Arrival date fo this training was on the 25th of June, 2010 while departure was 4th July, 2010. In between these two dates was 8 full days which we used for the training. The trainees were trained in two units of the 6 units of the sell programme. These two units are; Personal Growth and leadership units and here is a brief run down of what happened.
Most of our participants were new to the programme. The facilitators, Jonathan Leo and I shared out pieces from the training schema. We introduced the SELL programme and the philosophy behind it.
The first unit that was presented was the personal growth unit of the SELL programme, with the symbol of a river, Jonathan took us through it, and he said the life of human beings is like a flowing river. That a river has a source and where it is going to either to join another small river or to enter the sea or ocean and that could be its end point or destination. Other sessions of the Personal Growth unit were discussed and these sessions are; the Johari’s window, Transactional analysis and the Human behavior, Relationship and friendship, know yourself and sexuality. What was most challenging to the participants was the exercise on know yourself. Most participants say they had not really found time to assess themselves, but with this, they realized that even as individuals they need to create to time examine themselves, that this will help them know themselves, their capabilities and weakness so as to improve on them.
As for the leadership unit the participants saw the need for transformation in our society, from the hierarchical model of leadership to around table leadership. We help them to explore the servant leadership style which we also call the community model leadership. From the evaluation of this unit, participants said they found Pass the Message exercise very insightful some said their communication skills have been improved.
The 8 day work was very intense; we worked for at least 11 hours daily. The facilitators in training got a lot to take back to their various dioceses. It is our prayer that as they go to deliver this programme to the young adults of their places they will find inspiration to do the work effectively.
All work and no play make Jack and Jane a dull boy and girl. The group organized a social night to end the training and that was on Saturday evening, it was very interesting because there was a lot to drink and eat. We all danced and shook off the fatigue of the training. On Sunday morning, after the mass we all started departing.
This weekend, the Bauchi SELL Team comprising of Mary James, Pius Paul and Jacob Paulus will be going to Yelwa community in Bauchi, to deliver a workshop on the Community Building unit of the SELL Programme, Jonathan and I will be accompanying them. We wish them good luck in that.
Stay with us in this column. See you next week.
Maria
For SELL Team