One and Done

How comes it feels like I just finished camp?

Oh wait.  I did.

Today completed week one of my extension with In Movement and I am in love, which I figured would happen based on my previous work with them. 

We have been running weeklong day camps for students who are in international school.  Unlike your traditional Ugandan school, which follows British model of three terms that eventually end in December, international schools follow the American school calendar so they are currently on summer break.

It has been quite the adjustment working with these students.

(Read more about my adjustments during my extension here: Slowly by Slowly.)

The kids have been fantastic… Actively participating, asking questions, and full of energy.

Which is exactly what I was confused about.

When I was elsewhere in Uganda and would work in the schools with children of this same ago I would have to beg for answers and participation, bribing with funky dance moves. 

It was like pulling teeth out of a child. 

Now I have to come up with ways to creatively keep this group of twelve kids together.

After talking with some of the other facilitators, I came to realize that this is another difference between life in a rural primary school with no walls and windows and life in an urban International school with teachers who incorporate creative thinking.

These day campers remind me of the children I worked with in Chico at The Boys and Girls Club.  They remind me of the kids that would attend our health outreach fairs during my internship and practical classes. 

They are eager and interested. 

Some of the students from the week were American while others were Ugandan.  Some came from Cameroon while another was born in South Africa.  A handful had one Ugandan parent and one Ugandan.

Maybe it was the merging of these different perspectives that allowed for their progressive frame of mind and thinking.

It was invigorating.

During the week I began to see some of the kids taking the initiative… Reinforcing the community agreements we came up with, teaching others the moves for the dance, sharing supplies, and providing examples from their stories so that the younger students had a model to work. 

I watched as a proud facilitator, seeing how our work trickled down and affected everyone in some way or another.

As the creative facilitation world puts it, our transformative moment was met!

Today they put on a showcase for their parents where they sang, danced, and shared their artwork and stories.  The smiles on all the faces served as a simple reminder that this work is meaningful, even to a 4-year-old who only wants to color throughout the day.