3/21/11
TOP FIVE THINGS WE DID TODAY
5) “Ice Breakers”
Q: How much does a polar bear weight?
A: Enough to break the ice.
Today, in order to grow closer to everyone on the team, we played two icebreaker games. Basically, the jist is to make each other comfortable in order to feel safe enough to open up during our reflections. SO we played two games. In the first game, we each wrote a question on a post-it note and stuck it on someone else’s forehead. The point of the game is to guess what question is on your head, based on the answers people give you. For instance, my (Stephanie) question was, “what is the meaning of life”, while others were a little more light-hearted, like “Why didn’t Justin Bieber respond to my love letters?” The second game was more action packed. We were each blindfolded and assigned a different animal noise. While blinded, we had to listen for our animal mate’s noise and pair off. Poor Martin, however, got stuck with a platypus….
4) You-Tube
For our evening activity, we took the night off from heavy discussions about trafficking, and tried a more comical approach. We compiled a list of our favorite youtube videos that we wanted to share. We decided on this activity since through the past few days, we kept mentioning to each other specific videos that we wanted other team member to watch. This was an excellent way to kind of reground ourselves and take a step back from the topic. Here are a few good ones that were group favorites:
3) Reflection in the Park
Normally, after a day’s work, our group sits down to reflect and process all that we took in. Since the weather was so beautiful, we got to all sit outside and do our group discussion. There is a park close to our hostile so we took advantage of the sunshine and talked outside. Mostly what we discussed was World Vision and the differences between it and Courtney’s House. (See our #1 below)
2) Cross over game
After our reflection, we played another little game. In comparison to our icebreakers, this game was a bit more complex and involved. We were read a list of situations, and if you had ever been in this situation, you were to step over the line away from the group and make eye contact with at least one person on the other side. For example, “Step over the line if someone ever told you that the reason you got into UMD was because of affirmative action”. These situations touched on issues people dealt with based on their gender, learning disabilities, race, socio-economic status, and more. Although this game was heavier, it forced us to recognize issues that some team members dealt with that others did not and about the general concept of privilege in society. It divided us in some aspects, but ultimately united us when we realized that although we come from different backgrounds, we are fighting to help stop the same issue.
After our reflection, we played another little game. In comparison to our icebreakers, this game was a bit more complex and involved. We were read a list of situations, and if you had ever been in this situation, you were to step over the line away from the group and make eye contact with at least one person on the other side. For example, “Step over the line if someone ever told you that the reason you got into UMD was because of affirmative action”. These situations touched on issues people dealt with based on their gender, learning disabilities, race, socio-economic status, and more. Although this game was heavier, it forced us to recognize issues that some team members dealt with that others did not and about the general concept of privilege in society. It divided us in some aspects, but ultimately united us when we realized that although we come from different backgrounds, we are fighting to help stop the same issue.
1) TOP CHOICE! World Vision
Today, we spoke with Jesse Eaves (the policy advisor for child protection) at World Vision. He mainly spoke about their vision, mission and the process they use to combat human trafficking. It was interesting to hear the stories of their “clients” and how connected Jesse was to his work. World Vision’s process is more policy related. He walked us through different accounts of survivors to identify how the systems had failed them. If a child is a victim of trafficking, Jesse says, it doesn’t happen over night. It is a process where multiple informal systems (parents, family, teachers, community) and formal (law enforcement, social services) systems fail the child in recognizing vulnerability or exploitation. World Vision uses approaches to enrich the lives of children worldwide by restoring the broken systems in each community they work in. Contacting local delegates or elected officials to support trafficking bills is one way that citizens can help to get victims the recognition and aid that they need. This new take on trafficking prevention was a change from Courtney’s House take on trafficking, though both work directly with survivors. Overall, getting another organizations story and view helps our team be well informed in trafficking.
THAT’S ALL FOR NOW FOLKS,
Love Jenny and Stephanie
Ps. Hi Mom and Dad
From, Stephanie.
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