Intellectual Twister

In my last visit to Africa, I was working in Lesotho in a Dancing to Connect project with Battery Dance.  There were many logistical difficulties that left me exhausted, very blond (the Lesotho sun is no joke) and in pain from an eye infection.  There is one incident that I will never forget.  Perhaps it is my maternal time clock chiming the twelfth hour (I am still childless) or perhaps it is a reminder of the extreme beauty that innocent youth holds…particularly in Lesotho. 

I was working on the sound system for the performance when a little local boy about six years old came and sat down next to me.  I knew him from another day when we had an impromptu “dance off” gleefully exchanging moves against the backdrop of a dance workshop.  Although he spoke no English and I no Sotu, we communicated via dance…laughing at comic moves and daring each other to out-do a previous move.  Considering I am 37 and he is 6, it was a touching scene.  Anyhow, I found him again my companion as I was testing the speakers and amplifier.  When the music played at a louder volume, I felt this little hand grab my knee.  His eyes were as big as saucers and he put a hand over his chest and then put his hand on my chest.  It was his first experience with the vibrations of a very loud bass.  The incident almost brought me to tears.  I considered adopting him on the spot:-)