We went to the Refugee Education Trust. There we explored, and also learned why communication and listening are two key elements in achieving peace and justice. Everyone introduced themselves and told us where they were from. As people were going around, I noticed that many were from Columbia.
An orange and a banana… We were able to use the fruits as a way to demonstrate this. We broke up into groups and the orange was the first fruit used. The scenario that was presented was that two people wanted an orange, but there was only one, how does each person get that orange. Someone came up with the idea that you can cut it in half. The next question: what happens if one person does not like the idea of sharing the orange? We discussed in our group and we came up with the idea that we do not need the orange, but give it to someone else instead of us having it. Some of the other ideas were: squeezing the juice out, tossing a coin, one person gets the orange today and the next day the other person gets the orange. Therefore, we learned that there are many different solutions and that exchanging ideas is important. Thus, communication plays a vital part in solving problems. After that, we ate the orange.
Next, the banana was used as means to show how competition can cause havoc. We lined up in three lines and then passed the banana from the back to the front moving in a crisscross path from person to person. When the banana reached the front that person would run to the back and pass the banana up to the first person in the line and the team that got everyone done first was the winner!! When the game started it was great, some people were running, some were walking, some jogged, but all in all it was fun. When the first team finished, some were not happy. Someone even said that that team was missing a person and that was why they finished first. There were a lot of things going and the only thing I could do was star at the bananas that were in my hand, what happened to the poor banana. Thus, the question: when there is a competition, does our need to win disable us from remembering that there are other people or things involved? That sometimes we need to take a step back and evaluate what is around us before moving forward? Similar to the banana, when we feel the need to win, we forgot about everything else. The poor banana became banana mush.
We watched a video the students made about being refugees. It was a great video explaining that despite being a refugee or being a citizen, everyone should have the same rights.
An orange and a banana… We were able to use the fruits as a way to demonstrate this. We broke up into groups and the orange was the first fruit used. The scenario that was presented was that two people wanted an orange, but there was only one, how does each person get that orange. Someone came up with the idea that you can cut it in half. The next question: what happens if one person does not like the idea of sharing the orange? We discussed in our group and we came up with the idea that we do not need the orange, but give it to someone else instead of us having it. Some of the other ideas were: squeezing the juice out, tossing a coin, one person gets the orange today and the next day the other person gets the orange. Therefore, we learned that there are many different solutions and that exchanging ideas is important. Thus, communication plays a vital part in solving problems. After that, we ate the orange.
Next, the banana was used as means to show how competition can cause havoc. We lined up in three lines and then passed the banana from the back to the front moving in a crisscross path from person to person. When the banana reached the front that person would run to the back and pass the banana up to the first person in the line and the team that got everyone done first was the winner!! When the game started it was great, some people were running, some were walking, some jogged, but all in all it was fun. When the first team finished, some were not happy. Someone even said that that team was missing a person and that was why they finished first. There were a lot of things going and the only thing I could do was star at the bananas that were in my hand, what happened to the poor banana. Thus, the question: when there is a competition, does our need to win disable us from remembering that there are other people or things involved? That sometimes we need to take a step back and evaluate what is around us before moving forward? Similar to the banana, when we feel the need to win, we forgot about everything else. The poor banana became banana mush.
We watched a video the students made about being refugees. It was a great video explaining that despite being a refugee or being a citizen, everyone should have the same rights.