As one year ends, another sets in; it is surprising that 2012 is already ending and people are looking forward to 2013, we remain hopeful that 2013 will be better than 2012.

In this blog, you will be reading about the four workshops that happened in one week, you shall also read about our upcoming programmes.

I informed you earlier that four SELL Programmes held in one week and here is a rundown of these programmes:

• In Jos, the capital of Plateau State, Nigeria, two SELL programmes took place in the same week. The first was on Wednesday 28th – Thursday 29th November 2012, members of the Jos Area SELL team (Grace, Beji, Hilda and Alex) lead the interactive Forum and 15 young people participated. The unit of the SELL programme that was shared with the young people was the Self Awareness unit. Some of the participants said the following in their evaluations;

• I feel happy about this workshop and wish the programme continues. I also felt cared for, I was listened to as well.
• I appreciate the SELL Team in Jos for the wonderful work they did with us, I pray that they will continue this work to the glory of God.

Other participants said they now see the need to let go some of the hurts they have carried right from childhood for their own liberation.  Some participants said the methodology that SELL uses (sharing of experiences), is very useful because it gave them the opportunity to see the need of trusting someone again because they cannot trust everyone.




Still facilitated by the same team (Jos Team), on Friday 30th – Saturday 1st December 2012, the team delivered a SELL Programme with a group of young people in Angul – Dee area of Jos town.  The facilitators again, shared the Self – Awareness unit of the programme with the participant. According to Grace, one of the facilitators, ‘the Programme was a great success, and recorded 21 participants’. Grace also said the Self Awareness unit has never been as heavy for her in the sense that it was very emotional, she said participants journeying into their past generated tears for them (Participants). Because of the situation, the facilitators had to pause with the work for the group to regain their emotions before they continued with the workshop. 

The SELL Resource Team congratulates members of the SELL Team in Jos for all the wonderful work they are doing with the young adults and wish them luck as they continue with the work.

• Another SELL programme that happened on the weekend of 30th November – 1st December 2012 was at Takum town in Taraba State, Nigeria. The unit that was delivered to the 15 young people that attended was the Leadership unit of the SELL programme. Victor and Dominic, members of the SELL Team in Jalingo delivered the Programme at Takum.
• The third SELL Programme for that weekend took place in Shendam town. Shendam is a Local Government Area in Plateau State, Nigeria. The Group that invited the SELL Team in Shendam to deliver the SELL Programme for them was the Catholic Cadet youths in Shendam. The Programme recorded 56 participants and the facilitators were Dajan and Fidelis. 

This will mean that in one week alone, 107 young people had experienced the SELL programme, we pray that the impact of what they have acquired be felt in their families and communities and may they also find it useful for themselves. 

In view of this, the SELL Resource Team feels proud of her Area Teams for owning the programme and taking it upon themselves to Share its goodness with other young people. We hope that in 2013, we shall work more, to affect many young people towards a better society. 

UPCOMING REPORTS

The first SELL Community Training in Jos is took place on the 14th – 15th December, 2012. The training was on the Self Awareness unit of SELL and the Venue was at the Inter-Faith Youth Vocational Training Centre in Bokkos, Plateau state, Nigeria. The organisation for this training was done by members of the Jos Area Team; we wish to appreciate them for this effort. A report of this Training shall come to you in our next update.

Still from Jos, the SELL team there will be had a programme with the Senior Students of a Secondary in Jos. Detail of this workshop and training shall be reported to you in our next blog. For now, have a wonderful yuletide season.

Maria DAGOGOT,

Communication Team Member, SELL Foundation 




  

In my last update, I informed you that three SELL Programmes will be taking place simultaneously in the coming week. I am happy to share with you this week that all these three Programmes have taken place and were very successful.

Let me now share with you our experience from the three different workshops.

• The first workshop was also a first for the SELL Foundation. This is because it was the first time the Foundation was having a workshop with an all Muslim group.

                  The group was a group of Muslim friends in Nasarrawa Gwom of Jos metropolis of Plateau State Nigeria. It is important to note too that this community in Jos has witnessed a lot of violent crisis in the past between Christians and Muslims. Therefore, when the Team got an invitation to work with the young Muslims of this Community, it was a great privilege.

                 The SELL Programme unit of Leadership which was shared with the group was facilitated by the SELL Resource Team of Leo, Umar and Jonathan. They went to Nasarawa Gwom on Friday 23rd and delivered the SELL Programme on Saturday the 24th November 2012. The venue was the Nasarawa Comprehensive Secondary School. The participants were 22 in number.

