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Kites and Dreams Take Flight at Hardin Park as Malawian, Canadian Paragliders Visit Elementary School

HP kites class
Godfrey Masauli (at back in center) with Hardin Park fourth graders

Sept. 27, 2013. Godfrey Masauli is the first paraglider from the small African nation of Malawi. Last week he also became the first person from Malawi to teach kite-making in Watauga County.

Joined by Rich Campbell, director of outdoor programs at Appalachian State University, Masauli came to Hardin Park School to talk to fourth graders about kites and realizing your dreams.  Using old newspapers, sticks, tape, string, pieces of old plastic shopping bags (to make the tails), and directions from Masauli and Campbell, the students built their own kites in school and then flew their new creations on the playground. 

Godfrey Masauli helps Aidan Styron with his kite.
Godfrey Masauli helps Aidan Styron with his kite.

Masauli’s visit was arranged through the ASU Office of Arts and Cultural Programs and received rave reviews from students and teachers alike. “This is awesome!” exclaimed one excited boy.  “I wish we could do this all day.”  Corrie Freeman, a fourth grade teacher at Hardin Park, was equally enthused even if she didn’t ask her students to make a full day of it. 

“I love it when we have the opportunity to expose our students to different cultures and help them realize how we can all learn from each other,” said Freeman.  “The film Godfrey showed, the presentation he gave, and the activities we shared were wonderful ways to engage students and provided a very enriching experience for all of us.”  

Among the things that Freeman and her students learned is what a remarkable chain of events lead up to this “awesome” day at Hardin Park.

Masauli, who lives in a small village outside of Blantyre, Malawi, was introduced to paragliding by Canadian filmmaker and paraglider Benjamin Jordan.  Jordan was in Malawi teaching children how to make and fly kites when he met Masauli. The pair soon began to tour the country by bike, giving kite workshops at schools while Masauli trained with Jordan to become a paraglider along the way.  

Hazel Jorgensen shows the spirit of “ndizotheka” on the Hardin Park playground. Photo by Emily Rothrock
Hazel Jorgensen shows the spirit of “ndizotheka” on the Hardin Park playground.
Photo by Emily Rothrock

Masauli’s uncle was one of the first black men to fly airplanes in Malawi and Masauli had long dreamed of becoming a pilot.  When the uncle’s business collapsed in the wake of the country’s economic troubles in the nineties, the uncle was forced to give up flying and it looked as though Masauli would have to give up his dream to fly.  Masauli was working construction and selling charcoal on the side to make ends meet when he met Jordan.

After training with Jordan during their travels, Masauli realized his dream of flight by paragliding from the highest mountain in his country and Jordan had the makings of a documentary film The Boy Who Could Fly. That film is part of the Banff Mountain Film Festival and the Festival’s showing at ASU is what brought Masauli to Boone.  

Masauli’s new goal is to create a paragliding school in Malawi.  The “School of Dreams” will be a place where he hopes students will learn not only how to fly, but how to set goals, face up to challenges, and overcome fears that could hold them back.  What he most hopes they will learn is the message he shared at Hardin Park in Chichewa and English:  “Ndizotheka. (It is possible.) If you have a dream, hold it in your heart.  You can achieve it.”