SambaSports Youth Agenda continues to impact lives of young people positively as coordinated and supported by our partners in Plan International Kenya, Kwale office. A team of facilitators from SambaSports stretched out to four different villages with Matuga Sub-County had the pleasure to interact with students and imparting them with life skills and sessions on child protection. This is to help them understand and appreciate the dynamics of adolescence and how to cope with this delicate stage of their lives— reaching 404 adolescents, 138 boys and 266 girls.
With the use of experiential learning, which provides opportunities for full participation and engagement of the students in the activities and discussion held with them. This includes role plays, open and focus group discussions, and use of songs. Through the mentioned techniques the students learned about Self Awareness: The key to achieving greater success in life is understanding one’s weaknesses and strengths. The students were able to identify theirs and share their beliefs. They expressed their thoughts and feelings about themselves by writing on sticky notes. This exercise helped them appreciate themselves and the difference in their strengths, weaknesses and beliefs. Most importantly was how to they could work on their weaknesses and commitment to enhancing their weaknesses.
In open, safe and candid discussions, moderated by the facilitators, the adolescents expressed their thoughts and feelings on the following:
- Self Control: emphasis was on how they could control their emotions both in school and at home.
- Problem Solving: this helped them believe in their ability to solve key problems their lives and the various problem solving skills they can utilize positively.
- Decision Making: students were able to learn the different stages of making decisions and helping them come up with better decisions for their future with no regrets whatsoever.
- Critical thinking: the adolescent boys and girls learnt that before acting on anything, they needed to think carefully and see if the action was more beneficial or less beneficial. This was relayed through role plays, pictograms, question and answer sessions as well as storytelling.
- Child Protection: students were able to identify their rights and states the various ways their rights are abused or violated. They also learned about where to seek help when these rights are infringed.
Each session was accompanied with songs and games to break boredom and improve the relationship among the students, and between the facilitators and students. This also made it easy for them to interact freely with staff from both Plan International and SambaSports. The adolescents made the following recommendations after the healthy engagement:
- Exposure visits
- Regular engagements,
- Availability of sporting items,
- Water tank to curb water shortage. They also requested for sporting items like footballs, They requested for water tanks for water storage in their schools.
SambaSports Youth Agenda wishes to appreciate the support of Plan international Kenya, as it helps us keep our community safer.
