“Jah and Kay” Activity

IFP today was extremely fun and eye opening for me. We did an activity which involved splitting into two groups- the Kayns and the Jahns. The Kayns were people from a developed country whereas Jahns were people from a less developed country. I was a Jah during the activity. At the start, we were told some basic information about ourselves including the fact that we are patriarchal and wary of foreigners, having recently become independent. We were instructed to spend 35 minutes building a monument for our country using the limited resources they provided us with. The resources included newspaper, paper clips, empty toilet rolls, pencils, lolly sticks and tape.

At first it was really hard to come up with an idea for the monument. People were shy to contribute ideas as there were quite a number of people in our group. However once a few people spoke up, more people started to contribute their ideas. Soon, it became quite chaotic when certain people were fixated on a certain ideas of their to which many others did not agree to. An example was when someone suggested using pencils to represent spears, symbolising our strength and willingness to fight back. This idea was not well received by the rest of us, including me, as we thought that this might encourage violence and xenophobia. As peace-builders, we have to ensure that everything we do will have only a positive outcome. Some people shut down the idea completely but I tried to ask the group to think of another way we could show this strength of ours. However we couldn’t think of anything else that wouldn’t show violence. Our group decided that we wanted our main themes of the monument to be peace and equality. As a young country that is trying to redevelop after years of being under other countries empires, we thought that these would be the foundations of building up the nation. Our final product was of the scales of justice, along with a large peace crane on top (in the middle) and two smaller peace cranes hanging from the sides as weights. This was a symbol of not only justice in our country – everyone having equal opportunities whether that may be employment, education, healthcare, etc. – and that peace will be at the core of everyone’s hearts. When there is peace, there is no conflict or hate. Through these two central foundations, we believe that the country will be able to thrive. When we were doing this activity, I noticed that some people had no roles to play in the creation of this monument and told someone else this. That person took the initiative to go to them and came up with idea of a ‘cultural dance’ that we could present to the Kayns when they arrive. This showed me the importance of making sure everyone is included and participating when it comes to collaboration. When we work together, things can get done much more efficiently and more (creative) ideas can be shared. (LO5)

When the Kayns arrived (and this is the important bit), we presented our cultural dance and monument, then they started telling us about their plan for our country. To summarise, the Kayns wanted to help our country grow and develop but the Jahns did not want their help – they wanted to do it independently. One may think that if you offer unwanted help, you would back down and leave, however the Kayns were very persistent. On the other hand, it is true that the Jahns did not really listen to the Kayns and started interrupting them and getting defensive even before they could finish presenting their plan for the Jahns. This activity is extremely relevant in the real world as we are often either a “Jah” or “Kay”. Sometimes we may reject help due to our pride, even if it may actually benefit us. And at other times we may be like the Kayns in the activity and try to force ourselves onto other communities/people even if they do not want our help/need our help in that particular area. This is something that I have learnt before in IGCSE Geography last year. We talked about foreign aid and how it can sometimes have negative impacts on the local community – for example, if the foreigners are not educated enough about the local community, they may try to implement unhelpful change/things that they do not necessarily need. Despite having learnt this concept before, I never really thought about how this could affect me personally. After discussing with the whole group after the activity, I realized that this can be questioned in our everyday lives – for example: our local services. We need to ask ourselves: Is this really helping the community I am serving and how can I aid them better? Are the actions I am taking harming/affecting them in a negative way of any kind? Is our help even wanted even if it may seem needed? (LO7)

The questions above are ones that I would like to think about for my own service (MINDs Tampines). This activity not only makes me reflect upon my own actions in my service but also is a good way to prepare for upcoming conferences that we may lead. We need to ask ourselves the questions above, especially if we are working with communities that we are very unfamiliar with (eg. the youths in conflict areas like Mae Sot). This is crucial that we are sensitive towards them as the activity may trivialise the issue (foreigners trying to influence locals). Communication is also a very important part of this activity as many people argued and became defensive. Their words (especially the Jayns) were very emotional as if there were personal attacks. If the activity was held with complete strangers, things may be taken the wrong way and conflict may arise. This activity, along with all other ones we do in IFP, is all part of training us to become better peace-builders and also in case we lead a conference in the future. This would be considered as part of the investigation stage of a CAS experience. (LO3)

LO3- Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience​.

LO5- Demonstrate the skills and recognise the benefits of working collaboratively​.

LO7- Recognise and consider the ethics implications of choices and​ ​actions​.