Theatre Workshop Curriculum Template

Title of Workshop:

Objective: To create a four-day youth theatre workshop tailored for participants aged nine to fifteen. The primary objective is to employ theatre as a tool for exploring rights and responsibilities, thereby enhancing participants’ comprehension and empowering them to actively engage as socially conscious citizens who make positive contributions to their communities.

Theme: The theme of the workshop revolves around rights and responsibilities, particularly focusing on the right to protection and the right to non-arbitrary displacement. Through theatre-based activities and discussions, participants explore civic education principles, including human rights, leadership, inter-communal relationships, and peace promotion, aiming to foster a deeper understanding of these concepts and empower participants to become responsible citizens.

Progressive Learning Path:

• Day 1: Introduction to methods and materials through play.
• Day 2: Exploration of the central theme through storytelling and interactive exercises.
• Day 3: Engaging participants in interactive role-play to explore the character of “Moremi” to address the central question of individual roles within the community.
• Day 4: Engage participants in creative expression to explore the theme of forced migration.

Activities: The workshop activities include drama-based exercises, interactive discussions, role-playing scenarios, creative projects, reflective exercises, group activities, utilization of theatre conventions, incorporation of cultural elements and historical materials, facilitated brainstorming sessions, and evaluation and feedback sessions.

Approach: The approach of the theatre workshop is experiential and participatory, utilizing drama as a medium to engage participants actively in exploring and understanding key concepts related to rights and responsibilities. Activities are meticulously designed to accommodate diverse learning styles, and participants have ample opportunities to contribute their own ideas to the curriculum.

Assessment and Feedback: After each session, participants engage in peer evaluations, offering constructive feedback to one another. The facilitator will utilize observation, informal discussions, structured evaluations, and participant surveys to gauge participant engagement and integrate feedback into future planning to ensure continual improvement.

Relevance: Throughout the curriculum, participants will engage in theatre-based activities and discussions to delve into civic education principles such as human rights, leadership, inter-communal relationships, and peace promotion. The aim is to deepen their comprehension and empower them to champion positive change within their community.

Community Engagement: The workshop will engage with the community by partnering with local organizations, hosting public events for showcasing participants’ work, incorporating local culture into activities, inviting community members as guest speakers or mentors, and organizing service projects related to workshop themes.

Preliminary Notes to Drama Workshop

Drama Workshop and Existing Curriculum in Nigeria

The two themes this drama workshop aim to address—the right to protection and the right to non-arbitrary displacement—are connected to topics in civic education in Nigeria. Civic education curriculum in Nigeria focuses on the social, the political, and citizen’s responsibilities therein. The curriculum is geared toward teaching students to be responsible citizens and contribute to the creation of a forward-thinking government that knows its responsibility to the people. According to the Federal Ministry of Education’s National Educational Research and Development Council (NERD), the objectives of the Senior Secondary School Curriculum for Civic Education (JSS/SSS 1–3) is to “promote the understanding of the inter-relationship between man/woman, the government and the society; highlight the structure of government, its functions and the responsibilities of government to the people and vice-versa; enhance the teaching and learning of emerging issues; and inculcate in students their duties and obligations to the society” (NERD, 2017, p. 1).

Thus, one of the aims of the drama workshop is to explore and create drama that will be useful in civil education classes, and adaptable depending on who, where, and when it is being used. Although the drama workshop was designed around two themes, at the end we realized that the drama exploration addresses key themes that cut across civic education curriculum from the junior secondary school level to senior secondary school level. Thus, participants reflected on human rights as outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the seven core freedoms enunciated therein; leadership and followership; inter-communal relationships and inter-communal conflict; and ways to promote peace in the country.

Preliminary Instructions on How to Use the Drama Workshop

The themes in drama curriculum are inspired by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, designed with the intention to be accessible and usable across different age spectrums. It works best where the facilitator can pick the major concept and translate it to the level of understanding of the student in question. Also, language and culture are central to designing this curriculum. For instance, the author translated the words from English to Yoruba and used culture-based references and ideas for illustration during the drama workshop he facilitated in Oranmiyan Secondary School (2018). Also, the use of visual aids such as images, pictures, slide, models, cartoons, and physical representations can help aid the understanding of the content. The workshop was originally designed for students in junior secondary school (i.e., grade 9).

