Early July Blog update

Another kid with another story
Okay this is a long complex story. Basically a kid turns up who's claimed to have been beaten at home in kakamega and came to kisumu to find he aunt but she has gone. Now usually if a dirty kid, badly spoken holding a bottle of glue says something like this you just kind of usher him away, maybe give him some bread and milk. But this kid was different, clean well spoken etc.
But one of the e-merge volunteers Kevin decided to follow up on this boy as he seemed so genuine and bright. Anyway so we are in the middle or sorting this boy out, his story was genuine his family have been contacted as have the children's office. Things are moving well, its difficult to know what decisions to make but I really think if Kevin didn’t step in this 13 year old boy would end up as another street boy sniffing glue. Hes soooo smart and really needs motivation and stimulation. This is just one of those kinds of cases that pop up from time to time. I think its important not to close yourself off to them, as some, like this one are genuine cases and not just a kid trying to get money.

Getting to know the real Kisumu

Walking at night
Walking at night strictly speaking isnt the best Idea, but when there is a group of us and we all have our hoods up we tend to scare other people rather than vice versa. The other day we made this one guy quite nervous.
In london my pockets are stuffed with phone, wallet keys, ipod and chewing gum. Here I take a bit of cash in pocket, leave my phone at the house and I now clip a flick knife to the back of my jeans. It really is a different world.

The Police
Okay so I have had to be dealing with police in the last couple of weeks, a lot. I really think that the criminals here aren't as bad as the slimy fat corrupt police here.
The first way that the police affected me was when they came to the blue cross youth centre in Nyalenda. They said they were looking for arms, now there is no reason on earth that there should be any here. The idea is that the centre is a positive and safe place for young people, trying to improve the image of young people in the area. And here comes the police searching it just because it is filled with young people. Okay so they have to search it, but when they did they turned the place upside down. Guns pointing everywhere, plain clothed "police" standing on furniture, throwing books around the room. But the thing that really pissed me off. Is they stole money out of the cash desk in the youth centre shop and from Mikes room where he was keeping some of the money they had made untill the bank account was ready. The guys had worked there arse off to make that money, okay it was only a couple of thousand shillings but when your making a couple of shillings profit on each soda you sell that’s a lot of work. Infact some of that money was a business loan that I had put the money up for and it’s the fucking police that took it. What corruption. I was all ready to go above these policeman's heads and take it to the top. I've made friends with people that have friends in high up places. But unfortunately the below story happened. Meaning I had to give in to corruption on both sides and could not have any justice.
I can't really go into details of what happened, this is someone's life and not my place to blast it over the internet. But basically a 17 year old kid ended up in prison when he shouldn’t have been, he happened to be living with someone who was caught up in crime. So I spent many a day at the police station (a horrible place) trying to get things sorted. Eventually the guy did get let out. How and why is another story.
But the thing that really got me was how horrible (that the polite version) some of these high up policeman are. One evening I found myself waiting in the police station after the guy should have been let out, he hadn't. Eventually the high up police guy (wont say who) turned up to his office, then about 30 of these policeman marched in with their guns. He shouts to bring in the Mzungu. So I walk into a room surrounded by guns, policemen in uniforms and this big fat guy sitting in his chair who glares at me. He made it his mission to make himself look as big as possible in front of his chronies. He shouted at me, told me I should of come here and all sorts of crap. Trying to intimidate me and embarace me. This pissed me off so much, who the fuck was he to talk to me like that. I was so angry you cant imagine. It was dark and quite late by this point. Walking down the road in the dark from the police station I thought maybe I should call a tuk tuk (auto rickshaw home) to be safe. "Nah fuck it, im so pissed off right now if anyone starts anything with me I'll batter them."
Okay so looking back that was pretty stupid but was blind with anger. When I got home it took a good couple of Tusker Malts to calm me down.

