Defining Power

From Peacebuilding

Contents 1 Aim: 2 Time: 3 Materials: 4 Procedure: 5 Debriefing: 6 Handout: The Power of Human

Aim:

To encourage groups to think about different sources of power

Time:

30-40 minutes – more if necessary

Materials:

• Flip charts

• Markers

• Copies of the handout “The Power of Human” (see below)

Procedure:

I) Decide beforehand how to divide the group into smaller groups for discussion. Alternatively you can choose to facilitate the discussion in plenary.

II) Distribute the handout with the parable “The Power of Human”. Allow participants sufficient time to read the handout, or ask volunteers to read the parable out loud.

III) If using sub-groups, allow 15 minutes for discussion, and then have groups return for large group reporting and discussion.

Debriefing:

The following questions are not cast in stone. Please add or change as necessary.

• How did the animals define power?

• How, if at all, did this differ from Human’s definition of power?

• Who is the most powerful among the following: the President of the United States, McDonalds, your country’s leader, Mother Teresa, your local chief/tribal leader, or you? Explain each person’s source of power.

• How do you respond to the statement “Everyone is powerful, but not everyone notices it”?

Handout: The Power of Human

Once upon a time, the animals used to hold an annual power celebration. In recent times the celebration had become very competitive. New winners emerged because of new techniques. Last year Monkey was the winner. Imagine! All the animals agreed that he’d succeeded in demonstrating new techniques of power and deserved first place.

This year the competition was a little different. A new animal joined the race – Human. Most animals didn’t think Human had any chance, but Human had sailed through the preliminaries. The finals were held up on the hill of Kwetu Forest overlooking the Waterfall of Hope. The five finalists were Lion, Elephant, Monkey, Giraffe and Human.

As usual, the competitors arrived with their supporters. Monkey was the first to turn up. No one quite saw how Monkey arrived because he was jumping from branch to branch. It looked spectacular as the entire Monkey family arrived like a well choreographed circus. Next was Lion, who dislikes ceremonial, and arrived only with his wife. He looked around proudly as he stepped into the arena. Elephant and Giraffe are rather close friends, and arrived almost at the same time. Elephant was chewing a branch, while Giraffe was nibbling some sweet leaves. Human arrived last and came alone, with an object dangling from his waist.

The master of ceremonies, Squirrel, announced that the competition was to begin. According to the rules, competitors were allowed to step into the arena as soon as they felt ready. Elephant went first and demonstrated her power by digging a large hole, throwing up lots of dust and making a lot of noise. Giraffe came next and did a rather poor variation of her dance of power, but the melody sounded nice. She danced around gracefully and then sat down. Monkey weighed in with his acrobatic jumps from branch to branch, but not many animals seemed impressed. Lion roared to demonstrate his power. Few animals were afraid as they’d heard this roar many times before.

Last came the new competitor, Human. Human stepped into the arena and looked around. The animals fell silent. Slowly Human untied something from his waist and raised it. Loud bangs followed. Suddenly almost every other competitor was bleeding. Lion was limping, and Monkey scampered away with blood oozing from his ear. Even Elephant seemed helpless. She sat there with a bleeding trunk, doing something between laughing and crying. Human laughed and slowly walked back into the forest.

That night all the animals met. Human wasn’t invited. The animals wondered what had become of Human. Why did he attempt to kill the animals even when he did not want to eat them? Some animals thought Human was different because he walked on his two feet, while others said he could be suffering from that rare disease, a “superiority complex.” The animals decided to investigate Human further. Dog and Cat were given the task of investigating Human and reporting back. However, since then, no other competitions have been held. Dog and Cat have seemed to enjoy living with Human, once they accepted being under his control. They’ve never reported back.

Source: Babu, A., Gbaydee, S., Doe and Janice Jenner, When You Are the Peacebuilder: Stories and Reflections from Peacebuilding in Africa, Conflict Transformation Programme, Eastern Mennonite University, Harrisonburg, VA, 2001, pp. 17-18. This activity is included also in Fast, Larissa, Neufeldt, Reina, et al., Caritas: A Peacebuilding Training Manual, Vatican City: Caritas Internationalis, 2002, p. 71, www.caritas.org.