Reply to Suzanne

Suzanne sparked some thoughts for me.
She wrote:

"It is unfolding that this is going to be a sharing & exchanging of cultural experiences more than a “traditional” classroom experience."

I think this is correct, except that I'm hoping that one will lead to the other. Meaning:

a) that by using the outsider role -- the "tell me about this because I don't know" role -- you volunteers can prompt thought about and expression of how life works for your participants, and
b) that these thoughts and expressions can take on verbal & written form that involves the improvement of English (see Suzanne's suggestion of journals in her first post, about ESOL teaching) and
c) that "class" discussion and the use of visual/oral tools (like MP3 players or video cameras) will prompt the improved speaking of and listening to English.

If we add English readings and movies on "girl" topics as I suggested yesterday, so much the more fodder for talk and thought. On top of that I'm thinking keyboarding and Rosetta Stone practice...

Suzanne then wrote:

"The women in the Yupukari can become more aware of possibilities. However, what then do they do with this knowledge, or awareness?"

I think we are in, to borrow a 60s expression, the "consciousness-raising" phase of development in Yupukari. The basis for any psychological, social or political growth.

Content with CONTENT

Hi, All! It is unfolding that this is going to be a sharing & exchanging of cultural experiences more than a “traditional” classroom experience. This in itself makes for a rewarding timeframe.
The women in the Yupukari can become more aware of possibilities. However, what then do they do with this knowledge, or awareness?
This summer will be their eye-opener (or continued from what Alice has already shown them), and they will then have to take action. (Or each year as more females gain insights, action will begin to take place).

Alice, you mentioned jumping into the “fray” in your response to Kate on the 19th. Ha, I don’t think its quite a fray, but it’s good to have an understanding. Kate, that was a good point about the tools………Alice, as we get closer to the summer, you will be again mentioning specifically what you need (that we can actually bring).

These are all “baby-steps” on the way to the larger picture. These people probably have no idea how special they are. Alice has honed in on what it means to be female. It’s probably equally amazing to consider what it means to be Yupukarian. But, many places in the world have trouble recognizing the value of the women. So, concentrating on the women’s lives is a good, solid platform. (that will naturally lead to other interesting tidbits of info.) The idea of that content creating the basis for our form of instructing and sharing is a good one. (:

What Maia said...

Maia said...

Hi Alice,
I've been doing some brain-storming about what types of lessons I can bring to the table this summer. Should our primary focus be increasing the girls' self-efficacy with confidence based activities, or would classes on more baisc skills (ie reading, writing, math) be a more appropriate start? I'm open to any suggestions,
Maia

February 6, 2007 10:46 AM

This was a great comment that I missed seeing until today -- my apologies, still gettin the hang of this blogger thang. Think it would help all us newbs if everyone would sign in at the top right of the blog home page (http://girlpowerliteracy.blogspot.com) as soon as they arrive at this site and POST instead of COMMENT.

Now to answer Maia. But I really want everyone's brain on this, because it's central to how we're going to work and we've got to thrash it out together until everyone's comfortable and clear.

My current thoughts: I think the CONTENT (something to do with growing up/being female in Yupukari) drives the FORM (using English, cameras, MP3 recorders, computers, etc). Meaning, Dickens didn't sit down to write English novels, he sat down to tell stories, and the medium was English.

I'm thinking that if we start by collaborating with the group members to define a compelling mission (to tell the stories of their lives/their mothers' lives/their grandmothers' lives/all three?) using words in English, pictures, moving pictures, audio recording and the computer as the interface, they will develop the SKILLS as we go. They will also see how lack of skill hampers them from expression, and perhaps derive greater motivation to improve their basic skills as a result (start to see a rationale for their schooling, much of which is pretty dopey, frankly).

That said, I think it would be fab to collect readings, bring movies and anything else you can think of that shows women/girls thinking about and expressing being women/girls. Preferably this stuff would be not too long or esoteric, and from a variety of cultures. Right now my brain is going to chick lit and girl flicks like A Little Princess (the remake) or Little Women, never saw Girl, Interrupted, really don't know this stuff at all ... Sex from the female POV is good too as long as it steers a careful course around obscenity (thinking politically now).
Over to yall.

Kate's comments as a post, Alice replies

Kate commented:

Thank you for posting your proposal. Together We FLY is a great idea. I have a couple of questions before I can start my accumulation of resources and preparation for this project.

Questions for the Community-Playground Activity:
What computer design program do use on those 9 computers?
Other than hammers, what tools are available? What materials? (ex. wood, sheet metal)
Would you like ideas/pictures of multi-play playgrounds from us? Or does the community already have an idea in mind?

