Tag Archives: games

From Duck, Duck, Goose to Dancing: Getting Fit with Selamta

This is how the students at Selamta get fit...how do you?

This is how the students at Selamta get fit...how do you?

As runners across the country lace up for She’s the First Run the World campaign to sponsor 100 girls in 100 days, I started to get curious. How do girls at our partner schools fit in their daily exercise? Over the years, I’ve come to learn more about yoga classes and circus camp at the Kibera School for Girls and dancing at the Selamta Family Project, so I knew the girls’ answers would be creative!

Immediately after posing this question to Alix, Kibera School for Girls’ Postgraduate Fellow and Mia Brown, Selamta’s Volunteer Coordinator and Sponsorship Manager, I was thrilled to receive excited responses. Thus, this begins a two-part series on how girls in Ethiopia and Kenya fit in some fun and fitness.

Girls at Selamta practice their dance moves

Girls at Selamta practice their dance moves.

Dancing is one of the favorites for the students at Selamta, and a regular pastime for many Ethiopians. I remember during my trip to Ethiopia years ago, I came across a wedding party and was amazed by how beautiful the dancing was. It was like nothing I’d seen at my own family’s weddings, and as Mia says, “It’s fun to watch and embarrassing to try to imitate.” Though the dancing varies across the country, it is largely unified by the emphasis on shimmying shoulder movements and the upper body. Dancing in Ethiopia is rhythmic, expressive and distinctive. It’s truly incredible to watch, and I’d love to be able to see the girls at Selamta in action as they showcase their skills at Selamta Idol!

Even when it’s not designated playtime, students at Selamta remain active. They regularly lend a hand with chores around their constellation home and hand-wash their clothes each week (a workout in itself!) As they walk to and from school, the market and friends’ homes, the girls at Selamta often walk arm-in-arm.

From soccer to swimming and duck, duck goose to dancing, the girls at Selamta love to play. Whether they’re jumping rope or testing their balance at weekly circus and gymnastics lessons, these girls, as Mia reports, “bend, stretch and balance” their way to getting strong and healthy.

Like the girls at Selamta show us, exercise can be fun and it can help you learn a new skill, but more often than not, it’s best enjoyed with friends.

Walking home with friends after an afternoon of jump-roping

Walking home with friends after an afternoon of jump-roping.

 

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STF in India: Fun and Games (and Classes, too)

We knew today was going to be a good day when we found this hidden away in a desk:
As always, all photos are by the brilliant and affable Kate Lord.

Remember playing MASH as a kid? We both did it all the time, so I loved that they do, too. They also play the letter game — name a place (say, Nepal), and the next person has to name another place that begins with the last letter of the first place (so in this case, you could say ‘Liberia’ based on the L in Nepal). In their version of hide and seek, you make sure the person finding has to keep doing it by tapping him on the back and saying “tappa-tappa.” My favorite new game is a pinching game, though: You say “same pinch” and then name something similar between you and the person you’re pinching. Simple, ridiculous, and I should probably be discouraging it…but definitely my favorite.

We spent a lot of the day rehearsing our dances for graduation, since the volunteers are expected to honor the graduates with performances. Kate and I have five left feet between the two of us, but we’ve been having a blast making fools of ourselves so far.

Our dance may include some superman-ing.

Yeshwini, one of the STF girls, even taught me some Bollywood moves. I was predictably not that great, but as she says: “Everyone is a dancer. Just maybe you haven’t found your dance yet!”

And in between all the dancing and rehearsing and pinching games, there was even some learning happening today. I taught the graduating class how to write research papers. They were attentive, which made me feel like I was actually a teacher, instead of just pretending for a little while. (Grads, if you’re reading, that was a joke. I’m completely legit.)

Sometimes they even laughed at my jokes.

Next week, I’ll be teaching a four-day travel seminar for a few students who are traveling to Japan (including Yeshwini!). Has anyone been there? I’d love to get your tips!

