Julika's Blog Entry

I started volunteering with Act for Change about three months ago. I really like to work on the website, proposals and other things that must be done in the office. But my favourite thing to do so far is the interactive theatre workshops with kids from 10 to 16 years old on Mondays. It starts with the kids slowly filling up all the empty chairs and bringing a lot of energy to the centre.

Even though  they are always a bit jittery while we explain the first energizer, everyone will participate as soon as we start with the games. They really get creative with the games, a lot more than most older people that I have played the games with. They seem to actually enjoy it and their euphoria takes hold of me.

At the beginning a lot of kids where shy but I have the feeling that most of them overcame their shyness. I can especially see that when we are counting ourselves to divide into two groups. First you could barely understand what the kids where saying but as the weeks pass by, they feel comfortable enough to raise their voice for us to hear them. The kids also start to get to know new people and we slowly start to get to know each other.

When we separate the kids in little groups it is getting a bit more hectically every time. The kids start to discuss about the ideas and we sometimes must remind them that they should come up with an idea for a five-, not 30-minute play. But that only shows me how excited they are about the workshop.  

But my favourite moment so far was during a reflection round after one of the roleplays on the topic personal hygiene. In the scene a father called is son to come to dinner and the son told him, that they have to wash their hands before that. A girl afterwards said that she learned from the workshop and the play as well that she can now teach her parents something too. For me that is what the workshop is all about and it made me very happy. The goal is not only to teach the kids a valuable lesson but to encourage them and also archive that they want to share that with other people.

Julika Zora Mahlau - German Volunteer