Our Stubborn Dad

1
Our Stubborn Dad

• Our
• Stubborn
• Dad
• by Simon Jenkins

2
Published by U.N.

• Our
• Stubborn
• Dad
• by Simon Jenkins
• Illustrated by Roza Djangaracheva
• Tolerance Education Series Editor Simon Jenkins
• This book has been approved for use in schools by
  the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of
  the Kyrgyz Republic
• Published by the
• UNITED NATIONS
• HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES
• in the Kyrgyz Republic
• 1997

3
Last Year

• Last year when Dad went to Bishkek to sell our
  harvest of watermelons he came home with presents
  for us. There was one beautiful box with English
  writing on it. He said it was special and that he
  would open it later. We couldn't see the sides of
  the box as it was in his bag. "Show us now! Dad!"
  we all pleaded. "Not now. I will show it to you
  later," Dad answered. "Just tell us what it is,"
  my brother replied. "Well it is something very
  interesting," Dad replied, "but you will know
  after dinner, okay?" "Okay!" we all sighed. and
  we started preparing the table.

4
Can we see what is in the box?

• I couldn't wait. As soon as the last grain of
  rice was in my mouth I said, "Can we see what is
  in the box now?" Dad answered quietly, "No!
  Patience is a great virtue." My two brothers and
  I sat and watched him as he slowly scraped his
  plate clean. We knew that Dad was teasing us, but
  we had to go along with the game. "I want to lie
  down for a while, I am so tired," said Dad. My
  little brother sang outs "But Dad, we are
  waiting!" Dad replied. "What for?" We all begged,
  "To see what is in the box!!! Please Dad!!
  Please!"

5
Dad Smiled

• Dad smiled and put his arms around us all and
  said, "If you can guess what is inside I will
  show you, and if not then I won't." I was the
  oldest so he asked me to guess first. "I think it
  is a new samovar from America!" I said. Dad
  laughed and then asked my brother. He answered,
  "I guess that it is a pair of roller skates!" Our
  last born brother then said, "I think it is a toy
  truck for me." My father replied, "Perhaps next
  time." He then said, "Nobody guessed correctly,
  but I am going to show you anyway!" Dad pulled
  the box slowly out of the bag. On the side of the
  box I could see a colourful picture of a tape
  recorder. I sang out and clapped my hands as I
  was so happy.

6
Tape

• Dad then opened the box and took out the shiny
  black tape He then put the batteries and a
  cassette tape in and pressed button. The music
  was so loud and clear. We danced around and sang
  with the music. Mum came in and sat next to Dad
  and laughed at us making tools of ourselves. We
  only had one tape so Dad kept turning it over and
  over until the batteries were flat

7
Batteries

• Dad kept the tape recorder on a high shelf above
  the plates. He told us that we were not to touch
  it. We had that tape recorder for about nine
  months when one day Dad took it down and pressed
  the play button. Nothing happened except for a
  whirring noise inside. Dad was very annoyed and
  complained, "Well, it's broken now. One of you
  has been fooling around and wrecked it." We all
  said, "No, we haven't touched it." I added
  "Perhaps it needs new batteries." Dad growled,
  "No ! I bought new batteries. The problem is
  little fingers !"

8
Fix it

• We remained silent. Dad had a screwdriver which
  he now used to take our precious tape recorder
  apart. Normally my brothers and I make ' great
  deal of noise, but we just sat quietly at the
  table and watched r All this time our father was
  mumbling about silly kids and how he would never
  buy us anything again. After about twenty minutes
  the table was covered with small shiny screws and
  we could see the inside of our tape recorder.

9
Broken

• Suddenly, Dad held up a black rubber belt and
  said,
• Look, this is what you have broken We looked at
  each other and said nothing. Dad shook his head
  slowly and then put the pieces back together and
  put the tape recorder on the shelf . He had left
  the broken rubber belt out and put it into an
  envelope beside the box. He turned to us and
  growled, "It's no good now!"

