Life Skills Education and Counseling - Mpumiro - Mpumiro Primary School

Visit by Lorna Katagara on 2021-09-29

Report ID
14202
Created by
Lorna Katagara
Created date
2021-09-30 09:07:58 UTC
Modified by
Lorna Katagara
Modified date
2021-09-30 12:06:04 UTC
Trip Time
10:00-17:30 (7 h 30 m)
Village Time
12:00-15:20 (3 h 20 m)
Travel Time
4 h 10 m

Life Skills Education and Counseling community lesson

School
Mpumiro Primary School 
Lesson Taught
Aggressive Behaviours,Assertiveness: Attack and Avoid 
Girls Attended
4 
Boys Attended
7 
Total Student Attendance
11 
Teachers Attended
0 
Fathers Attended
7 
Mothers Attended
15 
Total Parent Attendance
22 
Staff Attendees
Lorna Katagara 
Government Attendees
LC1 
School Staff Attendees
Class Teacher 
Visitor Attendees
Mariah Namukose 
Total Attendance
0 
Learning Objectives
By the end of the meeting / lesson, the community members have understood who an Assertive person is. By the end of the lesson, community members know the different communication styles and behaviors and characteristics of each.
Notes
Lorna went along with Mariah to Mpumiro village where as soon as we arrived, we went to the borehole to check its status since they are building the borehole fence. At the borehole we found some girls and boys scrubbing their jerrycans. Lorna asked the caretaker borehole committee what th3 state if the borehole was and he mentioned that the borehole is doing well except sometimes it stops working and they have to wait for it to recover before they can pump again. Lorna and Mariah asked what the problem could be and he mentioned that the pipes are less. Lorna tried pumping and indeed it happened that as she was pumping the borehole , the hand pump suddenly dropped and was very light with no water coming through whatsoever. Mariah was also able to interact with a certain 21 year old girl as Lorna was interacting with the caretaker. She told Mariah the pregnancy will be her third it means she gave birth earlier and Mariah advised her to go to family planning so she can be able to produce the children she can take care of. After here we went to the meeting place. At the meeting place we met with the children and we still continued with our topic on values of education. Since schools are to be opened next year we continued to encourage them not to give up and read their books and Mariah encouraged them to avoid all those things that may lead them to drop out of school like local video libraries, bad peer groups among others. She encouraged them that in this race of life and education, we start many but at the end when it’s time for graduation, the fittest , determined, disciplined will survive. After the children, we met the community members . Lorna and Mariah met with group C even after mentioning that the president has now allowed us to gather 200 people and that we should go back to our usual meeting place, the chairman advised otherwise that we meet at Muhammad’s place which is where we met. We started with a prayer and then Lorna asked Mariah to introduce herself after which Lorna took over and asked anyone who was at Group B to bring us up to speed with the topic we were on but it seemed like only a few people remembered and so we reminded ourselves of the topic but during the lesson, the chairman asked to be excused as he had an issue to deal with. We looked at what communication is, importance, barriers among which was Spreading rumors . We then looked at communication styles and behaviors of Attack, Avoid, Passive, Aggressiveness and Assertiveness. We looked at characters under aggressive as ; insulting, interrupting, nagging, persisting they are right all the time, shouting at the top of their voices while giving different examples in our homes and community. Characters of Avoid/Passive like ; backbiting, sulking in silence, taking it out on the wrong person, playing the victim among others.After looking at this, we looked at solutions where Assertiveness came in. One man mentioned that the women do not communicate to them but instead act rudely towards them or talk to their friends outside and when it comes back they are very defensive and it leaves the men to just keep quiet and go about their normal lives but this is not good communication where the other side is suppressed. Lorna asked if this was true and the women kept quiet meaning it was true. One man mentioned when he has issues with his wife they solve it in the bedroom and it’s done there not outside of the home blaming the women. Lorna encouraged the women to face their problem and be free to open up to their husbands and tell them how they feel so that their is mutual understanding.Women also mentioned men are too rude but again Nsubuga said what do they expect if they are rude to them, they will also be rude to them. Maraiah encouraged both men and women to respect each others views then they will have a solution. She asked that both refer to themselves sweet names as opposed to calling themselves “names”. When they call themselves funny names there will be less response and will cause one to either act in Passive or aggressive way. Lorna mentioned that when we respect each other, even the response will change in a way that will encourage or entice the one listening to understand you and act rather than being passive or aggressive to get things done. We carried out a role play of Yes and No where we had one group shouting yes and the other shouting no and Lorna mentioned this is how we communicate everyday everyone wants to be right which is wrong. We need to calm down and listen to each other .It was interesting because both Lorna and Mariah co- taught which was fun . When we respect each other, we respond in a way that will encourage or entice the one listening to understand you and act rather than being passive or aggressive to get things done. Nsubuga still asked that this communication topic continue but especially to the women that they should learn how to communicate. We will look more into Assertive messages in the next lesson. Conclusion Maraiah advised about having less drugs in the health centers that the drugs are brought quarterly and they need to use them sparingly not to go to hospital when they are not sick and also on the sicknesses affecting their children as she looked at poor feeding being one of the reasons for sickness. 
Next Visit
2021-10-06 - Purpose: We will be learning Assertive messages and introducing new topic Relationship Skills
Program Success
No
Program Critical Needs
Relationship Skills
Program Ownership
Good participation
Other Program Observations
The borehole fence is almost complete and Lorna was able to see both children and adults cleaning their jerrycans at the borehole.
Program Expected Of Village
Mobilize themselves and come early to the meeting
Program Staff Preparations Next Visit
Prepare notes and call prior
 

Report Photos

21795 Mariah engaging the men to use nice names as they refer to their wives because they way they refer to them is the way they wil respond and vice versa
21798 At the borehole
21801 The 21 year old lady at the borehole in Mpumiro
21804 Oketcho kneeling down responding to the question asked.
21816 Mariah contributing to the topic of the day
21825
21828 During communication skills lesson
21831