Workshop Tools—Questions; Conventions

Two sets of questions are provided in this workshop tools to guide teacher/facilitators when preparing and working through the content with participants—analytical questions and catalytic questions. Analytical questions are designed to assess your ability to consider a group of facts and rules, and, given those facts and rules, determine what could or must be true. Analytic questions are designed to discover or reveal (something) through detailed examination. They help to examine methodically and in detail the structure (of something, especially information), and they are typically for purposes of explanation and interpretation. Catalytic questions encourage further thought, deeper reflection, sharper insight, innovation, and action. Thus, the catalytic questions are designed to encourage users of the drama curriculum to channel their thinking and creative abilities on social issues with the aim of coming up with ways to tackle these challenges. Both ways of questioning are important because “questions have impact even before they are answered. They can close a door or turn on a light. They can intensify conflict or deepen mutual understanding” (Chasin, 2011).

Methods and Materials: Drama, Songs, theatre conventions

Theatre conventions are techniques designed to facilitate drama workshops. They can be adapted to fit different settings, contexts, and cultures. Through theatre conventions, the facilitator/educator can create a drama workshop with participants, explore different ideas, and provide a safe space for participants to engage. Examples of theatre conventions are well-documented in Jonathan Neelands and Tony Goode’s Structuring Drama Work (2015).

Furthermore, the author employed culture-based methods and materials in the facilitation and workshop design/planning. For instance, participants played familiar games from their culture—ayo opon, tente (hopscotch), Ludo, etc.; they sang songs displaying existing stories, especially from trickster stories, and general rhymes. Thus, it is important to note that the drama workshops are culture-specific, and can be adapted to various settings. The workshops are designed loosely to accommodate new ideas because the goal is to produce a living document, which means it can adapt and can be adapted based on the teachers’/students’ vision.

Finally, these themes discussed are not only connected to the civil education curriculum in Nigeria; they are universal and meant to foster creativity, co-operation, communication, and concentration.

Historical Materials

The Story of Moremi Ajasoro

Moremi Ajasoro was a princess who was considered a figure of high significance in the history of the Yoruba people of West Africa because she offered herself to help her people conquer their enemies. She was a member by marriage of the royal family of Oduduwa, the acclaimed founding father of the Yorubas (Olajubu, 2003).

Moremi, who lived in the twelfth century and hailed originally from Offa, married the then king of Ile-Ife. The Ile-Ife kingdom was under attack from the Ibo tribe (distinct from the Igbo tribe in the eastern part of Nigeria). Ife citizens were being enslaved, and their harvest were being taken away by the Ibo tribe (Ajayi, 2007). The people of Ife needed help, and Moremi, a brave and beautiful woman, offered herself to be captured by the Ibo people and to live among them in order to know their secrets. Before she left, she prayed to Esimirin, the spirit of the river, for the discovery of the strength of her nation’s enemies. In return, she promised Esimirin that she would sacrifice her son after returning from her mission.

Moremi was captured by the Ibos, and due to her charming beauty, she was married to the Ibo ruler. After familiarizing herself with the secrets of her new husband’s army, she escaped to Ile-Ife and revealed this to the Yorubas, who were able to subsequently defeat the Ibos in battle. Upon her return, she sacrificed her only son, Oluorogbo. She returned to her first husband, King Oranmiyan of Ife (and later Oyo), who immediately had her reinstalled as his princess consort.

In present-day Ile-Ife, the Edi festival was started in Moremi’s honour to celebrate the sacrifice she made for the people of Yorubaland. In 2017, Oba Ogunwusi, the Ooni of Ile-Ife, Osun state, erected a statue of Moremi in his palace. Moremi does not only stand for true heroism—she is the epitome of courage, freedom, and sacrifice. She understood the responsibility of a leader, and since she was part of the ruling class, she couldn’t abide her people being displaced and destroyed by the Ibos. She decided to sacrifice her life and ultimately her son for her people.

