YALI RLC: My Experience (Day 10)

The 3rd day of October, the 10th of the training was just like the previous day. Exercises of different kinds were carried out at different venues and at different periods, and breakfast was taken, too, at the usual venue at 7. And as usual, Mr. Kappo came to address us at about 8, and I think he really liked a kind of clap one of us taught him: a big clap... another one... another bigger clap. We weren't surprised when he dittoed it the next day.

Dr. S. K. Olowe taught us 'Gender and Diversity' on this day. He started with an exercise which he titled "choosing the sex of your child". Many of us, from the responses given, preferred a male child to a female one, while a few preferred otherwise. Fantastic reasons were also said to back up the preferences. Then, he gave a lot of definitions of gender; one of which is the "culturally and socially constructed rules and identities ascribed to males and females".

We saw a short video titled "The White Handkerchief". The film tells the story of a young village girl called Awero, played by Sola Asedeko, who lost her virginity as a result of rape before she met her childhood love, called Odejimi, whom she decides to marry. Odejimi must use a white handkerchief to evidence the virginal blood of Awero on their wedding night as required by tradition. Odejimi is disappointed when no blood is produced and this results in a war between the villagers of Awero and Odejimi. Reviews were done; and most participants aired their respective views about the video.

Sex and gender were well differentiated: sex is biological while gender is socially constructed; sex is born-with while gender isn't; sex can't be change but gender can.

We saw a short documentary titled "The Fox and The Crane". Once a fox and a crane became friends. So, the fox invited the crane to dinner. The crane accepted the invitation and reached the fox's place at sunset. The fox had prepared soup for his mate. But as we all know that foxes are cunning by nature, he served the soup in flat dishes. So, he himself lapped the crane's share with his tongue enjoying its relish a lot. But the crane could not enjoy it at all with his long beak and had to get back home hungry. The shrewd fox felt extremely amused.

After few days, the crane invited the fox to dine in with him. The fox reached his place well in time. The crane gave him a warm welcome and served the soup in a jug with a long and narrow neck. So, the crane enjoyed the soup with great relish using his long beak. The fox's mouth couldn't reach the soup through the narrow neck of the jug. He had to return home hungry. Now he realized that he had been repaid for his behaviour with the crane.

We talked about gender equality before going for lunch. Gender equality is summarily about women having the same opportunities in life as men.

We got back from lunch and we were split into two groups: one was anchored by Dr. Olowe, while the other which I was a part of was anchored by Mrs. Banke Akinrimisi. She started by asking us who we are. Many of us answered and others reacted to the different responses. We realized that no two persons are the same; everyone is completely different. This gave us a clear picture of what diversity really is. She dwelt so well about 'Understanding Liberty', stating that diversity means inclusion, tolerance, acceptance and what have you.

Lectures ended at about 5pm and Mr. Kappo showed again. He didn't really say anything new; he only elucidated how the trips we would soon have would be done and what documents were needed to embark on the trips. At 5:34, we 'called it a day'. However, each river groups started making necessary preparations for their next presentations.

Delicious dinner was had, and that was how the 10th day ended.

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