Around Town
Its pretty cool now that I know so many people that where ever I go I'm stopping to chat to people. It’s the same as being in north finchley!! Which is ace, really makes kisumu feel like home from home having so many mates here.

10th July

The Aprentice UK
"The music - Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights, from 'Romeo and Juliet' - starts to swell. The portentous voice-over chimes in: 'Sixteen people have come to London in search of a job.' Various business-suited figures, their features arranged into vaguely mettlesome expressions, are seen gliding up and down shiny escalators and striding purposefully across bridges, pulling modish wheelie-bags." (Stuart Husband)

Okay so that’s the Aprentice UK, this is the apprentice Kisumu:
"The hustle and bustle of boda bicycles, little shops and people buzzing around here and there provide the background to Nyalenda, Kisumu. No voice over this time but Mike and Steve can be seen in smart trousers and shirts, standing out against the dirt roads and rusty tin shacks that are the targeted market in Nyalenda. Alex stands between them in paint splattered smart clothes sweating in the mid day heat. They can all be seen walking purposefully from shop to shop doing there best to make a sale" (Alex Ingram)

So team blue-crosses tasks in this weeks episode of the apprentice kisumu is to sell eggs to local businesses, hotels and individuals so that they can sustain the youth centre. Team leader is Mike and Enok is in charge of logistics and storage, Steve is communication and marketing manager and Alex is Sir Alan…or more like Margaret

The team went into every shop, restaurant and kiosk on the Nyalenda ring road and even ventured into mega city to speak to expensive restaurant owners there. They left leaflets with everyone they spoke to and even managed to have one order right then and there. There pitches got stronger to the procurements manager at each business. Next week they will venture further into town. Then they will have to go the boardroom where Sir Alex will fire one of them….(okay not that last part)

Coffee in Nairobi

Nairobi 14th June

After 6 hours on the coach, the bus arrived into Nairobi City centre. I felt like a kid from the country going to the city for the very first time. Kisumu and other more rural areas are my view of Kenya, so to see roads with tarmac, paved pavements, lines, traffic lights, buildings with big glass windows that stretch up high, traffic jams, business people, Mercedes and new landrovers driving up and down the streets was a huge shock. For that day I was in complete culture shock! A dinner at a cheap thai restaurant was a great Idea and was the perfect way to end a pretty tiring day of travelling. That night sleep was the worst for a long time, worse than the huts in Gokarna India! The mosquitoes buzzed around my head all night making me sooooooo stressed out plus the fact that when I woke up I had about 60 bites from bed bugs.
Monday morning consisted of having a mooch around Nai and grabbing some awesome coffee from Javahouse (not the best coffee, the best is to come). After that we had a great meeting with the interim board of governors for the school I am trying to register. So to be sitting on the board is pretty cool lol.
Basics of the meeting:
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Current Situation:
The two classrooms and offices are painted, finished and looking fantastic. They are great sized rooms and each have many windows allowing the classroom to be nice and bright. (I have attached some photos, there are more to come!) Furniture has been designed and a quote been put together. It was pointed out that an extra piece of wood should be added to the front of the design of the tables to provide some privacy, this shall be added to our quotes soon. Good sturdy chairs and a locker for every student are also a part of the basic furniture that is the initial stage of equipping the classroom. I will forward the list of the books that have been chosen as the best for each course, if Veronica or Benta have a differing opinion on any publishers for a subject please let me know. All of these things are ready to go and simply waiting for funding. E-merge has some specific donors for this project that are helping to fund, I am also in discussion with my own private donors, but cannot make any promises as yet.
Through UGEF some resources will be donated, which will be an excellent tool for the resource centre and to the educational experience of its future students. Also Beatrice mentioned donating some books to the school which shall be an exciting supplement to curriculum education and hopefully stimulate self motivated reading learning.

The plan:
To have the classrooms opened as a resource centre for any form 1 students in the area to come for help, read books or just have a quiet space for learning, reading or constructive activity. This could be run by volunteer students from Nairobi University, possibly with a permanent member of community or staff member to oversee and provide some consistency.

