Before going off to the barazza groups...
The first day of the barazza group with 'We Smile Together'...
As a facilitator for the barazza group, I had 3 barazza sessions together to prepare and take action during the one-week conference. In the beginning I was quite nervous to be honest. However, I thought that the first barazza group went quite smoothly. I started the session by having everyone introducing their names, age, school etc. Then we did an ice-breaker just to get everyone settled therefore they do not feel pressure. The ice-breaker we chose to do was of the 'knot' where everyone held hands and had to solve the knot. Afterwards, we sat down in a circle and discussed issues to do with what the key-note speaker had just talked about. The topic mainly focused on human rights, particularly in Nepal. The key-note speaker, Mr. Peter Dalglish is a human rights lawyer and therefore helps children as well as adults in developing countries. He told us all of a story dealing with a child and how a policeman had killed two of his friends. This was in Nepal. However, this child witnessed the incident and with the help of Mr.Dalglish took this to court. Unfortunately, they lost in the trail maybe due to the corruption and relations which the policeman had. Thereafter, as the policeman walked out of the court room, he spat right into the child's face...
This story was brought up in the discussion within the barazza group. Everyone had their own point of views which were recorded in contributing to the 'conference statement' which was announced at the end of the conference.
Difficulties I had to face as a facilitator...
It was difficult not to contradict people's opinion as I have my own views on different issues such as animal rights. In one of the barazza sessions, I mentioned how personally it was very cruel for some countries in Asia to torture bears for their bile and also in Cambodia how they kill small monkeys for their brains. I was emotionally struck when one of the key note speaker spoke about it. Therefore, I expressed this in my barazza group. Moreover, in my barazza group a delegate from Australia mentioned that his hobby is hunting and that he grew up in an area in Australia where hunting dears and kangaroos is considered fine. Therefore, is a sense or ideas conflicted. However, we tried to understand each others point of views.
In the end, were the barazza sessions effective and did I earned what I seek for?
Reflecting back I believe that the barazza group sessions were effective. This was because all the delegates in the group took part in expressing their opinions on different issues. We managed as a group to discuss issues relating to animal rights, human rights (in some developing countries such as Nepal and India, how the children in these countries don't receive similar opportunities as us, particularly in education. Through being a facilitator, therefore listening as well as expressing my own opinions, I have learned to become a better communicator as well as being open-mined (e.g. such as the issue involving hunting the kangaroos and dears, I tried to accept the Australian culture). Moreover, I believe that through being a barazza leader, I've engaged with issues of global importance and this is crucial in my opinion because most individuals live in a bubble and are not truly aware of what is going on in the outside world.
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