I am the facilitator of a circle in Thotakurapalem village, India. I am 26, and although I did not finish school I have my sixth standard. I went on a twenty day Reflect training in 1998 as I wanted to do something good for my community. After the training I returned to my community, it was hard.Initially people were reluctant to come to the Reflect circle, they would not accept me as the facilitator. This was especially hard as some people in the circle were my relatives - they wouldn't listen to me, or accept the new things I was telling them. I was also worried that I didn't know enough - I am not that educated. I was concerned that by helping people discuss their needs and wishes I would raise their expectations that things would change, what would happen if these expectations weren't met? - would they blame me?
However, things got better - it is only through experience that you can learn and improve. Through facilitating the meetings I got better at understanding how the conversations worked, at picking out key points that people were making and helping to move the conversation forward. The graphics help the learners to visualise what they have in mind, what they want to communicate. They help make the group discussion more clear. It is interesting because not only is the discussion more focused and structured, but at the same time it is easier to deepen the discussion and to increase its scope. People are mature, they know their problems, but the graphics help to generate interest which in turn helps to raise awareness on common problems.
Being a Reflect facilitator has helped me tremendously - my confidence has increased a lot - I think I am more able now to handle crisis - both in the community and in my family. I have gained respect and recognition from other community members and have also learnt a lot from them. As I am working with my community their problems are my problems too - we all share together. My wife has also participated in the circle and her literacy has improved a lot - in fact it was because her literacy improved that I was able to convince my brother to study also.
Recently my aunt died in torrential rains - I was able to claim compensation for her accidental death from the local government. Before I was a facilitator I would not have done this. I am still developing my skills and I hope to go on learning and improving. I still worry sometimes that I will miss a key point in the discussion or I will start a graphic that the group aren't interested in. But I feel stronger and more able to take risks - to talk in front of people, and to listen to, and understand what they say.