Ghana Must Go

Ghana Must Go is not only the name for a type of travelling bag in Nigeria or the African continent at large. There is a story about it. In the 1970s, Ghanaians were mostly attracted to Nigeria because of the latter country’s oil boom. But in 1983, Nigeria’s economy became weak due to bad leadership and corruption. Instead of the country’s leaders facing the problem and honestly addressing it, they blamed foreign nationals living and working in Nigeria, especially those from Ghana. The government of President Shehu Shagari announced that foreigners working in the country without proper paperwork had a week to leave Nigeria. Most of these immigrants were Ghanaians, and this move by the Nigerian government started the “Ghana Must Go” revolution. Apparently, it was payback for the Ghanaian government’s choice in 1969 to expel many immigrants, mostly from Nigeria, under its own Aliens Compliance Order. Under Ghana Must Go, Many Ghanaians who were forcefully expelled from Nigeria had difficulty migrating to their country because the year before, due to an attempted coup, Ghana’s president, Jerry Rowling, had closed the main border crossing with Togo to avoid the sudden arrival of over a million people. In response, Togo also closed its border with Benin. Thus, many Ghanaian immigrants were stranded in Cotonou for weeks until the Ghanaian authorities opened the border, which in turn made Togo open its border, thus allowing Ghanaian refugees to pass through and return to their country. There is a novel of the same title. It has no connection to the actual incident as recounted above. Perhaps a connection between the novel and the actual event is the theme of migration, even though one was forced while the other was not.

Terminologies:

Moremi: A Yoruba legend of the queen who sacrificed her son to deliver the Yoruba in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, West Africa.

Ghana Must Go: A peculiar bag in Nigeria and many parts of Africa used for travelling.

Ibo: A rival tribe that oppressed the Yorubas in Ile-Ife, Nigeria, West Africa.

Still Image/Tableau: A gesture captured in stillness.

Gesture: Physical response that involves the use of the body.

Ayo opon: A traditional board game.

Tente (hopscotch): A traditional Yoruba game in Nigeria, West Africa. There are different versions of this game across the continent.

Games: Fun activities to stimulate participation and liveliness.

Songs/music: An art form and cultural activities organized through sound in time.

Theatre conventions: Techniques designed to facilitate drama workshops.

Writing-in-reflection: Reflection through writing.

Hot-seating: The act of questioning a character in role in a workshop to gain more knowledge about the character.

Teacher-in-role: The act of taking responsibility as facilitator for the group to manage the theatrical possibilities and learning opportunities provided by the dramatic context by adopting a suitable role in order to “excite interest, control the action, invite involvement, provoke tension, challenge superficial thinking, create choices and ambiguity, develop the narrative, and create possibilities for the group to interact in role” (Neelands & Goode, 2015, p. 54).

Thought tracking: The act of verbalizing the thought of the participants or/and the character to know what they think about a situation.

Advice alley: Organized in a way that advice is given to a character as regards a situation/moment in the workshop.

Drama Workshop 1

Proposed time: Four to six hours.

Age range: Nine to fifteen years.

Objective: To introduce participants to methods and materials through play.

Warm-up: Name game, soundscape, traditional games, and songs.

Preamble: After playing various culture-specific games, facilitator should introduce students to theatre conventions, particularly still image, role–play, thought tracking, and teaching-in-role, etc. For instance, for the still image, facilitator can bring a photograph into the class for visual aid. For role-play, facilitator can use set up a scenario that participants are familiar with. For instance, play the role of a father at a family dinner. What would your father do? You can read out a series of expressions or ask one of participants to read if they are comfortable reading in front of the others.

***For example: I am happy; I am sad; How dare you? How dare you! I like . . . food (mention local food that’s common and that participants can easily connect with), etc.***

Task participants to respond to these statements through action and ask others to imitate them afterwards. Please note it is important for examples to be culture-specific and provide content/examples that participants can relate to.

