Workshop 5: Ubuntu Part 2: The Power of WE

Note: Explain that we have a full session outside, so we won’t be doing some of our normal opening activities.

1. Opening Image: Awe & Wonder

2. Check-in 

3. Designated Photographer 

Do not run Be Here Now Exercise this week.

Briefly reconnect the Ambassadors to their journey so far. Ask: "Who can remember what we explored together last week?”

Take a few quick responses.

Say: “Last week, we learned about Ubuntu, which means: I am because we are, and we are because I am. In other words, I am here because others care for me, and others are here because I care for them. Caring for each other connects us and helps us all be well. This week, we’re going to explore how different qualities and strengths help living things in nature thrive, and how nature can inspire us to see our own differences as strengths, too.”

Take the Ambassadors outside.

Facilitator Note: It is really important for part one that you don’t give the Ambassadors any clues or help with their answers whilst they are convincing the farmer to buy their crop. 

Introduction:

Say: “We’ve been thinking about what it means to be part of a group and how each of us brings something different. But humans aren’t the only place where we find difference. Nature is full of it.”

“Today, we’re going to become farmers and crops for a few minutes and explore whether having things that are the same or different makes any difference to how well something grows and survives.”

Explain: “There are no right or wrong answers to begin with. Use what you already know, ask questions and see what you discover.”

Divide the group into three roughly equal groups.

Group 1: The Farmers 👩🏽‍🌾🧑🏾‍🌾        

Group 2: The Mixed Field 🌽🫘🎃

Group 3: The Wheat Field 🌾

Explain to the entire group: 

“The farmers need to sell as much of their crop as possible.  They will need to work out which crop is the easiest to grow, the easiest to harvest, and the easiest to take and sell at the market. In a few minutes, the farmers are going to come and visit your field and your job is to  persuade the farmers why you are the best crop or crops to grow, buy and take to market.”

Group 1: The Farmers 👩🏽‍🌾🧑🏾‍🌾

“Farmers, once I say ‘Go’ you will have two to three minutes to discuss amongst yourself the questions you want to ask each crop/field and your strategy  before collectively, as a group, deciding which field/ crop you want to buy.“

Group 2: The Mixed Field 🌽🫘🎃

“You are a field that contains: Corn + beans + squash. You love to grow together. Highlight that Squash is a vegetable much like a pumpkin. You need to work out how you are going to get the farmer to buy your field and crop of vegetables. For example, people like to eat different vegetables, so having a variety of crops might be beneficial?”

Say: “When I say ‘Go’ you will have 2-3 minutes to discuss amongst yourselves why your field of crops is the better choice for the farmer.”

Group 3: The Wheat Field 🌾

Explain: “You are a field of wheat. Your whole field contains just one crop. Work out amongst yourself how you are going to persuade the farmer to buy your field and crop?” For example, it might be cheaper to grow one single crop.

Say: “When I say ‘Go’ you will have 2-3 minutes to discuss amongst yourselves why your field of wheat is the better choice for the farmer.”

Are you ready, 3-2-1 GO, everyone!!!

When the time is up, invite the farmers to visit each field and to ask their questions. The farmers have no more than a minute to ask questions at each field. 

At the end of the field visits, Ask: “Farmers, which field have you collectively decided that you want to grow and why?” 

There isn't a single “correct” answer here. You're interested in their reasoning.

IF THE FAMERS PICK THE WHEAT FIELD GO TO PART 2 AND, IF THEY PICK THE MIXED CROPS GO STRAIGHT TO PART 3.

Only use this next element if they haven't already identified the risk of growing one crop as an issue.

Pause the activity.

Choose three young people, one from each group and let them know they are now pests!

Say: “Something has arrived on our farm. You are a pest that particularly likes wheat.”

Before the ‘pests’ make their way to the wheat field ask them, what do you think is going to happen to the wheat field now you have arrived? 

Get feedback… All die! / Some die!, etc.

Say, “Well, let’s find out. Pests feel free to visit the wheat field and do what you do best! ;-)

Encourage the Pests to go to the wheat field and act out what they think will happen, so pretend to eat the wheat and ask the affected wheat to sit down.

Turn to the same Pests and say: “You are now pests that like corn, but beans and squash aren't suitable food for you.” 

Ask the group what they think will happen to the corn? After they have answered, send the pests towards the mixed field and let the pests have some fun pretending to eat the corn. 

Ask the corn plants to sit down, leaving the beans and squash standing.

Pause: Turn to the farmers and ask: “Has anything changed about your decision around which crops you want to grow?” Let them discuss.

Introduce Monoculture

Now introduce the terminology: “Growing a single crop across an area is called monoculture. Monoculture is a farming method where a farmer grows only one type of crop in a large area, like planting a whole field with just corn or wheat.

It can have advantages, including making farming simpler and more efficient, meaning it may take less time or effort to plant, look after and harvest the crop. But having lots of very similar plants can also create weaknesses. If a pest or disease arrives that particularly affects that crop, a large part of the field could be badly damaged.

Ask: “What was different about our Mixed Field?”

Draw out that although the corn was affected, the beans and squash were still growing.

