast's workshop and Jin Pyn's "The Elephant and the Tree".
Kerry
Pendergast is already an oldie in the festival. As far as I remember
Kerry is running a workshop each year since the festival started. She
told me to come this year and I did. It was fun what she created with
the kids over a whole morning. Writing, painting and lots of creative
space for the kids. Kerry's workshop took place at the Pondok
Pekak, the Libery next to the football field and around 40 kids
age 4 - 8 years joint.
The
afternoon gig was performed by Jin Pyn from Singapore. Jin Pyn has created
a whole education fun pack for kids about elephants. It includes a book,
a video, stickers and a web site (www.elephantandtree.com).
The book was lovely and the kids really put all their attention to Jin
Pyn. The video was more than just fun - a "YOU-GOTTA-HAVE-TO-SEE-IT"!!!!
The good news - we working on a network for Jin Pyn's work and Bali for
Kids.com, so stay tuned for a fun experience!
For
us the day at the "Kids" Ubud Writer and Reader Festival was
fun. Only sad part: Too little kids came. The Pelangi School in Ubud put
down most of the
participants in both classes - no downtown kid, school or tourist kids
were seen at the workshops we attended. Sadly many local parents which
I asked told me that their kids had to go to school. I hope and wish that
more parents will understand for the next year that one day at the Festival
workshops is worth 10 days of missed school. It also shows that hardly
any parents here in Bali made the effort to take their kids for a day
and go to the workshops up in Ubud. After promoting the festival on Bali
for Kids.com for several months this is REALLY sad. We hope next year
more parents will take time and make the move for a day of fun in Ubud...
Hey, why not???
Thanks
for all who made the effort to join the workshops, to all who help setting
up some fun stuff for kids and we hope we see more of you next year....
The
2008 Ubud Writer and Reader Festival will take place in October and we
will soon update you with the dates.
Da
Da! From NI MERTI – Social Bug for the Bali for Kids Team
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