Explore Theatre Conventions: Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Ask participants to describe the picture from a range of a sentence to one/two words. Pass the picture around and allow participants to comment. After this exercise, encourage participants to describe the feeling, the atmosphere, the situation, and what the picture suggests in one or two words.
2. Facilitator can write down participants’ suggested words and ask participants to create images with these words. Facilitator might want to play music to create a better atmosphere.
3. Facilitator can ask participants to suggest words to create a still image.
4. Participants can explore still image using scenario—such as mirror image (in which facilitator pairs participants and one imitate the other). Facilitator can narrate a simple story of a morning routine to be acted by one of the participants while the others follow.
5. After this, introduce the three-piece still image—the past, the present, and the future. The idea of a three-piece still image is to give participants the opportunity to imagine a situation before a still image was taken and a potential response after a still image is done. It can help participants to capture and imagine different ways to explore still images.
6. Facilitator can go ahead and ask participants what went on in their minds as they saw the images. Through various methods (such as touching their shoulders if they are comfortable, or you can ask them to raise their hands if they want to talk, or point to them, etc.) facilitator can track their thoughts to know what their understanding of the events is.
7. Since there are many possibilities in scenarios due to the three-piece still image, facilitator can ask participants to bring it to life by adding movement, words, and even music, depending on the scenario.
8. Finally, facilitator can encourage participants to role-play the other person’s character, etc.

Conclusion: Facilitator asks participants to reflect about the workshop using another form of expression—writing, drawing, etc. Facilitator can propose the following questions:

a. How did you feel during the workshop? What was on your mind?

b. What did you learn from the exercises and games? What surprised you?

c. In what ways can you apply the still-image technique?

End with traditional songs or some of the rhymes participants started singing at the beginning of the workshop.

Take Home: Each participant should come back to the class with two still images of their choice. Inform participants that each image should be easy to understand and meaningful.

***End of Workshop 1***

Drama Workshop 2

 

Proposed time: Six to eight hours

Age range: Nine to fifteen years

Central question: What does it mean to be protected?

Lesson outcomes:

At the end of the drama exploration, students should be able to

1. Understand the meaning of protection—at home, at school, and in the society

2. Highlight the Universal Declaration of Human Rights / fundamental human rights

3. Identify whose responsibility it is to protect citizens’ rights and responsibilities

4. Understand how the theme of protection is connected to the civic education curriculum

5. Learn about and be able tell the story of Moremi

Step 1: Warm up for the class.

Game 1: Who’s in the garden?

Set-up: Participants form a circle and someone volunteers to hide inside the circle and is protected by others. There’s another volunteer who seeks to take the person in the circle, and the responsibility of those that form the circle is to protect the person inside the circle. The goal is for those in the circle to give themselves up one after another to protect the person hiding in the circle. The last person standing outside the circle will try to protect the person inside the circle by touching the seeker. The game starts with a traditional song and continues until the end.

Call: Who is in the garden?

Response: A little fine girl / handsome boy, etc.

Call: Can I come and see her/him?

Response: No, no, no, no.

Call: Then you follow me (pointing to someone in the circle).

Game 2: Hide and seek

Set-up: Participants are asked to go into hiding. Ask a volunteer to find one person. After finding the person, both join to find another, and the number increases until everybody is found.

Also, have the seven core freedoms of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) pasted on the wall for participants to read through. Before the beginning of the workshop, facilitator asks the participants to move around the space and read the seven core freedoms. They can ask questions and take notes as this will be returned to in the course of the workshop.

Instruction to the facilitator: After the game—or any other games introduced by participants that align with the theme of the workshop and the reading of the seven core freedoms of the UDHR—he facilitator can pose the following question to participants: What does it mean to be protected?

Show participants the lure

Lure: Moremi picture

Instruction to the facilitator: The facilitator encourages participants to look at the picture. It can be projected onto a screen; in a situation where there’s low tech/no tech at all, the picture can be printed. The facilitator asks participants questions such as the following:

Whose image is in the picture? What does the person in the picture stand for? Who is she? etc.

After the participants have responded, the facilitator then introduces Moremi to the group with the following quote. If possible, play African-themed drumming for aesthetics to introduce Moremi . . .

Queen Moremi lived in Ile-Ife. She decided to liberate her people from the gruesome hands of the arch–enemies of the Ifes.