What needs to be done:
The school needs to run for one year with a minimum of 1 teacher and 10 students. Teachers will need to be appointed and finance found for this initial year before it is registered and taken on by the Government. We discussed the positive effect of having volunteers coming to help at the school, but also concluded that permanent teachers would be necessary. This will be the responsibility of interim BOG to interview, appoint and find funding.
The usual student application process shall need to take place which should include some promoting of awareness about the school in the surrounding area. We had discussed having half the class as students that had not had the same educational opportunities or were in other way disadvantaged and the other half to consist of students coming up through Lifunga primary and other surrounding schools. A definition of the two types student will need to be made and a way of selecting students that apply should be completed, presumably through the standard way. (which perhaps Benta or Veronica could explain about to myself and the BOG).
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It really couldn’t have gone any better, a really great dynamic bunch of people from different areas, plus the meeting wasn't too formal at all! that night Ty, Kevin and myself went to Habesha (a really cool Ethiopian restaurant). Now it wasn’t the food that made the meal however the giant platter of meat stews, curries and veg which you eat with your hands and dosa type bread was pretty cool! It was the coffee at the end that stole the show. They bring tiny little cups with the Jah lion from rastafari culture, special incense that burns on coals, a ancient looking tea pot made of a very dark ceramic and sitting inside that is the darkest, strongest kind of aromatic, bitter and deep tasting coffee you will ever taste. This was the best coffee I have ever had, and I've had some pretty good coffees.
After our meal and good few cups of Ethiopian rocket fuel, Kevin took us for a night time tour of Nairobi. "Never walk in Nairobi at night!!" most people say…. Well like any place it had its dodgy areas but felt pretty safe in the hands of Kevin. Walking around the city was great, especially being given a tour by someone who has lived there their whole lives. Friggin awsome!
The next day consisted of more wondering around the big city, at about lunch time we decided it was about time to have another cup of the worlds best coffee. We sat in the restaurant for a good 3 hours (maybe more) chatting to the manager, eventually I ended up buying one of the pots. I was adamant to get a used one so it would be seasoned and have a great taste already.
That evening I got to go to Carnivore, which is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Unfortunately a lot of the game meat the restaurant used to serve has been banned. I was really looking forward to eating zebra and Gazel (my theory is if its good enough for a lion, its good enough for me). This aside it was a great meal. You sit at your table with a fecking hot plate while people walk past with big swards with half an animal carcass on it. They cut some off on to your plate and the next waiter comes. I ate chicken, turkey, spare ribs, pork, beef, lamb, alligator (or crocodile?) , ostrich and pretty much every other animal you can eat. I think Elliott would have loved it, infarct he may have to come to Kenya just for that restaurant one day lol!
A last night in the bed bug ridden bed at the KYMCA wasn’t too bad, we left early and got a matatoo (pimped out school bus) back to kisumu. A great few days