Girl’s Literacy Questions:
What potential jobs are available, if any, to these women if they do enter/complete high school? What computer skills should be taught (ex. typing skills, research, data input)?
Do you have any resources in the library to meet the needs of this girl’s self-advocacy program? (ex. resources to address the question – what does it mean to be a girl)

A Little Bit About Myself:
I am extremely excited to meet you and get this project underway. I am in the process of self-evaluation to see what I bring to the mix and what resources I can attain/create in order to be beneficial to this pilot project. I have lots of experiences in teaching leadership programs and team-building exercises. I am in my last year at Queen’s, I study Music (I play the piano and the drums), I have a minor in History and have taken a couple of Development Study courses. In the past, I’ve been a sailing coach, camp counsellor, and I’m a lifeguard/swim instructor – just some background info on myself. This sounds like an amazing project and I am glad to be a part of it.

Take care,
Kate

February 19, 2007 8:55 AM

Alice's replies:

Community Playground Tools

Mike has developed some proficiency on Google Sketch-Up, and he may have been thinking about that when he referred to using computers in the design process. I'm not sure, and he won't be back from a river trip until April 2, so I can't answer that one exactly. We are certainly open to suggestions there. As far as woodworking tools, we have a wide range of hand and power tools (and a generator), but we don't have a lot of duplicates of any one thing: we have a couple of hammers, a couple of drills, like that. Wood will have to be harvested locally as needed (a possible river/camping trip) and sheet metal, bolts etc are available 2 hours away but in a very limited range of sizes/quality/quantity.

As far as bringing ideas for the playground. The sticky part with that is that folks here tend to be too deferential/polite to the ideas of outsiders, so one wants to supply processes more than ideas if at all possible. Meaning, if you and/or Maia would like to do some research into participatory design playground projects, the methodology that has been used to engage people effectively would be more valuable than the ideas that were produced out of those processes. Mike has expressed the goal of discovering and incorporating traditional Macushi forms of play, such as a game similar to marbles that uses tree seeds; I would like to incorporate traditional structures, such as a kind of shooting platform they used to use for hunting that is similar to a basic treehouse. Some community members do already have ideas in mind: they are carbon copies of playgrounds they have already seen, either in books or in towns.

Girl's Literacy:

The typical jobs available to girls who complete high school are schoolteacher, community health worker, there are some dietitian positions opening up in the school lunch program, possibly an office position with a business or agency, and they do have access to the University of Guyana for a certificate or BA in any number of subjects (see www.uog.edu.gy).

As far as library materials on "what it means to be a girl" we certainly don't have much, even of the "Our Bodies, Our Selves" variety, and more could be helpful, but remember that this social/cultural context is completely different. The goal is to get participants to reflect on their lives and choices, not to absorb our attitudes, which are based on a different set of opportunities. That said, the very idea that they have choices is arguably an import. It's very hard for girls here to choose a path different from mothers or peers, just as it can be in any culture (eg try being a teenage HS-dropout mom when your own mother is a high-powered attorney).

These are great, challenging questions/comments, Kate. I hope everyone else will jump into the fray, and especially, disagree with me or at least take things further than I have here.

Very Good!

Alice, the Village-making program, and the whole Together We Fly concept, seems exactly suitable for a hands on, skills building, memory making experience! For the villagers and the volunteers! Sounds great!

Honestly, I am so happy that there will be physical work along with the mental work. Combining the girls with the boys can be very beneficial.

It can encourage a competitive spirit, but more importantly, it allows for each gender to observe successes. This will hopefully increase respect as well.

This is a good thing that can become a great thing!
(:
Suzanne

This is the latest picture of the Yupukari Public Library! It will just keep looking better and better.

Revised Program per Village Input

Hello all.

Want to bring you up to date on the status of the summer program from this end.

Got an opportunity to present grant proposals to the Canadian High Commission in Georgetown. Chose to ask them for monetary help with our planned program: more laptops, cameras, software (Rosetta Stone?), office supplies. Also asked Mike to design a counterpart leadership program for boys, which he did, using the design and construction of a long-desired nursery school playground as the core activity.

This led to discussing the programs at several village meetings, first with the Caiman House Committee (a body of 5 villagers who liaison the Field Station with the village) and then put it on the agenda at the teacher-training meeting we hold weekly at Caiman House will all nine teaching staff.

