Every month we host a seminar on community development at our community center in Rocky Point. In 2010 we trained 540 community members in the difference between
relief and development. This past week we added a new piece to the seminar:
River Crossing.
It goes like this:
Draw two lines with chalk on the floor to be banks of a river. Draw two circles representing stepping stones and a larger circle to represent an island. Two people come to the river and want to cross but do now know how to swim. The current is strong and they are afraid to cross. A third man comes along and sees their difficulty. He offers to help them cross on the stepping stones but they are afraid. He agrees to carry one on his back but only manages to reach the island where he leaves the first man. He then returns to get the second man but is now too tired to carry the next man. The third man refuses to carry the man who is left but agrees to help him walk across on the stones. Halfway across the man feels confident enough to manage on his own. Both men cross the river and the one man is left on the island and shouts for help as the first man walks away completely forgetting that he is left there. The man that was helped across the river goes back to the man who is left on the island and teaches him to do it, so he in turn can also teach others.
And then we ask a bunch of questions trying to draw out the following points:
When you carry the person, you don't teach him to do it himself.
If you teach someone something, do it in a way that he can then teach others.
Sometimes you hurt more than help a person by doing it for him.
You learn better by doing and not just seeing.
A teacher was needed.
We learn by example and encouragement.
Explanation needed.
Repetition important.
Sometimes we only do half a job.
Doing it for someone doesn't get the job done.
We don't need vast experience to teach someone else.
Real development is helping people do things themselves, not doing it for them.
The last part shows the importance of multiplication.
