Universality of Play

On today's visit to the High Line in New York, I saw children engaging in various forms of play. Even in one of the most densely populated cities in the entire world, these children had the need and desire to run around, laugh, and play games - so they went to the open space above the ground to do so.

Observing this made me think about how our environment has no effect on universal needs and desires, such as that of children to play. It does not matter if a child lacks space, money, or fancy toys. It doesn't matter if a child lacks physical abilities, has a non-traditional household, is a different race from your own, or anything else. All children in this world are human children and deserve an equal right to express themselves through play. Creativity has no bounds, as children play in diverse ways.

One child that we met in Zambia was particularly creative. He used whatever resources he could find to construct a functional, homemade kite. See him flying it:

As part of our cultural exchange, the 2011 Zambia group taught Kawama's children how to play a common American children's game: duck, duck, goose. Check out the second half of this video for footage of the play:

No matter how different the Zambian and American societies may be, we are tied together in many ways as humans of this same earth. The basic needs of humankind apply to all of us. One of these needs for children is play, as we observed while being in the village.

One of the largest gulfs to bridge in obtaining development aid is seeing "others" from developing countries as equal to Americans in terms of needs, feelings, and desires. My hope is that this footage of the universality of play will bring the other needs - such as housing, medical, and nutritional - a bit closer to home for you. Zambians and others from Periclean nations of focus are not faces in the global crowd; they have needs just like you and me, and it is in our best interest to acknowledge these needs and work to help them meet them.