More than 1,000 children from a total of 15 schools in Haría, San Bartolomé, Tías, Tinajo, Yaiza and Teguise, including La Graciosa, are participating in the second edition of the program for the dissemination of 'jolateros'. All students are in fifth and sixth grade of Primary Education. The program is developed by Lorenzo Lemaur, former PP councilor in Arrecife, thanks to the sponsorship of the Historical Heritage department of the Cabildo and Binter.
Lemaur explained that only the CEIP San Juan de Haría, César Manrique (Tahíche), Costa Teguise and El Quintero (San Bartolomé) have declined to participate in this program that aims to "maintain in the awareness and knowledge of the residents" in Lanzarote the activity of construction and navigation in these small boats built from a 200-liter drum.
For the construction of these 'jolateros' by schoolchildren, the drums are provided by the organization, thanks to the collaboration of Transportes Miguelón. The rest of the materials are obtained by the students with the collaboration of the respective municipalities.
This activity is one more of the eight tasks included in this informative program of a characteristic practice of Arrecife, which in the 60s also extended to other coastal towns of the island such as Playa Honda, La Tiñosa (Puerto del Carmen), Arrieta, Caleta de Famara and even La Graciosa. As reflected in the testimonies and documents contained in the informative video that is part of the didactic material, the unique practice of construction and navigation in 'jolateros' arose and developed in a reality of misery and subsistence in which the population of Lanzarote historically lived.
The reception of the children, as it happened last year 2013 in Arrecife, is being "very enthusiastic" and the involvement of the teachers of each of the centers is being "total", according to Lemaur, who stressed that, "unlike what happened last year in Arrecife", the collaboration of the municipalities of Haría, San Bartolomé, Teguise, Tías, Tinajo and Yaiza is also being "enthusiastic".
Sailing in tin boats
The program resumes next Friday, the 28th, at the Uga school. In this second stage, or session of the program, the children finish the construction of their 'jolatero', leaving only the painting pending, and then, from April 11, begin the third session in which they will move to a beach in the municipality to learn to navigate in these unique tin boats.
In the second session, in addition to finishing the construction of their 'jolateros', the students will present to their classmates and teachers the result of the six research tasks on historical context, emergence, history, peculiar characteristics of their navigation, current situation, as well as other popular games that their grandparents practiced in the mid-twentieth century. Likewise, the children will bring small cans of all kinds with which, in another specific workshop, they will build miniatures of 'jolateros'.
