This is Day 2 of IFP Cambodia.
These are the activities I participated in or facilitated which significantly echoes with me or I am deeply impacted by.
ACTION for “Do something like a girl / a boy”
We started off with, as usual, an energizer that wakes everyone up and get pumped for the day. After that, we did an activity called “Do something like a girl / a boy”. We divided the crowd into groups of five and each person received a note with an order, such as “run like a boy/girl”, and if the person is a boy he has to imitate running gesture of a girl. Later in the reflection session, we discussed about to what extent does the society need stereotype.
GOAL for “Do something like a girl / a boy”
The goal of participating in and running this activity is to stimulate the delegates to think about gender stereotypes that people unwittingly pressed upon different genders. I progressed to achieve my goal by observing people’s actions when they act like a different gender, as well as reflecting on how would I approach these orders, i.e, the stereotype I have on my opposite gender. The delegates and facilitators, including I, all achieved these goals because later in the reflection session, we each talked our own opinions while all agreeing to the fact that stereotype is omnipresent.
LEARNING for “Do something like a girl / a boy”
I learnt about myself and others that despite I recognize myself as a person who make a huge effort on not to discriminate, make prejudice and stereotypes upon others, sometimes the gender stereotypes is ubiquitous and deeply carved into the societal structure that we consider it as trivial but it is present in everyday life. And this activity made me gaining an awareness of gender ‘inequalities’. I learnt that my strength in observing and make reflections linking back to current world/regional situations thereafter. In the discussion about to what extent does the society need stereotype, and we each talked our own opinions while all agreeing to the fact that stereotype is omnipresent. In the discussion about to what extent does the society need stereotype, when everyone is giving strong opinions about it is 100% correct to eliminate stereotypes or there is absolutely no need to assign a gender to what everyone does, I presented an opposite opinion about that sometimes assignment of gender roles does help a society to some extent. My perspectives helped fellow delegates to approach the issue in a more rational way. In future activities, I can apply my critical thinking skills to stimulate new views and unique perspectives from others.
ACTION for “Four Corner game about social identity”
Prompts:
Strongly agree – partially agree – partially disagree – fully disagree
- I love chicken nuggets
- I find it hard to talk to people when we first meet
- I feel valued and accepted in my family
- I have effective communication with my friends
- I feel valued in my school/ workplace
- I can tell when someone in my community is feeling left out
- The diverse perspectives around me have caused conflict in the past
- Sometimes I feel I am discriminated against in the society because of certain characteristics
- In my society, people can be open about their sexual orientation
- I can openly talk about my romantic relationships with my family
- The community I am part of back home is rather peaceful
- I have dealt with conflict effectively or have made peace with it
- In some cases, I am not confident enough to step in and solve conflicts
- The people in my society can be helped to understand different perspectives
- I have done something before because of peer pressure
- I feel safe to walk on the street at night alone
- I think my country has progressed significantly in the past ten years in terms of accepting minorities
I was the main facilitator of this activity. The four corners of the conference room each represent agree, strongly agree, disagree and strongly disagree and they go to respective corners based on their personal views for each statement.
GOAL for “Four Corner game about social identity”
The goal for this activity is to stimulates the delegates to think if they were influenced by the decision of their peers when answering the question and the purpose of this activity. I achieved this goal in the debrief where we talked about that not only we have different identities, but also the fact that we are shaped by not only the big society like our village, city or country, but also by the small community around us, like our family, friends, schools or workplace. And again, just like yesterday’s holding hands and stepping forward activity, we all find that even though we come from different backgrounds and different societies, but we are so similar in so many things is really fascinating.
LEARNING for “Four Corner game about social identity”
Not only did I learn about the delegates’ views about social identity and their contrasting perspectives, but also some very interesting facts. For instance, two people coming from the same country had opposite answers towards “I think my country has progressed significantly in the past ten years in terms of accepting minorities”; and one delegates talked about how his family passive-aggressively forbidden his romantic relationship. I did face several challenges as this is my very first time facilitating an activity alone, such as my voice was a bit shaky since I was very nervous, or sometimes I could not get everyone’s attention. But eventually I overcame all the challenges by becoming more confident in talking out loud as delegates gave me very positive and interacting feedbacks which boosts my enthusiasm in conducting this activity.