After the facilitator reads the above quote, participants are asked to do a short brainstorming based on rumour and what they know about the story of Moremi. They are guided through the following questions: Who was Moremi? Where did she live? What did she do? Who were her people? etc.

The facilitator divides the class into two groups. Each group will focus on recreating different aspects of Ile-Ife society and Moremi’s story. The idea is to tap into participants’ cultural knowledge of their history.

Group 1: character development of Moremi—Who was she? What characteristics/attributes do you think she had? Who was her father? What would her friends look like? How about her mother? And other siblings? What was her occupation? What kind of attire would Moremi wear? What language would she have spoken? What was her economic class? etc.

Group 2: Identify what kind of trade/work the people of Ife engaged in at that time? (The goal is to foster an understanding of the daily lives of the people of Ile-Ife.)

Instruction to the facilitator: Encourage group presentation to the class. After the brief presentation, divide the class into four groups—each group picking a certain work/job. During the twelfth century, when the incident happened, Ife dwellers were mostly traders and farmers—they planted, harvested, and sold farm produce such as cocoa, kola nut, banana, and walnut. Divide participants into different groups segments.

Group A: Farmers, hunters, traders, cooks, and blacksmiths. Ask participants to create scenes with still images, motions, dialogue, and songs.

Group B: Women and men harvesting at the farm.

Group C: Women and children playing and also doing domestic chores.

Facilitator sets up this scene so that Moremi can interact with each group. This is a reflection of a day in the life of Moremi and the people of Ile-Ife in the twelfth century.

When Moremi gets to the third group, Moremi and her father and siblings join her, and everyone sits down for dinner. Then we hear a gun shot and the entire group scatters, after which we see one person fall dead to the ground.

The facilitator allows a dramatic pause here, and a dirge is then raised to intensify the situation. The Ibos come out of their hiding represented by one person who has been designated by the facilitators. The Ibos pack the harvest and lie the stage. We hear the voice of a small child crying.

***The facilitator uses the thought track convention here***

Ask the participants the following:

a. What are you thinking now?

b. How do you feel about the story?

c. If you were in that situation, what do you think you would say?

d. What do you think the characters might be saying?

e. How would you describe your emotions now? etc.

 

***Give participants the time to think about their response.

At this point, facilitator can bring out the seven core freedoms of the UDHR:

1. Freedom from discrimination

2. Freedom from fear

3. Freedom of want

4. Freedom of religion and conscience

5. Freedom of assembly

6. Freedom of association

7. Freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression

Give participants the opportunity to discuss the core freedoms of the UDHR since they have read them at the beginning. An effective way is to divide them into seven groups and ask each group to discuss one item. After the discussion, help participants to connect the core freedoms with the story of Moremi by proposing a town meeting where participants will deliberate on the way forward. Encourage participants to ask questions and, if possible, connect their questions to the seven core freedoms.

Town meeting: (Instruction to the facilitator): The facilitator brings the participants together and informs them that since the attacks have been consistent, there is a need to have a meeting for everybody to discuss how to solve the problem.

Participants meet at the town hall. The facilitator can steer the meeting by asking questions and encouraging participants to ask questions. For instance:

• Who should attend the town meeting?
• What are the items on the agenda?
• What is our role as citizens during and after the town meeting?
• What values or common identity do we want to uphold as a community?
• Why is the town meeting important?
• Who should facilitate the meeting?
• What should we do to stop these attacks?
• Who is responsible for these attacks and does our community have the power/resources to confront them? etc.

***The town hall meeting should generate questions that will reflect on people’s condition, the seven core freedoms, and the key theme of the workshop. It will be interesting to observe participants’ questions.***

The town meeting should end in concrete ideas—for instance, facilitator can suggest a call to action, or a collective effort, etc., which can be visible and even presentable to the public about the attack or any other social injustice identified by participants.

After the town meeting, the facilitator should steer the conversation toward the group agreeing to meet with the king and/or community leader—that’s if the leader is not in the town meeting. If participants want the leader to attend the meeting, the facilitator can encourage participants to consider the leader as one of them so that the town meeting does not become a deus ex machina where they want the leader to solve all the problems and answer all the questions.