And as always, leave have for us or the girls, and we’ll answer them soon!

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Basketball Break for the #STF360 Team

Executive director Christen Brandt celebrates her first basket.

Executive director Christen Brandt celebrates her first basket.

While none of us have claimed to be practicing athletes in years (…or ever), we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play when Brenda, one of the Starfish girls, asked us to join a local basketball game. We were a little surprised to learn we’d be playing in the middle of town, and even more surprised when we saw that we would weaving between the players of three other games in order to get to our baskets. But, determined to prove ourselves to be as cool as the girls thought we were, we didn’t back out — even when they wanted to play full court instead of half.

Researcher Maisy Page steals the ball from the opposing team

Researcher Maisy Page steals the ball from the opposing team

By the time the opposing team scored eight baskets, we were trailing behind our much younger teammates, wheezing “Media cancha, por favor!” (Half court, please!). When we finally persuaded them to feel some sympathy for las gringas and switch to half court, though, we came back with a vengeance, having a significant height advantage over our 14-year-old opponents, and the She’s the First/Starfish team won both of our next two games.

Kate playing basketball

Kate playing basketball

The normalcy of the game reminded us that kids are still kids, no matter where they’re living. We had just returned from Brenda’s house, where we saw all too clearly the differences between her childhood and our own. She has a patch of corn growing where our swingset would be and a sink for chores under the tree where we would’ve built a treehouse, but when we were on the court, all she wanted was the ball.

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How to Throw a Game Night STF Fundraiser

Go to this site to make cusom Jeopardy boards! http://download.cnet.com/BYOJeopardy/3000-2051_4-10583092.html?tag=rtcol;txt

Ready, Set, Fundraise!

Just because campus is buzzing again does not mean it has to be all work and no play! For each fundraising idea below, charge a small fee for friends to create a team or participate individually. Game on!

  • Host a community game show. Fill in the blank with your university: Are You Smarter Than a _____ College (or High School!) Student? This is the name of your next STF fundraiser! Get your friends on campus to sign up as players, and ask prominent men and women in the surrounding community to compete against them. Ask professors to “host,” where they each ask questions on topics related to the field they teach—from English literature to engineering. Let’s see who really needs to hit the books!

  • Throw a family (or friends!) game night. Remember the good old days when you used to curl up on the couch with Mom and Dad and play charades? OK, maybe you didn’t really do that, but we promise this version is a total blast! For She’s the First charades, everything has a girl power twist. Movies, think “First Wives Club.” People, think Ellen Degeneres. Invite your friends over for one game only, or pack it all in with games like Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune—just put an STF spin on them!
  • Organize outdoor games. Like being outside better than playing board games? Get student organizations on campus to create a team (or two!) and compete in outdoor sports—from flag football to volleyball. Not only is it tons of fun, but it will also bring STF to the attention of students who haven’t heard about it—yet!

Doesn't this look like fun? A friendly game of volleyball--all in the spirit of STF!

  • Sponsor a 5K race. On your mark, get set, go! With the help of your school’s athletic department, map out a scenic route around campus. Set up an area before the event with a registration table, food, and lots of water. Ask STF volunteers to stand in as cheerleaders along the way, and make sure you honor the first one to cross the finish line!
  • Create a scavenger hunt. This is a good one if you have freshmen in your STF chapter who still need to get to know the campus. (And for the seniors in your group who spent a little too much time in the library!) You can get student organizations to sign up for a team, or bring everyone together and divide the group into two. Make STF badges that count as points, and make clues to find them based on campus history or trends. (Where does everyone have to take his or her picture on graduation day at PSU? Answer: Penn State’s Nittany Lion Shrine!)

If this post inspired you to throw a STF fundraiser, e-mail devin@shesthefirst.org and we’ll blog about your event! Read about last month’s Back-to-School fundraiser, planned by Sarah and Lauren of Northeastern University, here.

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