Excited for the Team Building Session

Post by Prakriti and Prabriti Nepal
Rukmini Foundation Didis

Team Building

Group 2 working together on drawing projectRukmini foundation already has welcomed two groups of scholars, and is always looking for ways to cultivate new ideas to help build new skills for our scholars. The Didi Program, which is a motivational program has been trying to help the girls develop not only academically, but develop other skills that are important.  This year we wanted to find more ways to help our Bahinis (younger sisters / scholars) learn how to work together better. With that aim, the Didis (elder sisters / mentors) held a mentoring session about team building on 9th August 2013 with 20 scholars as participants. The scholars participated with great zeal and enthusiasm despite the stress of examinations which were on the following day.

As usual the Didi program began with our normal greetings. Mr. Nabin Aryal, Mr. Niroj Shrestha and Mr. Sashi Sharma, the foundation leadership, also attended the meeting. At first  Mr Sashi Sharma (Regional Director) explained to our scholars about the importance of developing good habits for life, whether with school work or other things. Mr. Nabin Aryal and Mr. Niroj Shrestha wished the scholars well for the exams and encouraged them to be as involved as possible in these types of extracurricular activities.

Pari, Lama, and Sonu work together as a teamAfter the greetings, we started the session, which was focused on team building. We first discussed about the concept of teams and how important it was for the Bahinis to work well together.  To turn the concept into something real, we devised a a small team building  game named “callers and builders”.  We divided the scholars into 5 groups of 4 members each where each team had an observer, a runner, and two drawers. The task was to have an observer look at a given drawing and explain it to a runner, and the runner then had to convey it to drawers who would draw the picture on the basis of information given by the runner. Each team was given twenty five minutes to complete this task. Everybody seemed to enjoy this activity, and they were putting their best efforts to coordinate properly with all team members. What was great for us Didis to see was that some of our scholars were working together for the first time and they did really well in coordinating with each other.

During the task, the scholars understood how important it is to understand one another through effective communication in order to complete the task successfully. They also realized that they had some skills that they needed to work on like proper communication skills, careful observation, and proper coordination among team members. They also understood that a team’s work can either be easy or hard depending on how dedicated all of the team members are.

Original Drawing

Original Drawing

Team 1 Drawing:

Team 1 Drawing

Team 2 Drawing:

Team 2 Drawing

Team 3 Drawing:

Team 3 Drawing

Team 4 Drawing:

Team 4 Drawing

Team 5 Drawing:

Team 5 Drawing

We were also fortunate to have some volunteers from St. Xavier College who shared about how to develop good practices and why hard work is so important. They demonstrated this in a fascinating way through small paper task where they folded a piece of paper into an unusual shape and asked the scholars to fold the paper similarly. The paper folding looked very easy when they did it, but it was not so when the scholars tried to do it.  The message of this little activity was that when we don’t pay attention to the details, even something that looks easy becomes difficult to do.  By paying closer attention and being observant, we are able to learn better.With the completion of this small paper task we ended the team building session and all of us shared that we will try to improve not only our communication skills, but also try to be better at observing and paying attention. At the end of the event, our scholars Sonu and Laxmi spoke to the group about team building and its benefits.After a day of team building and learning some valuable skills, the girls were hungry so it was time for some tasty food.
food break
This was a very valuable session, not only for the Bahinis, but also for us Didis who did not get to participate in these types of team building sessions during our own education.  Being able to learn new things along with our younger sisters made us all feel very happy and honored.We will be organizing another mentoring and will prepare a report to share with you all.

Prakriti and Prabriti Nepal
Rukmini Foundation Didis

About Prakriti Nepal

As a student of Conflict, Peace and Development Studies, Prakriti has a keen interest in grassroots development that can lead to a lasting peace and sustained development for Nepal. Along with her passion for promoting gender equality and education for all, she brings a wealth of experience in working with various youth groups on different projects and programs. With Rukmini Foundation, she is serving as a Lead for the mentoring program (Didi) as well as being the liaison between the foundation and partners in Nepal. Through her leadership and efforts, she is not only inspiring Rukmini scholars but also the other young ladies who serve as mentors for the organization.
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