- Social Tree
Making use of metaphors, the team is able to explore issues freely. In the session, we represented Singapore with a tree, hence the name Social Tree. Each part of the tree represents different aspects of Singapore, and we have to explain the links between each part. For example, the roots of the tree represent the foundation of Singapore's society. And the trunk, which is the core of the tree, represent the people.
Some steps in conducting this session
- Introduce and explain the concept
- break into small group discussion and present their work
- compare the differences in their work and explore the reasons that led to the differences
This session is particularly useful in bringing out differences in people's thoughts and is a good start point to bring certain issues out, e.g. Car and Driver.
- Documenting Culture
How do we learn from foreign culture? The following are some exercises which we can use to get the team to explore a different culture.
- Taking photographs with a story behind. These photographs can be ones that best represent the members' view of Cambodia.
- Thick description: Using a paragraph to factually chronicle the locals' daily life/actions (without any personal comment). Then find out with possible questions, e.g. why do they act/behave in such a way.
- A day in the life of a counterpart. Follow a local on his daily tasks and document what he did.
- Draw a map of the locality.
- Photo essay. With a theme & objective.
- Cooking own food, buying from the local market.
These are all very good mini-exercises that can get the team involved in the daily life of the locals. Perhaps we can even consider documenting the working of our NGO, such as the agricultural school it runs. It will give others a clearer picture of what they do, and we can possibly work in this area too.
- "Make a Stand" game
This session forces participants to make a stand by asking them provocative questions. In the workshop, we watched a film in which a prostitute aspired to marry a rich person in order to climb up the rungs of society. We were asked whether the protagonist was "progressive". We then took a stand by standing on one of the three placards, "Yes", "No" and "Maybe".
Once again, this activity is good for exploring the differences in our thoughts. And it can be easily turned into a debate.
- Understanding Reciprocity (Role-playing)
I was appointed the role of facilitating the activity, with another NUS lady, Yingyi. I had fun doing the job! It was a very good practice for both of us. In this session, we were broken into 2 separate teams, one representing the YEP team while the other representing the local village head. In the scenario, the YEP team was only informed by the locals that they could not go ahead with their plans when they arrived at the project site. So we were to observe how both sides would react in this conflict.
Such Role playing scenarios help to bring out real issues faced by YEP teams on the ground. A discussion afterwards enables the participants to air their thoughts as well as to explore what are the possible actions they can take. This is good in mentally preparing the team for any contingencies.
