20 youth from five surrounding communities, ages 13-22, were invited to attend the training. They all showed up! We served them breakfast (a cultural thing!) and then about an hour after the scheduled start time, we got started! Pretty normal.
20 youth from five surrounding communities, ages 13-22, were invited to attend the training. They all showed up! We served them breakfast (a cultural thing!) and then about an hour after the scheduled start time, we got started! Pretty normal.
We planned a full day for the youth, from 9-3pm. We discussed examples of leaders, qualities of leadership, as well as pros and cons to various leadership styles. We threw in some fun/meaningful activities to build group cohesion, trust, and to fight off boredom! We even utilized lunchtime. We split the large group into three smaller groups and had prepared questions for each group to go over. They were basically getting to know you questions, but we also had them brainstorm a group name.
After lunch we did an activity to decide on the group name. Final decision “Jóvenes en Acción” (Youth in Action).
We will also use these training sessions to cover various topics such as basic hygiene, HIV/AIDS, contraceptive methods, and how to properly use a condom. The idea is that the youth will then teach these topics in their communities, as health promoters.
We finished the day by leading them in an activity to decide the topic for the following training session, scheduled for sometime in early September. From the various choices, the majority chose Presentations and Public Speaking. Should be fun!
But what’s the real reason for these training sessions? Yes, the youth will learn leadership skills and a little more about healthcare. That’s great and worthwhile. But what do these youth really need? They need role models. They need increased self-esteem. They need a group to belong to. In short, they need healthy relationships. That’s really what we are offering them. The training sessions act as an avenue to get to know them, to build trust with them, so that eventually we can develop relationships with these youth- a relationship that will give us opportunities to support, encourage, and even challenge them. – Caressa