Day 5 - "Todos tenemos una parte de la verdad"

 How do we reach consensus? Is consensus possible without compromise and how do we assure that the most representative opinion comes forward? How do John Stuart Mill´s argument for the liberty of thought affect the function of true democracy?

The participants were able to reach a consensus on "la pena de muerte" -- death penalty-- in five minutes. But not everyone agreed with each other. In pairs and five rounds, they explained their perspectives to each other to practically experience how it i¡was to hear as many opinions as possible. Though in the end still not everyone agreed on the topic (which can be a good sign), they were enthusiastic about having heard their peers’ thoughts. Some of them even took the opinions to heart and changed theirs.

What are the economical relationships between developed and developing countries, and how do these reinforce the disparity between them? What role does international trade play in this? How does international trade work in the first place? How do macroeconomic fluctuations of the market influence national economies?

Put in the position of some of the world´s countries, participants had to develop their country in order to get as much money as possible in their bank account. They started with debts, disparity in industry and different natural resources. China, los Estados Unidos and Norway did significantly better than, for instance, Guatemala and Nigeria. Though Nigeria was superfluous in oil, there was virtually no industry to produce. The interdependence on the world market was illustrated by production of corn in Guatemala as one of their only exports. 

What does it feel like to be privileged or be maltreated unjustly? How does inequality lead to violence? Would you share if you were in a more advantaged situation than someone else?

“¡Revolución!” “¡Desigualdades!” “You are the best, president Albert, even though you mistreat us” were some of the calls frequently heard during the Social Injustice Game, wherein participants had to build cities in small groups with an unequal amount of resources and space to sit in. Barely fitting with six people in the space provided, with four pieces of paper and a grey pencil versus a massive area for three with many coloured pencils, as much tape as you wish and even plastic straws to provide support for the paper houses. A scissor was a rare sight. Rebellion led to a visit to prison, requests for a president´s visit were ignored and stealing was a growing protest against the injustice experienced. 

The Social Injustice Game

What are current world conflicts? How can we apply the learned theory of the Critical Engagement of Conflict Workshops this week be applied to better understand the causes of the conflict?

The participants used provided research on the Tarzan conflict in Canada, the conflict of Kosovo, women´s rights in Afghanistan and the War on Drugs in Mexico to present their findings to the rest of their group. For many, it provided an opportunity to read and learn about a different situation in another part of the world.

As throughout the entire week, all workshops and games (or “talleres y jeugos”) ended with discussions about what they illustrated using questions such as the ones stated above. Many participants took great interest in what they illustrated and opened their eyes to a number of serious issues when talking about conflicts. Their engagement in all the activities is truly inspiring and very motivating for the future of Mexico. One person hit the nail on the head for me by saying: “Todos tenemos una parte de la verdad”-- “Each one of us holds a part of the truth.” I think she´s right. It entails exactly why we, participants and facilitators, are here.

- Laura Brouwer (AC '09-'11) - The Netherlands

Day 4 - 3rd Day of CECW

The third day in the series of Constructive Engagement of Conflict Workshops asked participants to consider the different perspectives and possibility of “multiple truths” that sometimes exist for different parties in a conflict by a not-so-fairytale-like “Princess Story” and heated “perspective debates” on topics ranging from “Batman v. Superman” and even “Thongs v. Boxers” to Gay adoption and the abolishment of bull fighting in Mexico. The idea of the existence of “multiple truths” and a link made to post-modernism and “El Fua” (an infamous term introduced in a Mexican video on Youtube) by one of the facilitators stirred up unexpectedly great but definitely most welcomed interest.  

Perspective Debates

Before lunch, the movie “Babel” was shown with Spanish subtitles. From the fact that I still occasionally needed translations of words in the subtitles by a participant sitting next to me during the movie, it can be easily inferred that I had a hard time following the follow-up discussion between participants when they were asked to apply the theories and skills introduced in the first two days’ workshops to discuss developments of the various conflicts in the movie— a shame, and yet another reason to motivate myself to improve my level of Spanish!

The pleasantly surprising fact that the group of participants understood my explanation of the Orange Game (which required creative thinking and effective communication between participants to find a solution to a seemingly irreconcilable conflict between two companies) in Spanish boosted my confidence in starting conversations in broken Spanglish with participants at lunch. Some participants even commented on how they liked to hear the non-native facilitators speak Spanglish in the workshops because they wanted to teach us more Spanish!

