m any good at life, (in fact there are those who would claim that I suck at life) my organization and I hosted a Life Skills program at our school facility earlier this month. It was a pretty frustrating experience as my organization once again demonstrated their contempt for planning. The exercise wasn't a total loss as I feel there were some good sessions, but based on the evaluations I conducted with a before and after test there was no measurable impact. I'll hold onto a little bit of belief that there were positive effects that were unmeasurable.
The first day was a mess of epic proportions, which I am still angry about and don't feel like discussing.
We actually had a really good second day covering lessons on what HIV does in our bodies, what 'Assertive' communication it is and how it can be used, and what the steps in making a good decision are.
The third day was disappointing but informative. We started out with an exercise called 'My Life Story' where we chart out the story of our life. I made one ahead of time and demonstrated, it had the low point of my life (middle school), major turning points, bumpy areas (college), and things I look forward to in the future. (like returning to America, Clemson winning the National Football Championship, and a lake house on Lake Hartwell) Demonstrating was a big mistake. Ugandan children aren't really encouraged to think outside the box so when it came time for them to make their own life story, they all copied mine, complete with joining the Peace Corps and moving to Uganda. Doh.
What was more disappoining was the gender roles activity. In this activity we broke the boys and girls up and gave the participants cards with various concepts, occupations, or tasks on them and asked them to place them on the blackboard where we had designated Male and Female areas. When Americans do this activity you get maybe 5 cards on the male or female side and about 40 cards in the middle. Not only did the boys put all the positive attributes and occupations on their side, but the girls had practically identical responses.
I should have known we would have trouble with this exercise when I was having my translator put Luganda on the cards and noticed that both the doctor card and nurse card said 'Omusawo'. I asked him how can you tell the difference between a doctor and a nurse, and he replied, "Doctors are always men, nurses are always women." DOH!
Unfortunately the women did not really fight this at all. They agreed that Intelligence, Education, Money, Decision Making, Leadership, all belonged on the Male side. The women's side was decked out with Weak, Raising Children, and Violence. (this one confused me and when I asked the group about it both the men and women agreed that women were "quarlsome" and that violence belonged on their side)
I practically begged the women to stand up and claim that they were as intelligent as the boys but couldn't get it out of them. I did get them to agree that they didn't think the boys were "better than them." What really got me was the smiles on the boys faces as the girls just sat there and didn't stand up for themselves. I wanted to backhand a few of them off their feet. They are so proud to be men, and since I've been here I can't think of a single thing Ugandan men have done to warrant pride.
High point of the workshop was one girl in the corner who while the boys were boasting said almost under her breath, "It is not true." I leaned in and asked, "what isn't true." She said, "that the boys are smarter." I told her, "you're right, in fact, you are probably smarter than them."
But overall the activity was frustrating. I was a development worker in a developing country and in a room of over 100 people it seemed only one person really believed one of the fundamental truths necessary for a society to develop.
Attached below is my full write up I did for my organization. It is a bit rambling and I abandoned proper voice and tense on several occasions, but some may find some of it interesting. The results portion is much more skim-able and interesting in my mind than the general summary of events. At the end I tear into my org for their lack of planning/support.
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