Broken Hearts in February: Awakening Passions

"Do you know that there is a female presidential aspirant?" A volunteer asked a group of young girls. "No o!" They replied in unison. "Do you also know that you have rights as a child that you can demand from your leaders?" There was silence as the kids stared on as though their minds had  been opened to new knowledge.

These are some of the questions the butterfly team put to the children while speaking to them on political education to channel their understanding to other  aspects of the political system. 

Once, we met a very passionate little girl who spoke with so much political enthusiasm and confidence. After one of the sessions with the school, she came out to have a mini chat with the team. All she was interested in knowing was the party we each supported. It came as a little shocker to us as this was not one of the questions we had envisaged from kids. She was compelling was undeterred.  She posed several questions to us, all of which revolved around the upcoming elections. She desperately wanted to know where our allegiances lay. She put us right on the spot. She had a strong personality and even when a  volunteer pointed out to her that there was a female candidate in the hope that it would avert her mind to another reality of the elections, Charity was not interested. Apparently she had made a decision on whom to "VOTE".  Huh? Vote? We took quick glances at each other and smiled.

The mini interview seemed to have gotten more interesting and so we decided to turn the tables. We asked her why she was going to "vote" her choice and her answer was simple and unwavering- her mother was voting the candidate. Then we asked her why she would follow suit. Again, she had her ready reasons, some of which had been tainted by a lot of mixed public perceptions and propagandas from the media. And as we listened on, we saw childlike passion turn into little twists of hate and bigotry. She was on her way to being polluted by the society's kind of politics- a dirty kind.

She was not alone.  There were many other disciples of bigotry.  A lot of children interviewed displayed  very deep prejudicial opinions. Our journey had given us the opportunity to understand clearly the effect our individual and collective negative actions were having on the younger generation. They were developing strong prejudices. We had come to feel a sacred responsibility of gearing the minds of the kids to positive sides of the mirror.

Determined to do something about it, the team after school decided to engage some of the kids in an interactive session where the opinions and views of the kids were the focal point. We had to get the kids to talk. We needed to help them learn how to express themselves so that we could help correct some of their prejudices while arming them with tools that will help them become future leaders.

Indeed, the moment was  powerful and humbling for us  as well as it reinforced the belief that positive building of the mind is key to developing any society and that the formative years of a child is extremely important.

Broken Hearts in February: A Time for Reflections

The month of February brings with it a certain air of extreme importance to love. We look forward to it for many reason. For some, it brings with it good memories  and to others painful memories. The mixed feelings are what makes it a month to look out for.

For us in Nigeria, it's different and I'll tell you why. We look forward to a transition government(although that may not apply anymore as elections have been postponed to march). We look forward to the election of those we desire to see lead and produce the change we so desperately want  to see. There will be plenty of mixed emotions to last for the month. Everyone is watching but some others who we do not seem to notice are watching too....

The day began well for the butterfly team and as usual we were looking forward to being with the kids but this time it wasn't going to be business as usual. We were going to speak to them on something that was extremely sensitive and it left us quite unsure of how to handle it. We wondered how best to pass on the message. We were nervous. There were no smiles at all from each one of us. Many times before the classes began, we would go through our lesson notes and find out if we could tweak any message here and there. We would whisper in low tones to each other to make sure we had a uniform message.

Eventually, the moment came and as we walked in we could see ready faces. The team introduced the lecture which was to be political education and the class went mute for a while. Next, we asked a question on what elections meant to them and in that moment,  we knew our work had begun. The class went crazy with shouts from all sides. The kids would not stop mentioning political parties they supported. Those with different views were screamed at and the kids were almost going into a fight with each other(much to our horror!). Thankfully, the volunteer teachers were able to calm them down and asked further questions to determine their level of mental awakening to sociopolitical issues. We were shocked. Many of the kids expressed that elections were times of killings, curfews, terrorism, WAR(that was the deal breaker). We had heard enough.

It became obvious that the kids were observing the adults in many ways than one and had picked up subliminal messages from the political atmosphere that surrounded them. We were sad not because they were politically aware but because they had become wrongly exposed to the real reasons behind elections and government transitions.  The society was unfair to them. At every turn, people were expressing their opinions without stopping to think of how much their actions affected others. We were all guilty of it and were deeply ashamed. We left there with a heavy heart determined that we would do right by them and ensure that the right message is passed. All the negative ramblings and silly propaganda from everyone had got to have a limit. We had crossed those lines where truth and fairness lay in the bid to express our opinions to others.  We now have a duty to the younger generation to see that the right values are impressed in their ever so absorbing minds.

We had learnt. We had been humbled by the experience. Let's do something about it. We all have a duty to spread the right message. Some little eyes are watching too...

Check out our follow up meeting with the kids this weekend and see how the story continues.

GALLERY

The curtain close moment for our Global Warming Campaign

It's one thing to be around active kids and an entirely different thing to be around hyperactive kids(oh! We found out the difference on the job. There were no pre-warnings. Hehehe). 

So, we finally did come to the end of the awareness campaign on global warning for the month of January. Need i say more? It was a good month for the team. Last week which was the final week, the team conducted an evaluation session with the kids to see how much they had learnt. Boy! We were crazily impressed!! Nothing felt better than to know that the kids paid actual attention(honestly, you never know with kids)and took home notable points. The volunteer teachers asked random questions following the lesson outcomes, did fun quizzes and spelling bees which the excited kids participated fully. We were totally blown away(seriously).

In the end, we concluded that we loved the global warming month and we wish for more fun times to come as we begin another awareness campaign in the month of February!! These kids make our week(no kidding).