Our colleagues - P and S - created an amazing game, based on our experience in East Africa (mainly Rwanda, actually, where we have the most experience). They created 10 personal profiles (farmer, tailor, boy, girl, father, mother, widow with children, …). They then worked with our artist-in-residence, A, to create a map with 10 homes, roads, banana trees, farm animals, crafts, drying clothes, village gathering, school, …
The class of 40 some students are then divided into 10 groups. Each group sends a representative to learn one of the 10 personal profiles. The rest of the group are then sent to converse with as many as possible of the other 9 representatives, and figure out which home does each of the personalities live in. They also have to guess the social-economic status (from level 1 to 5) of each of the personalities, based on the information at hand. When the groups report their findings, they have to provide justifications for their guesses.
The students take to the game with gusto. We are also quite pleasantly surprised to find that their answers are quite accurate and their reasoning quite reasonable.
Through the game, our students begins to learn about the people and their living environments, how they make a living, the type of things they grow in the field, the challenges in their lives. The map is really beautiful and useful in explaining village life in Rwanda and Tanzania. It is exciting to see students getting involved.
We are thankful we have such a talented and passionate team. This summer is going to be fun.
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