10
Crying

• My little brother began to cry, so we took him
  outside. The tape recorder stayed on the shelf
  for the next three months. Occasionally Dad would
  take it down and listen to the radio part which
  still worked. Sometimes he would press the play
  button just hoping that would work. Of course, d
  didn't and then he would remind us how he thought
  we were to blame for breaking it

11
At school

• After our Holidays our teacher asked if anybody
  could bring a tape recorder for our concert. I
  thought about ours sitting broken on the shelf.
• At school I sit next to my friend Alina who lives
  at the other end of our village. The people there
  speak a different language.

12
Two tapes

• After the teacher asked us for a tape recorder I
  told Alina about what happened to ours. She then
  told me that they has a similar thing happen in
  her family. Her father had bought a tape recorder
  about a year ago and one day it was left outside
  an it rained. After that it not work.

13
Idea

• Alina then said, "I have an idea. If they are the
  same then
• we might be able to take the rubber belt from our
  tape recorder and put it into yours. What do you
  think?" "Why not? Its a really great idea! !" I
  answered. We then planned how we would do it.
  After school,
• Alina asked her father if she could have the
  broken tape recorder. He agreed and the next day
  Alina brought it to school. We asked the teacher
  if we could stay inside after the lessons. She
  said it was okay as long as we were
• quiet. The teacher went out and then Alina took
  the tape recorder out of her bag and put it on
  our table.

14
Disappointed

• I looked at it and sighed, "Oh no! They are not
  the same!" "Are you sure?" Alina asked, obviously
  disappointed. "Yes! I'm sure! What we do?" I
  replied. Alina sat and stroked her hair with her
  hand and then she turned and said. "Okay, so it
  is different, but perhaps this has a similar
  rubber belt that we can use. What do you think?
  Show we take it apart anyway?"
• "Okay, let's do it," I answered smiling. For my
  part, I had taken the screwdriver and the
  envelope containing the broken rubber
• belt from home.

15
New rubber

• After taking out some screws, we removed the
  cover. We just stared for a minute at the inside
  of the tape recorder. I could see several rubber
  belts but none of them looked suitable. Suddenly,
  Alina cried out, "Look at that one under the
  others ! It looks as though it might be the
  same!" I unscrewed a few more parts until we
  could see it more clearly. Alina then carefully
  removed the belt and compared it to the broken
  rubber belt from my father's tape recorder. It
  was very similar. "I think this will be just
  right," I said, "but to be sure let's just check
  to see if there are any others that might tit."
  We looked, but we didn't find any so we
  reassembled the tape recorder. Alina put it back
  in her bag and I put the new rubber belt in my
  pocket. We then went outside and I ran back to my
  house.

16
That night

• That night before Dad came home, I took the tape
  recorder from t shelf. I took it apart and then
  put the rubber belt from Alina's fathers tape
  recorder into ours. After reassembling it, I put
  in a cassette and pressed the play button.
  Nothing happened! I realized I had forgotten to
  put the batteries back in. I tried again and the
  tape recorder sang! ! ! Suddenly, my mother came
  in and said, "What did you do?"
• "Mum, I have to tell you something." I replied.
  Then I explained what Alina and I had done. Mum,
  smiled and said, "Don't worry! it's okay. Dad
  will be so pleased that you managed to fix the
  tape recorder." I felt very relieved. The next
  day I took it to school in a plastic bag. The
  teacher, was very happy and that day we practised
  for the concert using the tape recorder.

17
Concert

• A few days later all the parents came to the
  concert. My Dad and Alina's Dad sat at opposite
  sides of the room. When our Dads saw the tape
  recorder playing they said nothing, but
  afterwards I heard Dad saying to a friend,
  "Whoever bought that tape recorder has wasted
  their money. I bought one and it only lasted a
  couple of months and then it broke!" Alina's Dad
  who was quite close, heard this and then said,
  "He's right you know, I bought one almost exactly
  the same. Mine got a bit wet and never worked
  again!" Just then our teacher stood up and
  thanked the parents for coming and for allowing
  their children to bring the tape recorder to
  school. Alina and I smiled.