Angolan Short Stories: The clap dance

The clap dance

They don't have dolls or sophisticated toys to play with, nor televisions to watch children's programs or movies. They have to invent simple games and play with what they have, and not even the desolate landscape that surrounds them prevents them from enjoying wonderful moments of fun and happiness. They sing a song their mothers and grandmothers taught them while they clap their hands and dance with graceful leaps into the air. They play and are happy as our grandmothers were when they were children and didn't have televisions or fancy toys either, in a melancholy journey into the past.