12 June 2009 This is Africa

T.I.A.
As I write this thunder is booming making the ground shake, wind is blowing leaves and dust around and lightening flashes illuminating the compound and sky. Something strange has happened, which someone may be able to explain to me but everything seems to be yellow, the light right now is an orangey yellow… not like sunset orangy yellow….like I don’t know really… like AFRICA orangey yellow! Something you cant explain and something no picture could show
I feel so alive, its been a month and I finally feel like I'm in Africa. I had an amazing rehearsal today with the drama group. As usual lots of people turned up hours late or not at all and after a short rehearsal of the scene we have been working on we sang songs, danced and shared stories. In a way I feel you couldn’t do back home. It was stripped back of any embracement or fear of standing in front of people. Group members completely committed themselves to their stories and characters and put themselves out there! One member spoke of a story involving the struggle a mother had bringing up her children and everything she had to do and what a miracle it was she carried on, another told a funny story that had a running joke a bout how things in two were good or bad and how each thing had two options good or bad. I shared a mix of a personal story and the story of rhinoceros by Eugiene Ionesco but instead of using rhino I used squares and circles.
After this amazing afternoon playing, singing and sharing I jumped on my bike to cycle up through nyalenda and home. (have I mentioned I now have a bycicle, it has no breaks and the gears don’t work but I love it) As soon as the sun begins to set the atmosphere of this neighbourhood/slumb area completely changes, I just cant describe.
After cycling over the mud and rubbish and stagnant water that lines the road (if you can call it that) that leads through the houses and huts, I got to the main road. The wind all this time had been blowing, thunder rattling the ground and when I got to the main road that runs next to the sports ground dust was flying in the air. Orange dust like I've never seen…. Its felt like…you know that Michael Jackosn video for earth song where the world is ending and dust is flying and he is holding on to trees to stop himself from being swept into the abyss…well it looked just like that. Complete sensory overload, every sense was taking in. Even though I was completely exhausted I just cycled and cycled. Alive with this feeling of being in a complete different world. Now, for the first time I think the phrase:
THIS IS AFRICA
Can be used. I can try and explain what my senses felt and took in, but what I cant do is explain the atmosphere or just feeling of life that I took in just a moment ago.
As I've been writing this the orangeness has faded to blackness as the sun has rapidly set, the rain beats down hard and lightning like you have never seen in the UK lights up the sky… Mosquitos have started eating me so I better move inside….
…. I know this sounds all deep and smushy, but I don’t get to be like that often so I'm going to relish the opportunity and hey if I don’t write it down I cant look back and laugh...

10th June Need to catch up

[photo to be added here]

Need to catch up, left tonnes of stuff out...
Okay so I haven't been blogging to much so I will fill you in on what's happening.

Workshops have been going really well and we are preparing for this saturdays which will be on math for early childhood development.

In the youth centre in Nyalenda we have started selling sodas and popcorn and I'm planning to work a little on sales technique and spreading the word that the centre is a place to come for drinks and chillout space for young people.

I had a nice time at the Nakuru national park on the weekend although it was a very expensive day! I must say though it was not seeing the animals that I enjoyed most it was the views from the top of hills and cliffs down onto the grasslands and the lake. I saw buffalo and millions (literally) of flamingos, there was so many making noise that the ground shook, I also saw giraffes, rhinos, wart hogs millions of monkeys and baboons (one of which i got in a fight with) and a load of other animals...it was nice but a bit too touristy. Although I thought we did it in a much more kenyan way as we drove through the safari in an old toyota corrola instead of a 4x4 with an open top and silly safari hats.

I've been spending lots of time doing business type things here which is great, the farm project (which is its own company rather than a part of the NGO) is loosing money so I'm doing my best to try and help turn it round. Its pretty cool, I feel like one of the dragons from dragons den trying to turn a failing business into a profitable one. In a few weeks I will be moving to the farm for some time so I can understand every inch of the process from planting seeds, shovelling shit and selling veg at the market. More recently Nick, the farm manager, has got an order for 500 tree saplings from one of the Kenyans banks so we are working towards getting that done which will hopefully bring a hansom profit. I promised to take him out for Chicken, Oogali and sukumawiki if he manages to pull it off. Also due to a lack of chicken feed in the area I had the idea to start transporting it in from where it is more available and charging a good price for it. Nicks done a good job of selling it and I think we have a big order for 20 sacks which would be awesome.

Drama as usual has huge ups and huge downs. Today I finally gave in and snapped a little at the director. I probably was completely enforcing western convention of theatre and drama practice but I don’t care. The director always shows people "how it should be done" which is sooo bad as the actor just copies the director the next time rather than the director explaining what he wants so the actor can make his own decisions and be true to his character. Okay I am not saying I want the actors to all be pretentiously be asking "But director, what's my motivation in the scene" BUT I think that the actors should not be impersonating the director especially as his physicality, proxemics and vocal qualities are the same in most scenes or scenarios.

