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December 27, 2016

Today, our Scholarship Program Intern, Robin Mwanga, shares an update about the training session that took place earlier this month for peer mentoring. Robin is a Psychology and Management graduate student at the United States International University in Nairobi. She summarizes the activities completed at the peer mentoring training session below.

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The TFFT scholarship department organized a peer mentoring training that was attended by 18 of our scholars from December 6th-9th, 2016. It was a heart-warming experience to see adolescents show excitement about supporting one another as “big sister” or “big brother”. From the post-training evaluation feedback, it was clear that the goals and objectives of the workshop were successfully attained. Most scholars reported of how interesting and timely the topic “peer mentoring” was to them personally, and additionally that they wish to introduce a mentoring program in their schools.

Among the intriguing discussions we had was one about a time when someone made an extra effort to support them in a personal life issue. The students opened up about tragedies they’ve faced, the experiences they have had to go through, and when they were supported by a friend or a family member. Some recalled how difficult their situation was, and how comforting the encouragement and support from others made them feel. This is why the scholars are so open to the idea of mentoring another scholar who might face similar difficulties in life.

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This led to another brain storming session that required the scholars to list qualities of a good mentor by coming up with the characteristics that they would want someone supporting them to possess. They were quick to note down these attributes and some shared encounters with friends who needed support in difficult situations. It is alarming for me to hear of the hardships and the stress such young children endure and carry with them to school in hopes of brushing them off once occupied with academic work.  

We conducted a game titled “basket of words”, which required the scholars to verbally and non-verbally express concern for someone in a difficult situation. Situations included not having a parent at TFFT Family Day or the first day of school, a child concerned about the health of a family member, and a child that experienced being bullied. The group came up with many different comforting words, phrases, and actions to make someone feel supported.

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Although the training had its main focus on peer mentoring to become a “big brother” or “big sister” figure, the training session also included creative games and friendly competitions to gear up the children so that they may think deeper, harder, and at a fast pace. A community building competition gave an open arena for children to express their creativity and enhance others’ opinions to bring to life their imaginations and to work together as a team. The results of this training were amazing, and the children look forward to introduce what they learned to their peers at school.

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2022-05-21T03:11:56+00:00