Saturday 27 January 2007

Thanks...

Thanks so much for your comments, I get them safely, loud and clear. They make
me homesick but in a good way, cheers my friends. I'm so behind with news as the Internet
on camp is a nightmare. I spent two hours on a post a few days ago, five minutes each
line waiting for letters to appear, every error in typing a long
painful pause praying for the cursor to blink again. Then my time ran
out and it was lost to the ether. Bollocks. So, anyway as I was saying
so behind with myself. Hannah and Simon are long gone, their leaving
ceremony held by the school was touching and very African, that is;
formal, lots of speeches, prayers, gifts. it was wonderful. I cried
more than them. when asked if they should go back to England, the kidschorused loudly "NNOOOOOOOOOO!!!" - breaks your heart. They've been here for five months and really
been a part of the school proper, they were it's first volunteers. Me,
I'm just doing a quick hit and run in comparison.
I'm getting into a routine of sorts now, the games club is every day at 1pm, numbers range from
60+ to around a dozen. with the younger ones it can take a while to get
them into a circle even, but they'll get the hang of it. I've used some exercises
I brought over from other drama workshop leaders, (thanks all, the 'book of games' will be left for future volunteers) but even tho' I knew
everything had to be simple simple, I'm still surprised about how basic I
have to be with what i give them, a simple 'pass the clap' exercise has
turned into a major part of the warm up as they find playing a small
part to make a 'whole' work difficult - when they get it though, wow! we had two claps going yesterday, BIG celebrations! I find teaching them in mime is
best, I use a whistle instead of speech and they really tune into it, I
use hands gestures and a lot of physicality so they have to be
attentive and concentrated. Talking with a raised voice over them is pointless and tiring. Copying games and mirroring are also winners, particularly with the younger ones, the older ones like team games, so lost of trust building
stuff and group challenges. The Social Club is also in full swing. All
voting is done so the creative stuff can start. Took the boys to an
open space to learn drumming and Liberian Dance from a 'guy who knows a
guy' who, of course, i just met somewhere. really fabulous to see the boys
learning music, they learnt a song in the time it takes me to choose a
CD and put it on at home, they started to dance and began to drum rhythms, cute. Girl's turn on monday, hopefully. Yesterday I led a 'Leadership Workshop' - a request from Mr Ballah, it was the perfect way to demonstrate how the Friday afternoon 'Open Sessions' I'd devised can operate (open sessions are what it suggests, anyone can book one for a one off idea for a one off for further development eg a quiz, a debate, a football match any thing, for the whole school or specific kids). I made a clear plan for the Leadership workshop; as usual the kids were fab, but again although I asked for support from the teaching staff
only two appeared and only for part of the time; if I can't get proper
help for the Club from adults the chances of it continuing successfully
are slim, Mr Ballah is so supportive, but I'm just not sure what's going to happen when I go. Did some Forum Theatre with them, (stuff I've done in corporate training gigs) a
simple bullying scenario, at first they wanted to solve the problem by laying
a trap for the bully, hilarious, took some explaining that that
probably wasn't the most honest course. We brainstormed good
leadership, talked about fears and possible failures and what qualities
the good leaders we knew have - went well i think despite continual
disturbances around us. Every day I use skills that I've just picked up
along the way, my varied working life means i have a plethora of useless and useful skills and experiences, being a Jack of All Trades is perfect dynamic for working with refugees.

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