Group Facilitation, Blogging and First Aid

Group facilitation is not an easy task. Ms Annmarie recommended that a group facilitator should start the first group meeting with an 'ice breaker' activity, to let the members of the group feel comfortable and willing to share ideas. The facilitator could also choose an activity that is related to the topic for discussion. If the topic is teamwork, the activity could be the human tangle game that we played as shown in the video below :)

Group facilitation also involves proper use of communication styles and skills such as eye contact with ALL MEMBERS of the group. One must never make eye contact with only one member as the other members will easily loose their focus on the facilitator and the topic. A group facilitator can also encourage group members to share their opinions/ideas by sharing their own opinions/ideas as well.

Ms Sophia on the other hand, emphasized that blogging is not just about sharing information, it also involves sharing about you the blogger. One must be creative and connect with their blog! As I reviewed my previous blogs, I observed that very little was shared about my thoughts or opinions. I am now trying to be creative and connect with my blogs and I do hope that I am doing just that :). Blogs can also consist videos/pictures rather than words. At the meeting we did a still video about our purpose for travelling to Ghana as shown below.

We were privileged to attend a first aid training session at the Moriah Community Centre and from the looks of it first aid is hard work! There is a lot to remember and do. We learnt about the different accident scenarios: how to spot them and how to deal with them. Someone that is choking may be holding their throat and could confirm choking by nodding their head. In trying to help the choking individual, one has to hold them in a forward bent position and give them couple strokes just below the neck area. We also did Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) which was cool but tiring. Some situations require 2 cycles of 2 breaths and 30 chest compression. 60 chest compression is not an easy task for my tiny arms. Strength and endurance is definitely needed in first aid.

Camping and Transcultural Awareness

There is a lot more to camping than I had previously thought. Campers must be aware of the country code which consists of 10 rules for campers to be of no disturbance to the environment. Some of the rules such as leave no litter and avoid damaging fences, hedges and walls are expected. Keep to the paths across farm land is a strange rule to me but then again it explains why I never saw people camping on the main road lol.

I also thought that campers just pitched their tents in clear area and that was all there was to it. However, I learnt that camp sites must be selectively placed in areas where they are protected from the wind and areas that would not allow for large pools of water to be formed from a little rain. It was said that the camp site must always be facing the morning sun. I cannot remember the reason for this but I think it may act as an alarm clock for the campers to awake on mornings.

The Ghana crew and myself also had the opportunity to make a tripod camp fire. This fire uses three medium-large rocks as a base, hence the name tripod. We took our time and assembled the 3 levels of a fire which were;

1.     Kindle - the base level which consisted of very small flammable items such as small dried leaves and pieces of cardboard.
2.     Twigs - the second level.
3.     Wood - the third level.

Shane shared his experience in Ghana with us and it helped us to better understand transcultural awareness. The similarities and differences between Ghana and Trinidad and Tobago cultures. For instance Ghana has chiefs that are the overseers of different districts whereas Trinidad and Tobago have majors that do the same thing. Different titles but very similar responsibilities. He also encouraged us be open-minded and to not express ethnocentrism, whereby we view our culture as being better than other cultures.