This is a simple and useful role-play to use during a community meeting. Three people are needed for the role-play. One person (usually a man) acts as the outsider who comes to a community and offers to help someone cross the river. The river has several useful stepping-stones.
The outsider quickly carries the person on his back, but gets tired and leaves them in the middle of the river on a stepping stone, saying he will return later. The person cannot find the way across the river on their own. The outsider returns and offers to show a second person the way across the river. They move slowly together with the outsider showing where it is safe to step. They reach the other side safely. The first person is still stuck in the middle of the river.
Discuss the meaning of this role-play using the discussion questions.
Discussion
- What type of outsiders come to our local area to offer help? Do people ever feel like the first person (who was left in the middle of the river)? Have they begun to take action on some new initiative but have then been unable to continue it on their own? Why? How could it have been better?
- What was different about the approach of the outsider during the second role-play?
- What knowledge did the outsider share, and how did he share it?
- What could the second person have done to bring the role play to a different end?
- How can local people make sure that they remain in control of new knowledge and ideas?
- Discuss how you could repeat this role play, this time with local people having the skills and knowledge to place stepping stones and safely cross the river, rather than the outsider.
- Discuss how sharing knowledge can help many people, while doing something for people can help only a few. After sharing knowledge (of making bread for example) you still have as much to share. After giving away loaves of bread there are no more left for sharing.
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