I'm looking forward to the weekend, possibly going to Nairobi on Sunday to sort out some stuff for registering the school. Also I shall be going to volunteer in an orphanage near Homa bay which will be a nice change for 5 days or so.

Theatre fun

26 May 2009
What a day, what a day, what a day. I had so much fun today, just such an excellent time.
I spent the day working with the blue cross centre in Nyalenda.
After jumping on the back of a motor bike into Nyalenda I arrived to the centre and had a bit of a chat with James. The other volunteers and myself discussed the various areas that the project would cover, discussed some of the aims and objectives and brainstormed the wide range of themes that the young people saw as issue and challenges to other young people from this same neighbourhood. We are avoiding the use of the word slum and using neighbourhood instead. It was really interesting to hear the opinions of the others and I enjoyed asking questions trying make some more discussion. I explained the ideas behind forum theatre and how it worked. James helped to clarity and gave a bit more background to it all. After a good couple hours of work planning and discussing we broke to have some sodas and just chat about various issues. It was great to have a bit of a debate. James was great at asking the right questions to trigger discussion about topics such as abortion, drug abuse, marriage, circumcision, etc.

(some brainstorming on forum theatre and issues affecting Nyalenda district)
After some more planning and brainstorming I went with two of the volunteers to buy some of the things that the centre had put on their "wish list". Thanks to a donation by mum we bought 10 chairs for the centre which as well as being used generally in the building, the main use will be for group counselling. At first counselling is one on one and then it moves on to group counselling where people can support each other and share experiences.

(chairs donated by mum for group & 1on1 counselling)
Also using money donated, we purchased a pot and lid, sugar, salt, oil, bags and corn for popping as the first step in making the centre sustainable, through its use of revenue generating activity. Some money has been put aside already to buy sweets and a fridge has been purchased to hold sodas, they are just waiting on electricity to be connected. This is very expensive and something I am looking into helping the centre with using the money donated but I want to ensure some aspects of sustainability etc. It will be a big chunk from the donations so I want to think about it and check all the info out first.
In the late afternoon we met up again to start some practical drama activities and discussion. James lead us in some stretches matched with a call and response chant which I think used a langauge from Zambia. This really helped to break the Ice, but some members still seemed a little reserved. I then introduced a drama a warm up game which eventually developed into the main improvisation and forum theatre "model" for this session. For explanation of this drama activity I will use the format below, I came up with it when documenting rehearsals at DLD.
Freeze improv game
Explanation of themes:
The idea of this activity is to break the ice and have people acting and interacting with each other. It was used help to introduce the ideas behind forum theatre and get people in the improvisation frame of mind. A big range of themes were covered as the activity was not content specific.
Rules:
Spect-actors are to stand in a circle. Two actors start to improvise in the middle of the circle. When one of the spect-actors around the edge wishes they can shout freeze. The pair in the middle freeze in their exact positions. The Spectactor can then tap one of the pair in the middle and take their place, changing completely the action and theme of the improvisation.
Direction:
Was as above
Results and De-brief:
A big range of scenes were thought up and it was great to see everyone involved and working together (after convincing some members). A lot of humour came from the change of one scene to the next.

After playing this game for some time we began to use the theme of drug addiction and construct a "model" scene that we could change the variables of, as used in forum theatre. (a brief explanation of forum theatre) After some time James (who was helping to lead/direct left) the outside are where we were rehearsing. (he is very good at facilitating in the background and letting the young people take control) This allowed me to be the facilitator or "Joker" in the words of Augustus Boal, the inventor of forum theatre, which I really enjoyed. We played and re-played scenes, changing variables, characters, situations and characteristics. The phrase "Play to perfection" was really in the back of my mind during this session. I loved asking leading questions, opposing others opinions and changing elements of the scene to spark discussion on the theme of drug addiction and also on the forms of theatre we are planning to use.