Admittedly, the level of surprise brought by the unexpected encounters of a small (though seemingly dead) scorpion in the bathroom at the facilitators’ house two days ago might be too high to be compared to anything else, but I have been again and again struck with surprise when I saw the participants’ curiosity for our home countries and culture and their big, warm hearts since the beginning of the course. I did not expect to be stopped by a participant at the end of the day to ask me to teach him basic Chinese during lunch breaks, nor did I anticipate to be repeated asked by participants whether I enjoyed the day, the workshops and being at the course with them—I only hoped we had not disappointed them!

-        - Sonia Cheung (AC ’10-’12) – Hong Kong 

Day 3 - Not Enough Time

Today, the second day of Constructive Engagement of Conflict, was another interesting, though (again) very tiring day. Participants started off talking about gender stereotypes, which (at times) could really be something to laugh about. Nonetheless, the workshops kept their focus due to great contributions of the participants. This was closely followed by the workshop "national stereotypes", where some of the facilitators made the group play a game. This game was meant to show people how many stereotypes they actually have about other cultures. Everyone in the group got a sticker put on their head which said, for example, "american man", the person  wearing this sticker did not know what it said, through interactions with the other group members (and how they acted towards them) they had to guess from what country they were. This resulted in a sudden realisation about the amount of stereotypes they actually know, and also showed them that everyone has many stereotypes.

Very interesting to see was that none of the workshops ended on time, there were such fiery discussions that there was not an end to make on the workshops. It was comparable to lighting a fuse, once lit you could not put it out. All the facilitators were in a desperate need of time.

After stereotypes it was violence that would be discussed. What is violence? Do you know? Have you ever tried to define it? Well we tried! And some groups had incredible discussions, whereas other facilitators showed their group different theories of violence. The idea was to give people more insights into the depths of violence, which were, for most, mind broadening. Ask yourself, how would you define violence? Is it just physical, or is there more to it?

This was, finally, followed by a break of half an hour. People swam, played games, talked, discussed etcetera; there is only one word which, for me, correctly describes this situation: "gezellig" (a Dutch word describing a feeling you get in a certain atmosphere, translation can be: good, nice and cosy). 

After the break there was a workshop where people had to tell about people who had broadened their world perspective. In my case a girl from Nigeria at my school. This once we had a discussions concerning voluntary work and the implementation of democracy in developing countries. Often these two go together as a lot of support comes from Western countries, which are, democratic. I was completely convinced that democracy was the way, and that the help which came from our countries was the right thing to do. She showed me that this is very black and white, and that it isn't as simple as that, especially not in the case of Nigeria! A lot of interesting stories were shared, and I learned a lot from what the participants had to say!

And then LUNCH! All of us had gotten quite hungry by that time, so it came just in time.

After lunch a skit was preformed, which was very funny as the facilitators pretended to be humans from the stone age fighting over a cookie. This to show different kinds of outcomes of conflicts (win/win, win/lose, lose/lose). Simple, funny and effective!

After that the power of apologies was explained. It was impressive, that such a simple thing could have such an impact. Yes, the people knew what we were saying, but were not aware of it. They recognised what we were telling them, but had never thought of it that way before. And, of course, it is quite natural to apologies when you did something wrong, but what are the consequences if you don't, or what is the effect of the actual apology? That is stuff really worth thinking about!

With all the workshops one theme did keep cropping up, TIME, no-one had enough time to really finish what they wanted to. This was mainly due to great participators who contributed a lot, they made our (the facilitators') life incredibly hard as we had to sometimes stop discussions due to lack of time; which I find an outright shame as they were very valuable.

Although I still struggled with my spanish, I still had an amazing day! Thank you all who contributed to that!

To be continued!

- Hans van Deursen (AC '10-'12) - The Netherlands 

Day 2. The continuation of the beginning!

 I am pretty tired. And pretty happy.

Because this day has been been pretty busy and exciting.

First day of Constructive Engagement of Conflict.

Pretty constructive and pretty engaging.

Not too many conflicts.

Yet again and again we were all amazed by how extremely reflective and pure-hearted the participants are.

And most hopefully they will be future bridge-builders and peacemakers.

Today was the beginning or continuation of the development towards that end.

The very first thing they did was to set rules for the dynamics of the interactions in this work: The creation of an open and safe space where everyone feels free to share their vulnerability and strength.

It was beautiful to see how everyone contributed, and the result of their work will serve as a frame for the rest of this project. Most hopefully.

It struck me countless times how silly it is that we humans need to learn how to communicate and interact in a constructive manner.

But unfortunately we actually do, and it seemed as though many of the participants experienced this today. That we go through life hurting each other and creating unnecessary conflict simply because we haven't learnt and practiced  better ways of engaging in problems that arise.