Interestingly, the two groups had identical comments. They liked the ideas about developing youth leadership that underpin the program designs, but wanted to see both programs be co-ed and multi-age. The premise of single-sex, age-based grouping was not persuasive to them -- a cultural difference? While I still plan to fence off "girl time" on the computers to ensure access, we can run the media literacy program as co-ed I think without losing anything (comments, arguments, alternative solutions, etc., welcome). I am inserting here what we submitted to the Canadians (it's short), which incorporated the village inputs. Whether or not we get the funding, we need to absorb the village requests while we continue to shape our thinking.

Here's the proposal:

Introduction

Meetings in Yupukari, whether public or private, large or small, have over the past several years come to routinely feature criticism of the state of education in the village. Not one Yupukari child has passed the Common Entrance Exam in the last four years. During this same period Yupukari has joined the North Rupununi District Development Board (NRDDB), has repeatedly been offered grant opportunities, and has received attention and encouragement from any number of NGOs, to little consequence. Villagers have become increasingly aware of their lack of preparation for self-advocacy and its costs, even as the pressures on their lands, waters and culture are mounting. This proposal was prepared against that background by the Rupununi Learners Foundation, a US-based 501c3 headquartered in Yupukari (http://rupununilearners.org), and in consultation with the Toshao, Village Council members, and entire teaching staff of Yupukari.

The proposed program aims to develop substantive leadership, communication and teamwork skills in female and male Yupukarians. While two single-sex, youth-oriented program were originally contemplated, villagers have repeatedly suggested that a multigenerational, coeducational program is a better cultural fit.

Together We FLY (Future Leaders of Yupukari) – Village-making

Together We Fly is an experimental prototype of a program that will develop team building, leadership skills and facilitate effective collective action, communication and supportive consensus-building among participants while making use of new and available technologies in the village.

The experience of growing up in Yupukari involves growing pressure to seek work outside the village and results in a large migration of labor to mines and forestry projects in northern Guyana and to large-scale farms in Brazil. The sentiment among many in the village is the strong desire to leave, that home has nothing to offer, and that creation of an improved quality of life in Yupukari is impossible (out of their hands). Current views of leadership in the village include distrust, lack of participation, inaction, poor communication and jealousy. In the same breath villagers express a growing need for more committed leadership.

The goal of the “Village-making” program is to facilitate the conception, design and construction of a schoolyard playground that incorporates many types of play. Participants will be on their feet, practicing new skills and improving their abilities with the tools that are available in the village (from computers to hammers). While group members create a project that allows them to lead an entire process (from conception to completion), the conditions for supportive teamwork can be shaped. Originally conceived as an all-male program of mentors and boys, villagers have suggested that women and girls be equally involved.

The Together We Fly program, currently in development through partnerships with several local woodworkers and a variety of local leaders, will teach a variety of computer-based design skills, woodworking tool safety and technique, and facilitate the exploration of teamwork and leadership. The program will run from June to August, at which time we will evaluate it and derive recommendations for a second run: as an ongoing after-school program during the 2007-2008 academic year, that will identify and tackle other tangible ways that life can be improved in Yupukari.

Together We FLY – “Girl Power” Media Literacy

“Girl Power” Media Literacy is an experimental prototype of a program that will develop computer skills, English language skills and stimulate reflection and expressiveness on the topic of growing up female in Yupukari. A wide variety of expressive media are available, including but not limited to digital photography, digital video, audio recording, web and desktop publishing, bookmaking and illustration. While not closed to males (per village suggestion), this program will recruit female participants and prioritize resources for use by females. Also per village input, a multigenerational roster is anticipated.

Yupukari girls show interest in computers every day but have a hard time wresting them away from the boys (currently the public library owns nine solar-powered laptops). The girls need English in order to read for life, pass exams and access opportunities. Typically they do not go to high school, do not read well, and have few employment or life choices. They are under considerable cultural pressure to become sexually active at a young age, to become mothers early and often, and to relinquish to males the limited available power roles. As mothers they pass this matrix down to the next generation as an inevitable norm. Macushi women do not generally hold positions of power or influence in the community, the region, or the state.

The goal for this program is to support women through learning experiences to value themselves, to value each other as females with a common cause, and to seek better opportunities and choices. By putting the development of expressive skills at the center – English and media literacy – and by modeling a teamwork approach, the conditions for female leadership in Yupukari can be created.

The “Girl Power” Literacy curriculum, currently in development through a partnership with two Queens University (Ontario) seniors and an ESOL high school teacher/volunteer from the US (all women, volunteering with RLF this summer) will use English as the language of instruction, teach a variety of computer-based skills and facilitate the exploration and expression of group and individual reflection on female village lives. The program will run from June to August, at which time we will evaluate it and derive recommendations for a second run: as an ongoing after school program during the 2007-2008 academic year.