Since most of the participants work with groups of students, the Behavior Agreement is a tool that allows everyone to discuss and agree on acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors.
Day 3 of Play for Peace training in Myitkyina brought another participant from the Rebirth Rehabilitation Center, an organization that works with people addicted to drugs. After playing a few games and reviewing the core values, the group played a game where they had to discover things that they had in common with others. At the beginning of the activity, the participants talked mostly about things that they had in common and that they liked.
But as the activity progressed, Play for Peace trainers Swati Bhatt and Agyat Shunya introduced the concepts of “comfort zone”, “stretch zone” and “panic zone.” When people talk about things that are outside of their “comfort zone,” they have an opportunity to stretch and grow. The group was asked to stretch and try and find common ground around opinions and emotions on topics that they didn’t necessarily “like.” One participant said that discussing subjects outside of their comfort zone helped them get closer and also increased the trust between them. The next activity was discussing how to develop Behavior Agreements for Play for Peace training. Since most of the participants work with groups of students, the Behavior Agreement is a tool that allows everyone to discuss and agree on acceptable and non-acceptable behaviors. When using words like "selfish," participants were asked to describe more specific behaviors to make it easier for everyone to understand the expectations.
At the end, the group made a master list of acceptable behaviors that were discussed. The afternoon was an opportunity to practice what everyone had learned by conducting their Play for Peace training with local children. Watch our next blog post for pictures of the event!
