Scavenger Hunt – Freedom Fighters Academy

This past Saturday was the 3rd Freedom Fighters Academy meeting and it was a TON of fun.

The first part of the training was about effective communication.

The freedom fighters learned that after studying people’s normal communication habits and needs, a team of educators estimated that in our daily lives, verbal communication is only essential 10% of the time, non-verbal communication 45%, and listening is essential 45% of the time.

We did many engaging activities focused on diving more into the topics of these 3 components of effective communication. We also discussed “You and I” messages as a great technique for conflict resolution and the differences between reflective and non reflective listening.

The second part of the training was extremely fun and interactive and helped the Freedom Fighters take what they learned in the first part of the training and put it to practice. The freedom fighters were split into 2 groups and were required to partake in a Scavenger Hunt outside and in the streets of Bucharest.

 

Some of the tasks the teams were required to perform included:

• Interview at least 5 people on the street about human trafficking.
• Hand out “How to Spot a Trafficker” flyers to at least 30 people.
• Convince strangers on the street to take pictures with your group holding “Sunt Un Om Liber” signs.
• Convince businesses and shops to post some of “Luptatori pentru Libertate” flyers on what people can do to take action against trafficking.
• Find at least 3 flyers and advertisements that objectify women or have suspicious job descriptions/advertisements.
• Think of a creative way to spread awareness and implement it.

It was really incredible seeing the Freedom Fighters push themselves outside of their comfort zones and approach people on the street, interview them about this important topic, and encourage them to take action. These were not easy tasks to do and although some of the Freedom fighters were a bit discouraged people on the street were not as receptive to the topic as they would have liked, we continued to remind them they were doing an incredible job in initiating the conversation about such a critical topic in Romania and opening up the possibility for these people to be more receptive to have such conversations in the future.

We want to thank our freedom fighters because the more time we spend with them, the more we recognize we have selected an incredible group of teenagers that are passionate and active and are truly making a difference in Romania.

Here’s some feedback from our students:

Student 1: “I’m so glad I listened to the advice of my friend to join this group! I learned many new things, I made many friends and helped other people, informing them about trafficking. The Scavenger Hunt, was a brilliant idea that came out very well! I hope we have other activities of this kind! “

Student 2: “Ever since I found out about the Scavenger Hunt, I was very excited and looked forward to it even though I did not know what exactly it meant. It was something new for me and fascinating. I liked conducting the interviews because I was able to interact with people and find out what they know about the phenomenon of human trafficking and how they think. As I expected, because I also had the same initial reaction, Romanians do not know that slavery is still on the rise today, that Romania is the number one source country for human trafficking in Europe and the price of a person is so small. “

Student 3: “At the Freedom Fighter Academy meeting I learned that listening is an important part of effective communication. Moreover, I was surprised that I could implement this so quickly.

What happens when you let a bunch of teenagers passionate about preventing human trafficking free on the street and give them the opportunity to talk with strangers?

First, our role was to transmit a message- an important one- to people who were willing to give us a little of their time. So I had to communicate information related to trafficking in persons, and shared some flyers with those when our lack of communication experience showed.

But my favorite part was listening. I liked hearing opinions about what the people thought trafficking means and listening to their wrong answers to some questions in the interview. I especially liked observing their reactions when I read them the startling correct statistics. They varied, indeed, from carelessness and indifference, to wonder, confusion and even shock.

“It cannot happen to me” was the reaction of a grown man to a 12 year old boy who had wanted to help us pass out flyers in the neighborhood and had a burning desire to ask: “What can I do to help?”

Why were people so careless? i wondered. Maybe I was not quite convincing and well prepared. Maybe because we’re young and we are not considered worthy to be taken seriously. Maybe some are keen to understand that we are talking about a real problem. Or maybe some believe that prevention is a waste of time and that what we do is unimportant, so they don’t care to make a difference. I for one refuse to let such thoughts trouble me because I believe in the importance of prevention and the small difference it makes for ones knowledge. (“Your ignorance is their power.” In this case)

But I think our experience was beneficial to the dozens of people with whom I managed to talk with in the allotted time. I hope to always keep with me the honest enthusiasm of the children who followed us around the neighborhood willing to help us share flyers and show an endless love for others, exhibited by those who instruct us in the Freedom Fighters Academy. “