Say: “So the Mixed Field was better able to cope when something went wrong. The word we can use for this is resilient."

Explain: “Being resilient means being able to cope when something difficult happens, adapt when things change and recover when something goes wrong.”

Whilst real ecosystems, pests and farming are much more complicated than our game, and we're simplifying things to help us explore an idea, companion planting is very real and happens a lot in nature.

But Different Plants Can Do Something Else...

Say: “There is another really interesting reason for growing different plants together. Sometimes they don't just grow alongside each other. They can actually help one another.”

“When people deliberately grow certain plants together because they can benefit one another, we call this companion planting.”


Plants Can Help Protect Each Other 🌼🍅

Say: “Imagine you're growing tomatoes and tiny insects called whiteflies keep feeding on them. What could you do?”

Take a few suggestions.

Say: “One thing you could try is growing French Marigold flowers nearby.”

“French Marigold flowers naturally release something into the air that whiteflies don't particularly like. So having marigolds growing alongside tomatoes can help deter some of the whiteflies.”

Ask: “So what is the Marigold bringing to that growing system?”

Draw out: protection.

Say: “And there are flowering plants that attract helpful insects too. For example, some flowers attract hoverflies, and hoverfly larvae eat aphids, another common garden pest.”

“So sometimes a plant can help protect its neighbours by discouraging a pest, and sometimes by attracting something that helps deal with the pest.”

The Three Sisters 🌽🫘🎃

“For hundreds of years, Indigenous peoples across parts of North America have grown corn, beans and squash together. The tradition is particularly associated with the Haudenosaunee ( HOH-dee-noh-SHOH-nee) people, whose ancestral lands include areas that today are part of New York State in the USA and Ontario and Quebec in Canada. They are known as the Three Sisters because the three plants grow together and support one another.”

Explain: “The Three Sisters food-growing method works by planting corn, beans and squash together because they act like a super-team, the qualities of each plant helping each other grow strong. In some other parts of the world, this is called ‘companion growing’.”

Stronger Together
Ask: “Did any one of the Three Sisters do everything?”

Take responses.

Say: “No. They each brought something different.”

🌽 Corn provides support.
🫘 Beans work with bacteria around their roots.
🎃 Squash helps protect the ground.

“And we've seen that other plants can bring different things too. Marigolds can help deter pests, while some flowers can attract helpful insects.”

“So having different plants together isn't only about having more varieties. In the right combinations and conditions, their different qualities can help create a healthier and more resilient growing system.”

Highlight: “Nature is full of relationships between very different living things. Sometimes those differences allow each organism to bring something the other needs.”

Bring them back together. 

Ask: “Does any of this remind you of what we discovered about Ubuntu?”

Allow the Ambassadors to make their own connections first.

Say: “Just like these plants, we don't all have to be the same or bring the same things.”

“Some of us might be great at supporting others. Someone else might bring ideas, creativity, courage, humour, organisation, kindness, or a completely different way of seeing something.”

Ask: “Would our group be stronger if everybody was exactly the same?”

Share: “Our differences can become strengths when we create the right conditions for everyone to belong, contribute and work together.”

Remind them: “The power of WE comes from all of us being ourselves, not from all of us being the same.”

Return to Ubuntu: “Ubuntu tells us: ‘I am because we are. We are because I am. But the WE isn’t powerful because everybody is the same. The Power of WE comes from creating a community where different people can belong, participate and bring what they have.”

Repeat: “The power of WE comes from all of us being ourselves, not from all of us being the same.”

Linking back to the  The Me Tree session: “Your Me Trees showed us that every person in this group has different strengths, interests, needs and ways of being. Today we've discovered that those differences don't have to separate us.”

Ask a couple of  reflective questions to embed what they have just experienced. This is not the same as the end of session reflection: You can do this as an entire group or split them into groups of 4-5 people.

Ask: “What's something you bring to this Ambassador community that might be different from what somebody else brings?” 

They might identify: 

• A sense of humour 

• Creativity

• Kindness

• Confidence

• Listening

• Questioning

• Energy

• Calmness

• Organisation

• Different experiences, different perspectives.

Feel free to give a few prompts as needed. Encourage them to think back to their Me Tree answers 

OR a slightly less personal question might be: “What is one kind of difference that could make a team stronger?”

If you have time ask the whole group

Ask: “Can differences ever make working together harder?”
(Absolutely. People disagree. Someone wants to move quickly while someone else needs time. People communicate differently. People see problems differently.)

Ask: “But do you think working together has more benefits?”

Take responses.

Make a reference to that when the Ambassadors do their projects they will be working together as teams. Also refer to their Ambassador’s agreement.

Explain: “The lesson isn't that difference automatically makes everything easy. The challenge is working together as a team where those differences can be heard, celebrated, and seen as something valuable. 

Link to next week's session: “In next week’s workshop, we will be exploring how the “WE” that we are a part of is much bigger than just other people.”

The 3-2-1 Reflection is split into two parts. If you have time, complete both. If not, choose Part 1 or Part 2, based on what you feel will best serve the needs of your group.