XAVERIAN'S CORNER

A Walk in the Dark
Neilsen Bernardo (H4A), Stallion News Writer

Posted Friday, 17-Feb-2006 8:52 AM

“A walk in the dark to start it all, a journey of fulfillment to end it.”

      The room was dark - dark at least to the eyes of the scattered and blindfolded participants. After being grouped together by their leader’s directives, they screamed in jubilation for having completed yet another task and having earned themselves a flag of achievement in Station 1: Walk in the Dark.

      This setting describes the Movement Room in the EED Building during last week’s Heroes’ Race, a whole afternoon affair for the EDSOR 2006 delegates. Being the facilitator of this station, I was able to observe the twenty impatient, yet excited and determined teams go through the game.

Station 1: A Walk in the Dark is a stretch, which promotes trust and confidence in a leader. To start off, the team will first choose a leader and then have each of the nine other members blindfolded. These nine participants will then be positioned at various places around a room filled with obstacles such as balls, kiddie football goals, trampolines, chairs and the like. After these preparations, the game starts as the leader, who stays at one position (near the door), directs his/her members to move such that they would all end up together at one place.

      I believe that the whole experience was also a “walk in the dark” for me because I have never been able to attend an EDSOR Peace Conference before. Moreover, I found the station assigned to me apt because it allowed me to further realize the value of trust. After witnessing the trust of a participant, who was directed by his leader to “just keep walking and bump the chairs,” I realized that I am not as trusting as this person. By oberseving the groups as they struggled with thier task, I also discovered the different means that a leader gains his/her followers’ trust.

      At the end of the whole activity, I felt fulfilled to have been able to experience, to help out, but more importantly, to have been inspired by these young men and women, who went through the EDSOR Peace Camp as true examples of leaders and followers.

EDSOR Peace Camp Photo Gallery

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