Sixteen years ago, Carlo Perez, then an 11-year-old boy, got hooked on kites. Today, he has turned his passion into a booming business. And while more and more kids are turning to computer games for amusement, Carlo remains devoted to his kites. The day he lets go of the string, he says, is the day he lets go of his dreams.

By Jeffrey B. Javier
davaotoday.com

Photos by Barry Ohaylan

DAVAO CITY � Carlito �Carlo� Perez kicks up some dust as he brushes past the children toward the center of the oval field of the Davao City National High School (DCNHS).

“It is good,” he remarks as he looks up at the clear, blue, afternoon sky and feels the strong summer breeze. It is the first time Carlo’s Kite, the kite shop Carlo owns on V. Mapa Street, to hold a seminar workshop on kite-making. He is afraid that it will end with dark clouds hanging over us, literally. The weather has not been good for the past days. Even if the weather forecasts promised sunny days, the climate here in Davao has been unpredictable.

As Carlo fixes the contraption he carries, the children gather around him with wide eyes and eager curiosity. The workshop participants are children of Baranggay 10-A, the barangay (village) in which the shop is located. They have been waiting for Carlo to build his great kite. As Carlo finishes assembling the kite, he points out its different parts: the skeleton made of carbon fiber plastic, the leaf or the body made of taffeta, and the nylon string that, as if telling the kids, lets you hold on to your dreams.

Carlo, 27, considers every kite he makes a dream.

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