Thoughts on my first week of work...

Hello to all you faithful readers!

Looking for another update on my first week of work? :)

Before I do that, I think its about time that I explain to you what exactly I’ll be doing as an assistant project coordinator for peace clubs here Zambia. I often have people tell me they don’t know how explain my position to other people, and to be honest I didn’t either!  Hopefully this can give you a more comprehensive idea:

Issa, my boss, has created a curriculum for primary and secondary schools to implement an after school program for students called “peace clubs”. The curriculum has 4 different sections that the teachers will overview throughout the year: conflict, violence, reconciliation, and gender based conflict. For each section there’s about 15 different lessons that may range from anger management, sexual abuse, stereotypes, communication skills ect…  all of these include discussion topics, interactive games, and drama in order to address issues of peace in a fun an approachable way. In Lusaka alone there’s 18 different schools who have begun peace clubs and 6 more in southern province.

Because these programs are growing so rapidly across Zambia me and Issa’s job is to:

1) Train teachers during a 5-day training session so that they are equipped to teach each lesson to their students. During that week we replicate how a typical peace club session would run, and the teachers that have come the training sessions to observe how it works as “students”.

2) Do school visits three times a week to different schools in the area to monitor how things are going. Eventually I’ll be doing these trips on my own, especially in the Southern Province (in Choma and in Macha) as they are just starting up. The cool part is I actually get to facilitate a lot of small group discussions. Issa said that students especially will want my “western” perspective, and he’s found that people more easily open up to people who don’t have any connection to their community or family (so I wont go around telling their secrets haha) like a neutral party I guess.

3) Doing more practical administrative work like answering teachers questions, organizing events, or evaluating proposals we get from schools who want us to help them start up peace clubs.

I know I’ve just started, but I really do love it. Its pretty much my dream job… I get to interact with so many beautiful people on a daily basis from all ages, and get to talk about issues of peace and justice for an entire day in so many different contexts! People have so much to say about issues here, and they genuinely get so excited about having the space and opportunity to discuss topics that would be considered taboo in the west.

And example of that: Me and Issa went to a secondary school to meet with the instructors of peace clubs, and talk with a few students who are peace club members. On our way back, a crowd of teenage boys were standing outside and Issa called them over. As Issa starts asking them questions about the issues they face at school, all I could think of was: “What is Issa dooiiing, these guys have more important things than to be talking with us right now!!” But as the conversation developed, I was shocked to see how quickly they opened up to us and how personal they got without even knowing who we were. People started over hearing what me and Issa were discussing with them, and the crowd of boys grew larger and larger. Suddenly 25 high school boys were huddled around us, eager to put their 2 cents about how they perceive women who wear skirts “above their knees”, their own struggle with sexual temptation, and discussing ways to break female and male gender roles in the classroom and household.

I realized that this job is about taking time to listen to stories. I think it is so common in the west to quickly shut out topics that feel awkward, even though people have so much to say about them. But peace clubs is about giving opportunity to name issues as well as providing students with the tools to deal with them. In the beginning, the boys in that group were adamant that women who dress provocatively actually deserve negative male attention. But as we took time to unpack this and ask some provoking questions, they agreed that men must also take responsibility for acting on temptations. I saw mindsets transform so quickly that day, and it was a true example of how younger generations can be a positive source of peace.

A boy about my age came up to us after and told me that the group of boys had told him what we were talking about, and asked me if I was coming back soon to talk about those same things again. It’s this energy that I love about peace clubs. Conversation sparks so fast that dialogue and discussion become contagious. Suddenly topics that are off-limits become normalized, and we can challenge the way things are always done by offering fresh perspective.

I have a lot to learn about how to approach these topics with students like my boss does, its so inspiring to watch how he engages with students.

Coming up this week:

-Me and my host mom are going to a kitchen party this weekend! This is a Zambian style bachelorette party with traditional dancing, music and outfits. I got a chitenge fitting the other day so I can semi-fit in. Should be quite the cultural experience!