We have been working with some 6th graders at the German school in Bet Jalla. We have six different sections of students there and each group functions at various degrees of efficiency. Being in 6th grade, they are still victims of that debilitating disease for which a cure has yet to be found: cooties. That’s right. The dreaded cootie plague has swept through this school and they have it BAD. I remember having a small case of the cooties in my 6th grade years as well, but definitely not to this extent. For whatever reason, these kids are fatally infected. Boys and girls stand on opposite sides of the room, will only speak to each other in insults, the only appropriate touch is hitting and punching and the only acceptable way to play together is for the boys to leave the girls behind because of course, girls don’t know anything.
We had had several weeks with these groups trying to cure this disease; trying to convince them that it is all in their head. Most groups made a pretty good recovery. But there was one group where the cooties seemed to dig in further and set in for the long haul. Having been cootie free myself for many years now, it was incredibly frustrating to see them suffer so needlessly. We spent so much time trying to convince them that this disease was indeed harmless. So much energy invested in bringing them out of it. We got so close. At one point, we even got them to admit “it’s silly that we can’t work together with girls, there’s nothing wrong with them, but I don’t want to anyway.” WHAT?! They WANT the cooties?
At this point, we decided to move on and focus on other afflictions and maybe in time this one would work itself out. Weeks later, as we began another session with this particular group, we decided the focus of the day would be communication. A noble cause for sure. We introduced the initiative and let them go. There must have been something magical in the air that day. Before long, the group was so completely engrossed in the activity that they seemed to have forgotten that anyone had cooties. Unbelievable. We witnessed two genders working in unison! Girls thanking boys for their help, boys insisting that girls go first… Amazing. They worked… like a team! We watched, beaming, as they finished the initiative and cheered when their team was successful. After some “hoorah’s” and high fives, we gathered them around. They had some good communication throughout the event, but my mind was no longer concerned about that. I said “I couldn’t help but notice that everyone, boys and girls, were helping each other. You worked together great. Why did boys and girls help each other this time?” One kid raised his hand and gave a very short, and in light of our history with them, a very deep answer: “Because we’re a team.”
YEAH!
It’s the small victories you have to look for. Even though the next week it was apparent that we had not completely eradicated the cooties, it was nice to see that they were starting to weaken. Some day cooties, you’re going down!
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