Who Doesn’t Love Tic Tac Toe?

I really think that humans are wired with a special tic tac toe gene. I have never met a child who doesn’t absolutely love this game. I taught it to some street children in Eritrea several years ago and today, while we were all waiting for the opening of a community center in a Burmese camp, I taught some of the children to play. Almost immediately I was mobbed by kids. It was so fun to watch their little eyes light up when they figured out how to block and win. Some caught on faster than others but as soon as I demonstrated in the sand several groups formed to practice by themselves. I also taught the hand slapping game (where you hold your hands over your opponents and try to pull away before they slap the top of your hands.) This was extremely popular, although slightly painful.

So today was our first experience out in the community. It was a last minute invitation to attend the opening of “library/community center” sponsored by a partner NGO in a Burmese migrant camp. The plantation owner gave the day off, people came from everywhere, and the kids who attend the learning center in the camp showed off their games to us. Ah, it was such a typical work day in a developing country. I feel like I’ve had so many of these days over the course of travel for different jobs. You drive an hour and a half (through lush scenery) and arrive on time to an event you’ve been invited to the night before. You are the earliest group. Sit, sit, it gets hotter and hotter, wait, wait. No one really knows what to do with your group but you are given strange drinks (today the drink was bright green with floaty seed things.) Talk amongst ourselves, wonder how long we should stay, play with kids. In this situation we watched as monks arrived and performed a ceremony with the community (we were cordially invited to keep our distance since this was for men only.) A few hours went by and we practiced our Burmese, tried to keep cool, and continued to wait. Finally we were invited to eat lunch and then we got back in the car. It was great. Problem for me is that it lulls me into a very sleepy post-lunch nap state of mind.

There was only one problem today. I got to see my team in action following the child protection training I gave them. Thought it was pretty clear that we would ask before holding/touching children, we would ask before taking pictures, we would avoid any touching that could be misconstrued as sexual, and on and on. Right. Well today my female Burmese liaison actually walked over to a little girl and took, without asking, the baby sister from her arms. She then proceeded to walk past me while rubbing her bare little bottom and kissing all over here-until she had lipstick marked cheeks! Then sat down with her and gave her sips of this green sugary drink until the baby spit up and finally was about to take a photo of her until I reminded her that she needed to ask before taking out the camera. Ugh. It was a bit discouraging. However, I try to remind myself that this woman is Burmese, we were in a Burmese community, she must be culturally aware. I am not quite sure what to think/do. Maybe she thought the rules only applied to older children? Hm. Any suggestions from you child protection folks out there?

That is all for today. Still haven’t decided on a place to live! Still feeding puppies and trying hard not to tuck one in my bag and keep it. Still hot but not jetlagged at least. Am definitely planning to hit the beach this weekend!

Love from Bang Niang.