GEF Kenya Workshop Update

By Suzanne

Julie (the Global Education Fund Executive Director) and I arrived to Kenya Friday night. Saturday morning we made our way to this month's workshop for the students in the Kenya Youth Scholarship and Leadership Program. About 60 students were in attendance. The discussion of the day centered on conflict at home, at school, in the community, in the country and particularly around how one can approach conflict in a peaceful, thoughtful way in order to facilitate a nonviolent resolution.

The students spoke of conflicts in their lives such as bullies in school, domestic violence, alcoholism in the home, peer pressure and feeling isolated. On several occasions the conversation focused on what to do when one has a strong emotional reaction to a situation and feel the need to immediately react in some way. The facilitators of the workshop helped students learn to take a moment before acting out on an emotion, to listen to their bodies, to breathe deeply and to take a moment to think. One facilitator told the students that "before you deal with any conflict you have to deal with yourself."

Another facilitator offered a method of thinking through the situation before action. He called it the "3M Method of Thinking:"

Ask yourself:

Meaning - does the action I'm about to take have meaning? Is it appropriate? What is the overall purpose of the action (is it simply to satisfy a feeling)?

Manageable - Can I manage the action I'm about to take? Is this the best method to respond? Can I deal with the consequences?

Measurable - Can I measure what the impact will be? What are the various implications of the action I am about to take?

The students were later split into smaller groups to discuss conflict: ways of resolving it peacefully and ways to manage it in a healthy way. When everyone came back together each group gave a presentation to illustrate what they had discussed and learned. One group had talked through three real life situations and the possible ways to overcome and resolve the conflicts. Another group offered a debate presentation, where one side argued that peaceful resolution of conflict doesn’t always work and the other side argued that it does and it always can. The final group offered a hilarious and thoughtful drama about how friends resolve fights.

More soon! Stay tuned.