To be acting, directing, facilitating, learning and discussing ideas with people of a similar age was so enjoyable. It felt so good to be doing some drama in a structured way, I don’t think I can put across in words just what a fantastic day it was. I'm so excited to carry on with the project and see how it develops. We are going to have another session tomorrow and I will try and take some more detailed notes for myself. Cant wait….

25 May: Green Tea and mosquitos

Avenue Of Roz

First stop this morning was to Migosi school which I haven't been back to since my first trip here. It was great to see Roz's trees so big (AKA the Avenue of ROZ) plus the water harvesting system still up and looking in good condition, however now there is big Unicef water tanks that hold much more. There are two new classrooms, one of which was a government funded building and the other from Barclays Bank UK. The head there is a real go getter and applied to the Bank, I think he just has a lot of balls and is very motivated. You can tell this by looking at his school, the beautifully planed gardens and trees as well as a highly motivated staff team. They are the second biggest school in Kenya with over 1500 pupils and have a huge number of class rooms. E-merges presence can be seen in the form of painted class rooms and a huge line of trees as well as good toilets and some newly build urinals that we were looking at to see what we could plant around them to soak up the ammonia from the urine/sand pit that’s below it.
After that we went to the Bustani farm, while Tyler had a look round a took a peek at some of the plants to see how they were doing. It looked much or tidy and well maintained than when I was last there. It became apparent that they did not have enough feed to give to the chickens so we drove up to by feed, only to find that there is a big shortage so we could only by half a bag which last just 3 days. Both Marcel and the Lady there said the best thing to do would be to drive and pick some up from this place that is about 30KM from the farm. When I asked her how much it would be there she said probably about Ksh350 but where we are they charge about Ksh500. Suddenly my eyes rolled and you could see dollar signs. I asked Marcel if we could go to buy a whole truck load and take it to the farm, then let the boys sell it to make money enough to feed the chickens for a long time. Marcel and Tyler thought it was a great idea, I guess its one of those good example where my business sense can be worked into this kind of NGO work. I think Marcel and I are going to go and pick a load up in the truck later in the week.
Next on the monings list was St. Marks school, which is in Nyalenda one of the big slumb areas which faces many challenges for the youth growing up there. Having a strong school there is so important and the headmaster showed us almost a 10 point increase in exam results (which they have not reached in a decade) which he credits to the work E-merge has done to make the learning environment improved therefore increasing the moral and self esteem of both students and teachers. We looked at some of the holes in the asbestos roof which need fixing before we go on to work on a water harvesting system that will flush toilets and to divert water which is very important as the school floods so easily. (it is the school Peter and I pumped water out of for two hours last week).
The job of replacing all the asbestos roof for iron sheeting would be hugely expensive, but I came up with the idea that people in England could donate 8 - 10 pounds and personally buy one sheet of metal that could have their name written on it. With enough donations for one metal sheet we could re roof the whole of one class room block. Saving the kids from inhaling carcinogenic particles. Undisturbed asbestos is not the end of the world, but this stuff is crumbling a lot in places and I think really should be changed if possible. I'm going to suggest the Idea to a few people back home, but I cant really head up any fundraising or spreading of the Idea as I am all the way here. I hope someone will volunteer to take on the project as it could make such a difference to a school of almost 900 kids.
After an awesome lunch made by Roxi, Marcel and I went off to Kisumu boys school and the Ministry of education to ask about chair and table designs and also for a second opinion on text books. Both of these things are towards the Lefungu high school E-merge is starting. I'm finding sorting the tables, chairs and lockers difficult due to all the different necessary quotes and working out. Mostly because I spent so long on one design only to find out that we were to change it, this was at first Bart changing his mind but I also see now that a different approach would be much better but also more expensive. Its difficult working as the middle man, when doing Rendezvous stuff I know exactly what everything costs and how much we have in the bank to play with. Here with E-merge I need to keep costs down but really have no idea about there accounts and money distribution to projects.
Now I'm just chilling with a green tea typing this blog over a green tea while trying to right the mosquitos off. I went to the gym today which was weird as its such a luxury and western thing, but it felt good so I may be a bit spoilt and join for a month. I just find it hard spending £25 on a membership when I know that’s two and a half replacement roof sheets at the school.