Maybe we all strive towards a reality without conflict and pain, and due to our resistance to realize that this is not possible the only thing we do is to cause tiny issues to grow into major problems.

Shockingly simple exercises throughout the day had an illuminating effect  because they made us all experience how a slightly new way of looking at reality could change our lives in a positive manner. 

Some skits that were slightly too crazy sought to illustrate how to state your personal view point rather than accusing others for their mistakes. 

Even after having supposedly slept with the brother of my husband we finally managed to unite to find a solution, facilitated by the awesome skills that the participants had gained during the day. 

Respect and active listening seemed to be the key words, not only for the day, but as valuable guidelines for healthy engagement in conflicts-- hopefully throughout our lives, if reinforced successfully. 

The participants also shared powerful stories of people that inspired them, and we found out that all their role models handled conflicts in a non-violent and constructive way that was worth seeking to follow. 

We finished off the program by enjoying epic skits where the participants illustrated ways to escalate and de-escalate a conflict. 

Getting feedback such as "If I'd know these techniques before, my life would have been a lot better" made us confident that this was worth-doing. Most hopefully these methods will not only be helpful for all participants of the course, but also have a ripple effect on their extended communities. 

For most facilitators either the teaching role or the Spanish-speaking was a nearly constant struggle. But if possible, we learnt even more than the participants from all their powerful contributions and beautiful stories. And their strong commitment and high spirit gave us a sense of purpose that fueled us to continue. 

May it continue this way. 

- Ingvill Daatland Hekne (AC '09-'11) - Norway 

Day 1 - The Beginning

Hola!

Welcome to the blog featuring the social project ¡Integrando a México!

Here we will be blogging daily about the project as it progresses and give you all an insight into our daily lives for the next month or so. We are the facilitators of the course that makes up the social project. Coming from different parts of the world, we are a part of the UWC movement and have gone to or are currently attending one of the 13 United World Colleges around the world. This summer, we are taking our experience of bridging different groups of peoples and creating a better world from our UWCs to Mexico.

This year the project is celebrating its third year in action, and it’s growing stronger than ever! Starting out as a summer project purely based in Atlantic College and much of an experiment, the project has established a solid foundation and reputation, and has grown to also include facilitators from the UWC in USA. The original aims of cultural integration, social empowerment and youth-to-youth learning are still dominating in an extended program of activities, workshops, discussions, games, films, creativity workshops, sports, etc.

 

For a week now we have been preparing the course’s program: preparing presentations, struggling with schedules and in general creating practical applications for all the theoretical ideas covered in the course. All together, we, a group of 13 young people, have been staying in a house in the centre of San Miguel de Allende.  The week has been a wonderful mix of fun, serious work, not-so-serious work, sightseeing, Spanish-practicing, fantastic Mexican food, mariachi bands in the central square and a massive amount of very pretty colonial architecture. We have been planning the creative workshops, conflict engagement workshops, social issue activities, morning games, community service, evening games, films and possibly most important of all the facilitation of the creation of the participants’ own social projects. All of this building up until today—the start of the course!

Finally we got to meet the participants of the course! They are a group of 42 youths from different parts of Mexico, aging 15-18 years old. From the time we got up and had breakfast, we could feel the tension rising as we got ready and walked to the bus pick-up. The moment we walked into the bus with half of them on it was very nice. The curiosity we had for them was mutual, and they were just as excited about seeing us as we were about seeing them. As we got to the location of the course, a school on the outskirts of San Miguel, and started with games and icebreakers, a lot of the tension loosened up. Both we and the participants calmed down a bit and gained more confidence as we went along. After more games and food we presented different parts of the course to the participants: the creative workshops, social issue activities, and the various community services. Then came the moment when the participants had to choose their sessions. Remembering summer camps, festivals and conferences where I had to choose my own workshops, concerts or whatever, I recognized the frustration of having to choose between stuff when you want to join everything!

 

In the middle of all the participants’ writing of choices, I look at my watch and was shocked by the time—it’s almost 18.15! That’s 8 hours and 15 minutes that passed in what seems like 10 minutes since we walked on the bus. After some Frisbee, football and ‘HUAH’(awesome circle game) we all had to say goodbyes and jump onto the bus back to our house.

Now, having eaten supper, I can happily conclude that the first day was a success full of fun and meaning.  The thing that was especially satisfying was the attitude of the participants, as they were all in all very keen and engaged. This is of course really nice, but it also puts extra pressure on us to perform as well as possible and give them the frame they need to really unfold. Good and happy times—let’s hope it continues like this!

-        Albert Andersen Øydvin (AC '10-'12) - Norway