This weekend I blew up 60 blind-folded teenagers who stepped on newspaper mines in my team-building activity at Stepping Stones bootcamp at the President's farm outside Gabs.
Stepping Stones is an incredibly successful NGO in Mochudi, Botswana that offers after school programs, counseling, and summer camps to at-risk and vulnerable teens. Many of the kids have suffered abuse at home, others have HIV, and most are not succeeding in school. I heard about this bootcamp through its organizer, who wanted to model it after his training in the British Forces. He also happens to be the nephew of the President of Botswana, and he was able to fund the weekend with help from the Lady Khama Charitable Trust.
My "command task" was called the Mine Field and involved a 3mx3m square full of exploding newspapers that the 6 blindfolded teens had to avoid while working together to rescue some paint buckets. Basically, I stood on the sidelines making explosion noises while baking in 100 degree heat and direct sunlight. Then, after 30 minutes of baking, we searched for a few inches of shade in the bush to debrief with the kids about what had gone well, but mostly to lecture them on why the task hadn't worked because they had cheated. We also asked them what they wanted to do after school, and I learned that a mine field was perhaps not the best choice of leadership activity since many of them "wanted to join the army to kill people".
In all honesty, the weekend was an enormous success for the kids and for me. Some of the teams of kids became incredibly trusting of each other, but mostly it was clear to me that Stepping Stones had already formed a group of strong young leaders. I heard many stories from staff including one about a 16-yr-old boy who first came to the program a year ago refusing to speak a single word, and he was now his team leader directing all his teammates across the minefield. This is the most successful and worthwhile NGO I have witnessned firsthand, so check i out if you're interested http://www.steppingstonesintl.org/newsite/.
On Sunday morning, as the kids were shaking their booties and singing in a circle, we heard reving engines getting closer and closer. Then, in the middle of the bush on the Khama farm, Ian Khama (the president of Botswana) drove up on his flame-striped ATV followed by his flame-striped posse. After seeing his portrait in literally every establishment and office in the country, it was a surreal moment for me too. He shook our hands and then drove off...without seeing our mine field, but I'm sure he had other things to do.
WOW!!!!
ReplyDelete