If the community leader does not attend, then encourage participants to take their decisions or call the leader to action. The facilitator using the teaching-in-role convention can play the role of the leader. If the facilitator is not familiar with the culture and processes of the society, the facilitator may want to prepare one participant or a volunteer to take on the role of the leader.

Possible ending: Writing-in-reflection: After the town meeting/meeting with the leader, ask each participant to write down their feelings about the attacks, the result of the town meeting, and the response of the leader. Participants’ reflections can also take other artistic forms—e.g., drawing, poetry, etc.

 

More questions:

Why is protection important?

How does protection affect our human rights?

What is the role of the government, laws, etc., in ensuring that citizens are protected? What is my role in ensuring that we are protected as a community? What choices are we making as a community that open us for attack? What is my leader doing to ensure that we are protected? etc.

***End the workshop with a song about Moremi or a recorded tune about Moremi***

***End of Workshop 2***

 

Drama Workshop 3

 

Proposed time: Four to five hours

Age range: Nine to fifteen years

Central question: What is my role as a member of my community or citizen of this country?

Lesson outcomes:

At the end of the workshop, participants should be able to:

1. Define national consciousness and human consciousness

2. Identify what makes a good value system both in leaders and followers in a given society

3. Raise questions about the roles of community members and community leaders

4. Identify ways we can promote national consciousness and human consciousness

Set-up 1: Facilitator brings accessories—beads and wrapper to be used for the role-play of Moremi. The facilitator asks participants to recap the previous workshop through a series of still images. It is preferable they work in pairs/groups depending on the number.

***In one or two still images, recreate moments that were meaningful to you in the previous workshop. After the creating the still image, the facilitator can ask other questions such as the rationale for choosing that particular moment, etc.

Set-up 2: Facilitator reads/tells participants the remaining story of Moremi. At the end of the story, the facilitator asks participants who would love to speak with Moremi. Facilitator speaks of the power of theatre and imagination. Although we cannot bring Moremi back to life, it is possible to put ourselves in her position and ask questions. It is important to reiterate the connection between the next task and theatre to aid participants’ understanding and clarify any misunderstanding. (This is not reincarnation, chanting, or bringing Moremi back to life. It is a dramatic exploration using the character of Moremi.)

The facilitator wears costumes and accessories to enhance believability. After this the facilitators comes into the space and speaks to participants.

Teaching-in-role/Moremi: “Yes, I have come. Although I am not Moremi, I would l love to answer your questions—at least the ones I can answer. Ask me your questions.”

Encourage participants to ask questions they would have loved to ask Moremi if she were present. Using role-play, question Moremi—so whomever plays the character of Moremi would do so in character. For instance, during a workshop in Oranmiyan Grammar School (Nigeria), participants asked the following questions:

1. Moremi, how did you feel when you sacrificed yourself and her son?

2. Why did you sacrifice yourself?

3. Why did you allowed yourself to be captured by the Ibos?

4. What if you didn’t sacrifice yourself, what would have happened?

5. What would have happened if you didn’t make it back alive?

6. What was the king at that time doing that he couldn’t protect his people after he enjoyed the benefit of being a king?

7. Did people mock you when you went to the Ibos?

8. What was your experience with the Ibos?

9. Did they beat you? Were they mean to you?

10.Why did you choose to honour your pledge to Osumare?

11. Do you think we should stop sacrificing human beings for our gods?

After the questioning, the facilitator can ask each participant to think of one person in their lives who made a huge sacrifice for them and find ways to express gratitude to them. Finally, ask participants what it means to be a member of a community.

***End of Workshop 3***

 

Drama Workshop 4

 

Proposed time: Six to eight hours

Age range: Nine to fifteen years

Central question: What does it mean to leave a place out of force?

Lesson outcomes:

1. Identify reasons for forced migration

2. Identify people, places, and things to respect

3. Identify ways to help forced migrants

Step 1: If possible, prior to the workshop, ask participants to bring something that reminds them of a place they have lived, stayed, or something about a memorable place.

