Take one part lime, one part trash, one part string, one part friendly competition, and two parts motivational reflection, and you have the recipe for our latest Children’s Club meeting. The meeting, which was our third official Children’s Club meeting of the year, was held here at the Profugo house on Saturday, October 11^th. We had 40 participants of various ages, most between 10 and 18, come out for a jam-packed morning of activities.

The day’s program was devoted to the topic of team-building. As of late, the staff here in Wayanad has been especially devoted to the idea of promoting the ideas of unity and cooperation, because we realize more and more that it is one of the most significant keys to ensuring success in any group, venture, or project. So, with this in mind, we wanted to promote unity amongst the young members of our newly-revived Children’s Club by having them participate in various team-building activities.

So what do limes, trash, and string have to do with this team-building mission of ours? After some initial energetic ice-breakers that encouraged the children to get to know fun facts about their fellow group members in pairs and small groups, we directed the focus of our activities toward promoting teamwork amongst the children.

First came the trash: in fifteen minutes, children were to find materials and use them to make a pookalam, which is typically a circular floral design made as a ritual during the observance of Onam, an important festival here in Kerala. This was a great activity because the children took complete ownership of it. In the span of a few short minutes, they demonstrated an inspiring level of resourcefulness; they grabbed anything and everything they could find on our land and the street below, including some trash that they then recycled into their pookalam designs. Each of the four team’s final products was a creative arrangement of both recycled trash and natural findings gathered by every team member: ultimately, it was truly a feat of cooperation.

Then, the limes: in a variation of old-fashioned version of an egg-and-spoon race, the children completed a relay race while balancing a lime on a spoon. (Although cleaning egg yolks off our patio could have encouraged some major teamwork, the children probably would not have enjoyed that activity so much.) This activity further reinforced the importance of teamwork and cooperation, as any lack in communication during the hand-off from team member to team member would result in the need to restart the race.

And finally, the string: After the children arranged themselves in a circle, they tossed a ball of string around until a giant web was created between them. This was to symbolize their unity: like the many parts of the web, the many and varied personalities that comprise the Club are all integral to its structure. Should any one person drop their string, the strength of the web would be compromised just as the Club’s strength and vitality would be compromised if anyone failed to be a team player.

After each of these activities, our on-the-ground Program Manager here in Wayanad, Aneesh, either conducted or translated reflections about the activities that the children had just completed. Because reflection would benefit the children’s understanding of the day’s events, we really attempted to get them to think about what was required of them in order to ensure their success in each activity. The children readily responded, indicating that they truly understood the importance of teamwork in achieving the goal of each activity. Additionally, Aneesh noted that the reflections were beneficial because they required the children to feel comfortable speaking publicly in a large group setting, a skill that we always strive to develop in our soft-spoken children.

In my own reflections about our team-building exercises with the children, it occurred to me how integral teamwork is amongst our staff members, as well. In fact, one great thing about Saturday’s Children’s Club team-building program was that it, like all of Profugo’s ventures, involved teamwork on the part of the staff itself. Our Program Manager, a fellow American field fellow, and I each contributed the idea for one of the three main teambuilding activities for the event, and we worked together throughout the morning to conduct the activities and reflections.

It is clear that the success of any venture, group, or initiative depends immensely on teamwork amongst its members. In our attempt to explain the importance of teamwork to our children, we emphasized their need to be mindful of their words and actions, contributing only positively in a way that would further promote unity amongst group members, not division. We believe they walked away energized, truly understanding the sense of cooperation that would benefit them as they embark upon further meetings with their fellow members of Children’s Club. When asked during one of the final reflection periods of the morning, they said they knew what was required of them in order to be successful in these activities and future ones: communication, teamwork, a little sportsmanship, “and limes.”