Global concern: Surfaid, Role: Chair/Leader 2020- 2021 18th August – 24th November
Official events that occurred during this time : LO3, LO4
- Virtual sessions with the Muhammadiyah boys, juggling sessions
During this period, my GC and I were able to send juggling balls (30) to the Muhammadiyah Welfare home and over the last 3 weeks, we have been carrying out weekly circus sessions teaching the boys of various ages how to juggle through the use of different step-by-step drills, and showing them the correct technique on the screen as shown in the picture below during one of our recent sessions.
LO3 [Demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experience] – The covid-19 pandemic has caused trouble in the service world in terms of not being able to meet the partners face to face & perform direct action anymore. We have had to overcome this challenge, thus, we decided to send 30 juggling balls to the Muhammadiyah boy’s welfare home. This is with the intention that during our weekly service session, we can organise a zoom meeting with the boys’ supervisor and teach them to juggle through the screen. While this reduces interaction and the interface is much more difficult, it has been definitely been a novel, and interesting experience. This shows initiation of a CAS experience through taking action surpassing an obstacle and finding new ways to carry out service without face to face interaction.
LO4 [Show commitment and perseverance in CAS experiences] – Through this unfortunate time, it has definitely been tough teaching something so physical & technical over an online interface. We have encountered multiple problems with this new way of coaching the boys. For example, we have encountered problems with factors such as sound, distractions with the boys- and difficulty communicating and showing drills as they perhaps can’t see or hear us. Many of them have shown some visible improvement which is good, as it gives them the opportunity to have a go with juggling balls- which is most likely new for many of them, adding to the fact that this is a new service group that we are working with for the first time. This has displayed commitment and perseverance through resilience in coaching, being patient, and explaining drills well- even if the boys get distracted or there is difficulty communicating with them.
We have been able to teach some of the boys how to juggle in just a few sessions, through drills with 1,2 & 3 balls- lining them up to assess their individual performance from session to session and teaching them other ways they can improve their accuracy, speed and perhaps other tricks that we can coach if they are able to successfully juggle 3 balls to a point of