Appendix 2

Exercise 1

Map exercise – The purpose of this exercise is to get people to think ‘outside their own perspectives’ and to see that the world can be viewed in different ways. The maps I used were the traditional Mercator world map (1569 from Germany), the Peters Projection World Map (map that represents countries accurately according to their surface areas. It points out the inaccuracies of the Mercator map that favours European colonial empires), and What’s up? South! World map (this questions the development concept of North/South and who says that the North is up and the South is Down? The world is in fact a ball and has no top. The world is presented with the North in the South and the South in the North), New Zealand No long down under map (This puts New Zealand in the middle of the world and in the North), old maps of the world (You can use any old maps of the world), Fuller’s Dymaxion Map (it challenges spatial and directional relationships with the earth and is designed to help us view the world from above), etc., and I put them up on the walls around the room. In groups of 3 or 4, they go around and answer the following questions: 1) Does this map seem correct to you; 2) Does this map seem different to the map you are used to; 3) Who do you think designed this map? What language is used in the map? What countries are prominent? What countries are not obvious? Whose worldview is being used in these maps; and 4) What are the differences between this map and the first one you saw?

Give the groups at least thirty minutes for the exercise and then get back together and have each group present its answers. A discussion can then be around different perceptions and how we bring our own perceptions to what we read and experience. The exercise should bring out the importance of critically looking at our assumptions and perceptions and that any issue can have many different viewpoints.

Exercise 2

Tree of Life – This is a good exercise for the beginning of a project or course so people can get to know each other better and acknowledge one’s own cultural and identity and place in the world. Each person is to draw a tree with its roots under the ground, the trunk, the leaves, the buds, and the fruit. The roots represent: 1) the family from which we come, and 2) strong influences that have shaped us into the person we are now. The trunk represents: 1) our job, 2) family, and 3) organizations, communities, movements to which we belong. The leaves represent our sources of information like the newspaper, radio, television, books, reports, traditional knowledge, experience, friends, and contacts. The fruit represents our achievements: 1) projects we have organized, 2) programs, 3) groups we have started or helped to develop, and 4) materials we have produced. Finally, the buds represent our hopes for the future. Each person is filling in the tree of life with examples of the above under the appropriate part of the tree. After each person has finished, each one shares his or her tree with the group and they are put on the wall to display. Construction paper, marking pens, and sticky designs are used. The exercise is flexible enough to adapt to any culture. The purpose of the exercise is to reflect on one’s own class origins, recognizing where one’s values, beliefs, and assumptions come from. It is also a nice way to get the group to know each other and understand where people are coming from.

Exercise 3

Knowing one’s culture – The purpose of this exercise is to get people to explain and express their culture in a non-verbal way. With construction paper, pens, sticky symbols, and magazines, each person is to describe their culture through drawings and art. No words can be used. After twenty minutes, have each person share his or her drawing with the others.

Exercise 4

This exercise can be used to remind people of their history and to reflect on how different historical factors have affected their cultures, values, and beliefs. There are three role-plays: 1) pre-colonial, 2) colonial, and 3) post-colonial. Five or six people can volunteer to play a typical family in pre-colonial Ghana. This could consist of a mother, a father, a disabled baby, a daughter, etc., and it is good if they can dress up for the part that they are playing. So this group gets up and sets the pre-colonial scene. Then, the audience asks the following questions for each time period. (For details, see Appendix 1.) This is then repeated (with new actors) for the colonial period and the post-colonial period. The exercise gave people a practical example of their own assumptions and ideas of how the past was for Ghanaians, and sometimes members of the group disagreed with each other and brought out the differences that colonialism made to the economic, social, political, and cultural aspects of life.

Exercise 5

This exercise brings together different ethnic groups to discuss the whole concept of culture. Each person comes up with a word or phrase in their ethnic culture that defines or identifies the concept of culture. The purpose of the exercise is to show that people perceive culture differently and language has a role to play in how culture is defined. Culture involves the past, present, and future. After everyone has come up with a word, the discussion can centre on what culture is, who defines culture, and how these different words to define culture are used in their particular ethnic group. It is an exercise that is quite difficult but provides stimulating dialogue. In talking about culture, it brought out a sense of pride and a way to open the door to cultural attitudes and values important to the project.

Exercise 6

Global debt – The story of the debt crisis

This exercise helps to inform students in a practical way how the IFIs affect their countries. Divide the class into groups of 5 to 7 people, leaving two students out. Give them a big piece of paper or four flip-charts taped together to make a large sheet and ask them to go off and build an ideal society. They can use words, drawings, magazine pictures, etc., to make their own country. They are to be as specific as possible, thinking about the environment, jobs, food, security, industry, etc. This takes about thirty minutes. The students who are left out will be the facilitator’s assistants. The facilitator is usually the teacher. Once the societies have been created, the facilitator and his or her assistants visit the society. They introduce themselves as visitors. They ask questions about the important things in the society and generally chat with the society members. They then announce that they are from the IMF and that the society borrowed money from the IMF and hasn’t been able to pay back the debts. Therefore, the IMF team is here to dictate a certain set of conditions (structural adjustment programs) in order that the society can pay back their debt. The IMF team explains the conditions, i.e., cutting back on education, health care, and social welfare. The IMF team continues to explain the program further while they rip away these programs from the society. (The facilitator literally rips away the ‘education’-related pieces of the society. This is done with great force.) Any pictures of schools, etc., are ripped out of the mural. The second is health care. (The facilitator rips away anything to do with health, like hospitals and health centres). Welfare services are then ripped out of the mural. In the end, the society looks like Swiss cheese with holes in it.

Some of the reactions from students will be that they want to protect their country so they may stand on it or take it away or take the IMF people hostage or become violent.

A discussion at the end could have reflection questions like:

1. What was your reaction to how the IMF treated your society?

2. How did you feel about its attack on your way of life and your values?

3. How are these issues related to North/South relations?

4. Why did you not protect your country or why did you do the things you did to protect your country?

For further information and details of this exercise go to www.united-church.ca/websight.

Look for Global Debt – The Story of the Debt Crisis. There are other games on the website for your use as well.