Day 14: Ashaiman Secondary High School

We left our hostel bright and early at 6:55AM today. I am not a morning person. At all. It takes about an hour to fight traffic to get to our school (it would only take 15-20 minutes max otherwise) so we have to leave with ample time. Grr.

Our meeting with the Headmaster this morning was full of praise for our work yesterday. He is very happy with our work here and even wants to give us an office. The Program Director from UT asked if I would be interested in coming back here for my final internship placement next January…we shall see what unfolds. At any rate, we have a plethora of support from the school. As such, we made a proposal to divide the students into smaller groups today. Instead of working with 300 students for 1 hour 20 minutes, we wanted to try 2 sessions for 40 minutes each with 150 students with the hope that they would have more opportunities for interaction.

Today’s topic was “Reaching for the stars: Goal Setting.” We began with sharing “what I want to be when I grow up.” Each facilitator shared what we wanted to be when we were in secondary school (me = psychologist) and then we asked the students to share with us what they want to be. Many students are interested in nursing, lawyer, business, and journalism/broadcasting. Other interests I heard were veterinarian, soldier, police woman, football player, actor, musician, and pastor. We then moved into an activity to help students map out their current path, the bridge to their goals, and the challenges and support they have in front of them. Taking a piece of paper folded into 3rds horizontally, they wrote “path” on the left side, “bridge” in the middle, and “goal(s)” on the right side. The path represents where they are now – they may be on a straight road, a curvy road, or there may be a fork in the road. The bridge represents what they need to cross to get to their goals on the other side, but underneath the bridge lurks sharks and other challenges. You don’t want to fall off of the bridge because these things might hurt you. These are the challenges. Most of the challenges shared by the students to reaching their goals include financial troubles, broken homes, lack of advice and guidance, unsupportive parents, academic problems, drugs, teen pregnancy/sexual misconduct, and peer pressure. Above and on the bridge are the people or things that will help carry you to the other side. What were most shared were determination, hard work, and perseverance. I thought it was interesting that the biggest challenges were structural and the biggest supports were individualistic. Our curriculum for tomorrow builds off of this seminar.

We went off to individual counseling for the last hour of the day. Today I had two clients, both dealing with friendship issues and social skills (shyness). I approached this from a solution focused, empowerment direction. I had students identify times when they did not feel shy or when it was less scary to speak up. After identifying those times and what was different in those situations we were able to identify what they might need to do in the future. With both clients we mapped out two task items for the week in working towards their goals. I reminded them they can use our goal setting workshops as tools in solving their own problems in the future. I also reminded them that they are strong and smart and capable of solving problems; they know what is best for them and have their own answers. I hope something I said is helpful. I am glad that I know something about solution focused brief therapy because that is coming in handy right about now. Social work school has taught me something.

Tonight has been spent planning and prepping, catching up on my writing, and trying to relax. I forget how draining long days are…but the work is so rewarding. I can’t even believe this is all happening right now. I feel so honored and so lucky to be a part of it. I know I am learning and growing in so many ways that I cannot even yet see, feel, or begin to process. Writing is helpful, but I really think a lot of this will not hit until I am back in the States. I am trying to just savor each moment and offer as much as I can. I am trying to have a connection with every student while I am here – even if it is a smile or a greeting, I hope to give a piece of myself to each of them. I am so inspired by their hope, dreams, dedication, and determination. I hope to take a small piece from each of them with me as well. In some ways I never, ever imagined myself here, in a place like this, doing this work; yet, in other ways it feels so perfectly natural for me to be here and this is exactly what I imagined myself doing.