Today is the second of a five day training sponsored by RAV here in Maradi. A group of teachers are being trained in the principles and structures of forum theater, and at the same time a group of about 150 students ages 13-15 are engaging in theater exercises...today they broke into small groups, each one run by one or two teachers, to start creating forum theater pieces. The themes are prevention of STIs/HIV/SIDA; women and children's rights; educational rights, particularly for girls, and...I forgot the last one. I floated around and observed the small group work--it was particularly interesting watching the groups rehearse and seeing how much I understood even though the plays are in Hausa. Theater is best when it is clear, visual, and emotional, so to take language out of it is a good test.
The youth participants are focused in their work, but honestly, all the same, they are like teenagers in the US...I love watching them interact. Most of the girls wear colorful veils and the traditional two piece costume, although some of them are now starting to appear in sweatpants, t-shirts, even shorts.
Observing the process of "teaching teachers" is always helpful for me...I've been thinking about how much of this process to codify, how much to leave to the individual participants to discover on their own...
Otherwise, Maradi is a pretty decent place to hang out for a while. I've been catching up on sleep and trying not to let my digestive system go haywire on me.
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