Workshop number two...

Our second ECD workshop
By 6:40AM the truck was ready, all the materials loaded and four weary eyed mzungus (white people) stumbled their way into the truck. We were on our way to Disciples Of Mercy School where we were hosting the second of our Early Childhood Development (ECD) Workshops, this weeks theme was understanding the chid.
We had a hell of a lot of setting up to do as we had planned to make building blocks with the teachers. This involved 20 blocks, 4 different colour paints, turpentine, two types of brushes and rags to clean the brushes for 120 teachers. Not an easy task to setup for. Also, we wanted to be especially careful not to harm any of the furniture or the floor so we covered the hole room in newspaper and sheets the Marcel and I had bargained over the day before in the market.
Making this weeks learning material (the blocks) went really well in the end, despite not quite having enough material as we did not expect the turn out to be as good as it was. It’s a strange thing when you have to tell an adult to calm down and wait a moment for a brush or some paint to become available. I found it ironic that when I was handing out the paint brushes these adult teachers were grabbing them out of my hands like kids themselves, well more like animals actually. These are the people who should be teaching sharing and social skills to young children, funny eh!
Roxi gave a fantastic talk about the development of the brain and understanding the child ages 0 - 2. I really enjoyed standing at the back and watching her talk so passionately. She did such an amazing job. Watching her I felt really proud as I knew how much work she had put into what she was going to say. Looking round the room at attentive faces, 120 teachers that were volunteering their own time to help strengthen their skills, it really made me feel that the work we were doing was worth it.
I had prepared some notes on flipchart paper which I placed behind me, as well as some notes to help me to speak. I was careful not to write my whole part down as I didn’t want my eyes glued to the piece of paper. I had put mini activities I could do to break up the speaking in Bold. When it actually came to speaking I found that the notes were more of a hindrance than anything else. I didn’t get lost and have to pause but they just sort of slowed me down. Its amazing how quickly the time went and I managed to skip out most of the mini activities which is something I really wanted to do as I'm aware how boring being lectured at can be. I did stop and ask questions to the group quite often though. I really enjoyed talking to the large group of people. I know it was the drama student in me, but I enjoyed making sure I varied the tone and intonation and used strong body language. Its funny, I very took on the dynamic of Ralph from our countries good, a character I had played. I was being myself while I spoke, but felt that I kind of relaxed into that characters speech pattern and movement dynamic. After finishing I didn’t feel to great, realising that I had spoken for about 40 minutes and done exactly what I didn’t want to do, plain lecture. I felt confident that I spoke well and passionately. I was talking about the development of the child and understanding them from 2 to 6. All worries aside I seemed to get good feedback from the participants and was very surprised that Francisca the area officer for ECD wanted a copy of my notes. For me that was a real achievement, that the area officer wanted a copy of the notes that I had collated myself, my talk cant have been too bad then.
I'm definitely going to work on the content and way I present it more ready for the next workshop. Hopefully I can overcome some of the things I didn’t feel to great about above.
I ended with the talk with the quote "Play to Perfection" which I love, whether your talking about education through play with a kid, rehearsals in drama, or just in life as we never really stop playing. I stole this quote from Andrew Fielding my Drama teacher & Director at DLD and definitely think its wise words. So thanks Andrew (not that you'll be reading this) for that little quote, not just so I can steel it when talking to others but so I can keep it in the back of my head and when possible try and live by it.