Greetings once again from The
Gambia!
Today we are going to show you
how to play a great game and learn a new skill all at the same
time!
We bet you can’t guess
what the game is!
Here I am filling buckets with
water ready for the game!
I wonder if you can guess where we
balance the bucket??
Today we are going to show you something
we in The Gambia
call bucket balance!
That’s right, on our heads! Did you
guess correctly?
Now I wonder if you can guess why people
in The Gambia and other African countries balance things on their
heads??
In a country like The Gambia
many people do not own cars so
most people have to walk carrying there belongings
with them
Because we walk so often we find it easier to carry things on the top of our
heads as it is far less tiring than carrying things with our arms!
We start carrying small items when we are
young, which helps us develop our balance so
we can carry heavier things as we grow
older
This bucket is full of water, if I tried to carry it with my arms it would feel
much heavier!
To help make sure things don’t fall when we balance them we use a cloth to help
grip the object to the top of our head!
Here I am with just a cloth on my head waiting for a bucket to balance on it
Most Africans have curly dry hair and
this helps us because it means the cloth sticks to our heads quite
well
Because most Europeans have flat shiny hair we think it might be harder for
them to balance things!
Here are some people carrying things on their
heads in every day life in The Gambia
Most people in The Gambia will carry
water from the well to their home each
day, this is how bucket balancing came about!
It’s not just water people carry mind!
Can you see what these ladies are
carrying?
That’s right food!We don’t have
plastic shopping bags in The Gambia!
Here are some women carrying there washing
home after leaving it in the sun to dry!
What do you think you would carry on
your head if you could?
Remember we have been balancing buckets for a long time so you might want to practise with an empty bucket, we don’t want you all
getting wet!!
We thought it would be a great experiment if you tried balancing
buckets on your head to see how you get on!
We love playing bucket balance races!
As you can see each person races against another person to see
who can get across the playground first!
Once you have practised balancing a bucket you may like to try racing
each other!
It’s great fun!
Obviously if you drop your bucket in the race you have to go back to
the start!
You can either race each other or race as a
relay team against another team!
We’d love to know how you got on!Maybe you could
write to us and tell us how you did!
We thought it would be great if you held a bucket balance race
at your school!