The Blue Team of Casa Telmex

We began today with a new icebreaker that Taylor thought of. It was called “Candies” and it began with everyone taking some of the Casa Telmex candies. All of the candies had different colors: purple, red, yellow and green. Taylor asked questions about ourselves and the number of answers we needed to give depended on the number of candies we had of a certain color. We talked about what superpowers we would want if we were a superhero and about our goals and desires in life. We continued with an activity about trust called “The Wind in the Willows.” We divided into groups of four or five people where there was one person in the center and the rest made a circle around them. Then, the person in the center began to fall in a direction and the others needed to needed to push them so they would not fall. The person inside the circle would fall in whichever direction and the others would help them every time. When one person had gone, we took turns until everyone had the opportunity to be in the middle. It was a very good activity to better learn about having trust in one’s team and in the end, everyone could do the activity with more trust in others. After, Osiris lead an activity called “Labels.” In this activity, every person wears a headband that says a phrase that everyone tries to act out. We had frases like, “Treat me like a child,” “Don’t have time for me,” and “Argue with me.” The students spoke with each other and tried to guess what their headband said. In the end, everyone guessed what was written across their foreheads and discussed the activity a bit in the large group. The next activity was a little more serious. The activity was about decisions that we have made in our lives and how they affect us today. Everyone wrote down 5 decisions and then chose two to share with the group. We had two groups, one comprised of facilitators and one of students. We both had good discussions and learned more about our fellow program participants. We learned more about how leaders make decisions and how those decisions can affect the lives of others as well. We ended the day with “Zoo.” We did not have mush time to play, so we hope we can play it again another time this week!

After the session with the students, we had a session with all the people of Casa Telmex to practice teamwork. The first activity was a group challenge. We had a circle of cement that everyone in Casa Telmex needed to stand on and after say, “The big wind blows for everyone in Casa Telmex that can work in a team!” They conquered the first challenge easily, so we gave them a smaller area try. Joaquín, the boss of Casa Telmex Tuxtla, is a good leader and they did not take long in finding a solution to the second challenge. The last activity for the facilitators was called “Affirmatives.” In this activity, everyone had a piece of paper on their back where everyone could write good things about that person anonymously. In the end, everyone looks at the papers and read the things everyone wrote. We hope that they liked our first team-building session. We think it went well and that these weekly sessions can continue in the future to better “The Blue Team” of Casa Telmex here in Tuxtla. Thanks everyone for coming!