BESIDE a wooden building raised on stilts located near the beach, a group of infants sat gathered in a circle. All had their heads bent, busily manipulating lengths of string. They were forming letters, numbers and pictures of things they liked. This was going on in the village of Beneraf one mid-July clear, bright morning, to the background of a persistent coastal breeze.

At first glance this activity appeared to be just some kind of children