***Instruction to facilitator—you can also ask them to facilitate exercises and games. It is always helpful to inform them.

Game: Names of a person, animal, place, and thing. ***Instruction about the game—participants are in a circle, and someone starts the game by calling the name of a person starting with a particular letter. It moves from person to animal, place to thing. Whoever does not get it leaves the game.

Instruction to the facilitator: After the game—or any other games introduced by participants that align with the theme of the workshop—facilitator can pose the following question to participants: What does it mean to leave a place out of force?

***It is important to pose the question in a way participant can understand; avoid using words that participants cannot understand.

Show participants the lure: Ghana Must Go

Instruction to the facilitator: Ask participants such questions as: What do you see? Have you used it before? What material is it made out of? Do they have a Ghana Must Go at home? Finally, ask them if they know any story behind Ghana Must Go?

If participants do not know the story of Ghana Must Go, the instructor can summarize the incident, but not in detail. Rather, ask them to research more about it. Also, inform them that the workshop will help them understand what happened in the past. If they know, you can ask them to share the story among themselves.

Instructor: Now that you have heard the story, we want to recreate some scenes that would help us better understand this story. Before you read the excerpt below, tell them that what you are about to read for them was said by Akwua.

This information is important because it will give context to the story: Akwua was working as an assistant sales manager for a chemical firm. He had four siblings and two parents. He was the breadwinner. Technically, he was an illegal immigrant because he had challenges with his paperwork.

Using role-play, carry one or two Ghana Must Go bags and read the following excerpt:

“When we hit the main road, there we could see how serious it was; the trucks loaded with items and people, thousands of thousands of vehicles. Thousands and thousands of people, they were uncountable.”

After reading the excerpt, divide the group into two groups.

Group A: Forced Migrants (who are Ghanaians).

Group B: The host country (in this context, Nigeria).

Group A is struggling to get on the trucks and is loading them with items, while Group B is the host country, whose members have mixed feelings—some are trying to send those in Group A away while others are trying to help them.

It will be helpful to allow participants the opportunity to think creatively and come up with other specific tasks. Some may even give themselves a specific character. For instance, friends to Akwua, neighbours to Akwua’s family, their religious leader, etc.

After creating this scene, ask Akwua to move from one group to another engaging with the activities. Let the group react to Akwua and as they are going on. The instructor should observe others’ response to Akwua, and using thought-tracking convention, they should ask Akwua: What do you think is happening? Why are they reacting to you in this way? Also, thought-track other characters. At the end of the exercise, ask the two groups to form two lines facing each other and inform them that Akwua would appreciate advice from them since he is a forced migrant who is about to embark on a similar journey. This is the advice alley convention.

After this first exercise, bring an actual Ghana Must Go to the space/stage. Tell them that Akwua listened to their advice and decided to leave. Inform participants that this is Akwua’s Ghana Must Go bag full of his memory of the journey. Drop it on the floor and ask them to open the Ghana Must Go bag. Tell participants that there are pieces of paper with different quotes and ask them to read out the quotes one after another.

“Someone told me that there was a deadline for us to leave the country.”

“The country’s leader is about to hand over power to the military, and we were asked to get ready because anything can happen.”

“I was sitting in the front of my house eating dinner with my family when we heard gunshots. Boko Haram is here . . . we all left everything and ran for our dear lives.”

“Because we were from Ghana, we were told that civilians could do anything to any alien in the country. . . . We were the aliens.”

“At the end of the day, many Nigerians helped us, but the government was hostile to us.”

“And it was that threat that after the deadline every Nigerian citizen could take action against foreigners. After the deadline he gave power to every Nigerian citizen. We had nowhere to hide in Nigeria because wherever you’re staying you are staying with Nigerians. So that made everyone scared.”

“Did you know that I left everything in Adamawa and travelled in a truck overnight to Ife? That was what my father told me . . .”

After reading these quotes, ask participants what they think they can do with the quotes to honour and respect Akwua’s story and his experience. You can suggest word collage, drawing, or something more action-oriented and socially driven—e.g., donation to the cause of migrants, a community project, etc.

***End of Workshop 4***