Today we have completed our first day of teaching, and wow, what a day it was! Walking into the conference room everyone was silent. The formality was rather overwhelming  and I started wandering what expectations the participants had of us.

After formal introductions were over, we split the participants up into three groups so that each student could take a group. We started discussing community media centres (CMC’s), what the participants thought it was, what ideas they have for CMC’s, etc. I was expecting the same reaction that students have in the UK when a teacher asks them a question – no one wanting to answer and if they do they would keep it short – however I was pleasantly surprised. These participants were switched on, confident, and passionate. Listening to their ideas, experience, and their culture was an eye opener for me, and it was very impressive. Their passion and ideas started making me think about how we can utilise our time to meet their requirements, however these participants had big dreams that we were not capable of fulling with the time that we had, in addition to our resources, however it felt good to know that skills that we can teach will hopefully enable the particpants to teach other citizens, and extend their knowledge. I started to think about what motivates people to engage in communities, is it the injustice witnessed, the passion for change and growth, the circumstances that one is surrounded in, of maybe the realisation that everyone needs to work together to help one another.

For me the afternoon wasn’t as successfiul. We taught participants how to use video hardware and then editing software. I found that I wasn’t clear in my directions and when faced with challeneges, it taught me that you can plan as much as possible, however the unexpected may occur. Although today has been a mixture of ups and downs, I am going to apply what I have learnt today to the workshop tomorrow. Wish me luck!!