Seronga village boys



Some months ago I was in Seronga, a remote village in the Northern part of Botswana, during that time I was able to capture many snapshots of the rural life that many still enjoy. I say enjoy, because although such isolated living may be hard, collecting your water from the river, finding firewood to cook on etc, the life is a simple one. However many living in such environment, wish to live in the cities where they feel, life could be better. But I could not help noting that a number of the kids in this area seemed happier than the kids who have everything and live in the city.

I feel that many of the activities that modern youth partake in today, lack the fulfillment, and joy that the outdoors can bring. For example most of the kids in the cities have a TV, and hours are spent in front of it, in fact older children on average spend 5 hours a day in front of it, what a waste of a childhood! Not only does such a inactive lifestyle encourage health problems such as obesity and heart disease but it fails to optimize brain development. As kids we had TV for about a year when I was 12 years old and then we got rid of, which none of us regretted. I still believe the TV is one of the greatest time wasters.

That is why I loved working on this painting because it reminded me of my childhood, and what we spent our time doing. No we did not ride donkeys around, although my younger brother and I did try to persuade our dad to buy us one each, at that time you could buy one for P80.00 (about $10). However my Dad would not be persuaded, he would not see his sons riding around on donkeys, and so he promised that he would get us horses if he could find some at a reasonable price. Finally someone donated a horse , which my brother named Pepperoni due to his speckled white coat, and then my Dad bought a red horse with black points which I named Chilli. I called him Chilli because he had a hot temperament, which was very obvious during our early days of training where he seemed to find the greatest enjoyment bucking me off .I quickly learnt how to hang on especially after this one time where bucked me off and I found myself lying under a thorn bush cut and grazed while chewing on a mouthful of sand.

Anyway despite the learning curve we loved the horses, and eventually were so comfortable riding them ,that we even went out riding at night whenever there was a full moon.Which reminds me that I have to go riding again some time soon,we had so much fun.

Well after all this painting and sitting in front of this laptop I think I will go for a jog around the neighbor’s field.

PS .Please switch that TV off for a moment and go and dig in the garden, jump in the lake ,walk in the park, swim in the river, play something, or just ride a donkey!




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Comments

Estoy de acuerdo con tú comentario, sobre la tv y la vida en la ciudad. En mi infacia fui muy feliz viviendo en mi pueblo, rodeada de naturaleza.

El trabajo es buenísimo, los niños transmiten perfectamente esa felicidad de la que hablas, por cierto, el burro es un animal que me encanta.
Saludos Roger, que sigas disfrutando de esa vida.
Giancarlo said…
Bellissimo dipinto. Buona giornata...ciao
Anonymous said…
now i want to ride a donkey.>>>>
What a beautiful painting Roger. The boys look like they are having fun!
Linda said…
Roger, this is such a beautiful painting.
Celia Blanco said…
Beautiful work, love the delightful look on the boys face.
Jerry Stocks said…
So glad to hear from you and love the painting.
LesediK said…
This is beautiful :)

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