Labels (25 mins)
Goals
Learners feel how hurtful it is to be given a label and pledge not to use labels anymore on others.Guidelines
Give each person a piece of paper. Each person writes on their paper something that they would not like to be called. It can be a label referring to their age, gender, religion, language, race, culture or anything else that identifies them as different from others, e.g. a "nerd," a "Kwere-kwere" or a "cheese boy". Then collect all the labels and, with the group sitting in a circle, stick each label (or hand them out) at random to everyone in the group so that the one who wrote that particular label does not get it.
Each person in turn then looks at his/her label and imagines that it was the one he/she wrote. He/she should then say how he/she feels and what he/she does not like about being called that label. When everyone has had a chance to speak, pass a paper bin around the circle encouraging every person to destroy the label and place it in the bin, saying, "I will never use this label on anyone again."
Encourage learners to take this activity seriously as it can be a very powerful exercise for the group if handled properly or it can be very painful for some if it is mocked. Even if someone lands up with a label that is laughable, e.g. a girl lands up with a label saying "male chauvinist pig", encourage her to put herself in the shoes of that person and speak meaningfully about why she does not want to be called that. After all, we all have enough experience of being on the receiving end of prejudice and stereotyping to know how harmful this can be.
Once the activity is complete, share your responses to the following questions with one another:
How did it feel to do this activity?What made you feel this way?Why did we do this activity?What have you learnt about yourself and others from this activity?Tip
It is not necessary that everyone shares on every question; let the discussion be a free-flow discussion but encourage people to listen to one another and also encourage those who are quieter to speak as they often have valuable things to say.