                  The participants found the Programme very participatory and some said they were challenged to lead with compassion and not to influence others especially their followers negatively. Umar from the SELL Resource Team who also participated said the programme was highly educative and respected every faith tradition, for example, all the Islamic Prayer times were observed; participants took a break from the workshop and went to pray at these times.

                  Some of the evaluation comments were; “I feel this workshop should continue”, “I will pass the information I gained from this workshop” e.t.c.

On this note, we wish to thank Shua’ibu, who is one of the trainee facilitators of the SELL Programme for organising the programme and gathering his friends to attend. We are also grateful to the proprietor of the school for allowing us use the school premises as venue for the workshop. We look forward to working with this group again.

Still on workshop reports, the other two workshops took place in Kaduna State of Nigeria. Below is the report from the workshop that took place in Ngwan Boro Community in Kaduna.

• On the 23rd – 24th November 2012,  Theophilus, one of the SELL Pioneer Trainee Facilitators with Moses and Isaac of the SELL Resource Team lead the interactive forum with a group of young People in Ungwan Boro Community of Kaduna. Isaac who participated in the programme had this to say; “the building of a better community they say begins one block at a time, and this maxim was confirmed at Ungwan Boro Community in Kaduna South Local Government Area of Kaduna state, where the SELL Foundation organised a Community Building workshop for the young people. The high point for me during the workshop was the session on ‘Assumption and Perspective’. Participants confessed that indeed most beliefs and stereotypes they give to people of other tribes apart from theirs was more often based on prejudice and not real about them. Also, the place of women in our community cannot be over emphasized, the group all agreed that men are naturally selfish, they think more of themselves. However, a compromise was reached with the contribution of one of the participants who said it is true that man is selfish, but they are, because of their responsibilities. The group agreed at the end of the training to get more female involved in community actions and all promised to make Ungwan Boro a better community”. All participants were 16 (10 female and 6 male).

• Last of the three workshops that took place on that same weekend was that facilitated by Maria of the SELL Resource Team and Tommy Hayden (a resource person to the SELL Foundation) who devoted his November month this year to be with the Resource Team to support the Team in delivering her programmes.  

We got an invitation to work with the group by an NGO in Kaduna called ‘Hope for the Village Child Foundation (HVCF)’. The unit of the Programme that was delivered was the Community Building Unit and it was in Hausa Language. The Hausa version of the programme is called ‘Illimin Kowa’ (Learning for all).The workshop gave the Team a chance to experiment with the programme again. 27 young people participated, of which 7 were female. The Programme with the HVCF was unique because, while the programme in Jos was for a Muslim group and the one at Ungwan Boro Kaduna was an all Christian group, the programme run at HVCF was for an interfaith group (Muslims and Christians).  A participant Musa said it was indeed a very useful time for him during the programme because his thinking was challenged and the false ideas he had in his head about co-existence with people of different cultures he lives with in his community is not the idea he is going back with. During the exercise on Gender; the role of women was explored and most of the men said women are life and without them, the community might feel lifeless. Another insight from the programme was that women carry a triple burden of work but this is not recognised and acknowledged by the male folk.  An important Learning was that the men and women are equal therefore, the men in the group said they shall support women and create this awareness too in their various communities.

The Bauchi SELL Team had also been busy in the previous week, Mary and James of Bauchi SELL Team delivered the Peace Building unit of the SELL programme at the Army Barracks, Gombe state, Nigeria. The programme held on the 16th – 18th November 2012 and 17 young adults were in attendance of which 8 were female and 9 of them were male.

The participants were happy with the programme because it exposed them to the ways in which we can be peace makers in all life situations. During the evaluation, some of the participant (Francisca and Mary) said that the Reflection on anger Management (one of the sessions explored) has helped them see the need to forgive one another.  

We wish to appreciate all the facilitators for working tirelessly in making these workshops happen and the participants too for their active participation in the programme.

 Another event that happened on the 24th November 2012 was the end of year meeting and planning for 2013 programmes by members of the Abuja SELL Team. Abuja is the Capital city of Nigeria. Members of the SELL Team in Abuja who were present at the meeting were: Lucy, Babatimi, JohnMaria, Markus, Modesta and Patrick. We congratulate them for the success of their meeting and planning for 2013, we pray that our collective efforts of empowering young people will yield positive results.

UPCOMING REPORTS

In our next blog, I will give you a report of four workshops that happened from Thursday 29th November – Saturday 1st December 2012 at four different locations and by different SELL Teams. 

It has really been a long and interesting blog this week, thanks for staying with us, let’s meet again next time.

Maria DAGOGOT

Communication Desk, SELL