PACT Clubs

10/6/11

   Yesterday I attended the JSS PACT club meeting and brought up an idea that a couple of the students and I had talked about a couple of days ago to the whole group. The idea is for the students to make their own film to show at an assembly at the beginning of November for the whole school. They watched a STEPS film with teenagers talking about different issues that another PCV and I showed them a while ago and the really enjoyed it. A few of the students had brought up the idea of acting out skits and video taping it and showing that to the school. When we brought up this idea to the rest of the PACT students yesterday they were all for it. I broke them up into three groups: Acting, Singing, and Topics. They could choose which group they wanted to be in. Then I asked them to work in their groups to come up with skits to act out, songs and/or dances that relate to the issues that the PACT club learns about and teaches their peers about, and topics to discuss in the discussion portions of the film they are making. They were so enthusiastic and mature about coming up with ideas and are already putting a lot of thought into this project.  A couple of the students asked me "How are we going to act these scenes in front of EVERYONE".  Many of them are very shy, and I reassured them that I would help them practice their ideas many times and promised there would be no taping into everyone felt ready. Next week during the meeting they are going to start practicing their ideas, and I'll check in with each group, and then maybe the following time I will ask each group to present to just the rest of the PACT club so they can start to feel more comfortable. 

   Today was the first day of the new primary school after school club that I'm helping to start for standard 6 students (kids ranging from ages 11-14).I had gone to this primary school a couple of times for an arts and craft activity for the young kids and then for  a couple of STEPS presentations, and had met with the guidance counselor and school head there a few times. They said that they have been asked to set up a PACT club at the primary school for some of the older students since there have been more cases of pregnancy and substance abuse amongst the older primary school students and also to help them gain confidence in speaking English. The hope is that some of the same students will then join the PACT club at the JSS.There were 29 Standard 6 students who came to the meeting today, which was a good size for the group. One of the standard 6 teachers helped to  facilitate the meeting. I started out by explaining what PACT club is and asking them to help come up with a list of group rules that they would all agree to follow. The teacher made sure that all of the kids understand what we were doing by repeating some of it in Setswana. I was really impressed that one of the rules that they came up with completely on their own was that they should all work together to become more confident. I talked with them a little about this and about how one of the group rules is going to be that they try their best to use English during the meetings and asked if they all thought they'd be able to give it a try. They said yes as a group, but there were some nervous giggles. I let them know that it was ok to make mistakes and to ask for help and reminded them about their teacher being there to help if I couldn't understand them or they couldn't understand me. I also made fun of my Setswana speaking a little and told them that I understand how hard it is to learn a new language. After we finished coming up with rules they played the game "Pat on the Back". Each student traced their hand on a piece of paper and taped it onto his or her back. Then each of the other students wrote nice things about them on his or her piece of paper. We asked them to try to write in English so that they could learn new English words and reminded them that they could ask for help. 

   Overall the game went very well.  The kids asked for help when they got stuck on thinking of a word in English and were smiling and laughing. However, at one point I noticed that one of the older girls in the group looked like she was struggling to think of something to write so I asked if she needed help. She looked at me confused, and then a student standing next to her said "She can't use English". I tried to explain in my best Setswana that it was ok if she needed to write it in Setswana and that we could translate it for her after, but she still looked upset and/or confused so I  quietly asked the teacher if she could talk to her and see if she could help her because I couldn't tell if she could understand me or not.The teacher meant well, but  she shouted across the classroom to the student to ask her if she needed help in front of everyone, and the student stopped trying,walked away and started to cry. I took her aside and asked her if she could understand me at all, and she said yes, she could a little. I asked her if she thought she was in trouble because she couldn't write in English, and she said yes and was still crying. I told her she was not in trouble and that I was proud of her for trying and was glad that she was going to be in the PACT club. She smiled and the teacher ended up coming over too and telling her it was ok and that she just had wanted her to know she could have help with translating from Setswana to English.  I gave her a high five, asked if she was ok, in Setswana she said yes, and we walked back over to the group and told her that it was her turn to have people write on her paper this time. I checked in with her after to make sure she understood what nice things the other students wrote to her.  The activity ended on a positive note because they were all so eager to read the hands on their backs and were all smiles! I reminded them that we would meet every Thursday. The teacher and I checked in at the end, and said she liked this group and was looking forward to next week as well. 

   I still feel like I'm constantly figuring things out here, but I hope I can continue to work with these two clubs because I'm enjoying it so far. I only learned a little bit about PACT clubs during training before coming to site. I have a couple of books with activities for youth that I borrowed from the Peace Corps and one that another volunteer mailed to me from her NGO, but other than that I'm just trying different ideas, listening to the students and guidance counselors about their ideas, seeing what works, and hoping that something I'm doing is right. I have experience working with kids, but Botswana is a very different place. We'll see how things go I guess.