National Bogrim Seminar Sikkum 2011
From Habonim Dror
National Bogrim Seminar 2011 Report Back:
Contents |
Info
DATE: Sunday 3rd July – Saturday 9th July
VENUE: Grahamstown National Arts Festival (30 June – 10 July)
LENGTH: 5 full festival days, 6 nights and 2 days travel
ROSHIM: Mia Candy and Gabi Altamirano
PARTICIPANTS:
- Bogrim 6: Ross Engers, Julian Kesler, Josh Maserow
- Bogrim 5: Gemma Cowan, Bianca Sossen
- Bogrim 4: Roxi Joseph, Lee Lobel, Kelly Powell
- Bogrim 3: Ilan Price, Lynzi Bennun, Michael Sussman, Tiffany Coll
- Bogrim 2: Adam Maserow
- Bogrim 1: Benji Collenberg, Jake Nudleman, Jonothan Berkowitz
Successes
Planning:
• Logistically well managed – travel, food, schedules etc
• Good balance of free time and structured time, good level of flexibility
• The accommodation was convenient, had enough space and the conference room worked really well for peulot
• Meal plans and structure worked very well
• Finances well managed – the project broke even
• Good balance between fun and serious
Achievement of aims:
• Bonding between wide array of bogrim ages and groups
• Reconnection to and reinspiration for habo for new and old bogrim
• High standard of chinnuch, peulot and engagement by bogrim
• Responsible group of bogrim who took the seminar seriously and respected its unique nature and rules. General good attitude by everyone – openness to everything the festival and seminar had to offer and made the most of things like accomm and weather.
Dissappointments
• Weather – very wet
• Standard of accommodation – no hot water, sometimes no water, rooves leaking etc…
• Cancellation for some peulot due to time constraints
• Peulot only run by 4 bogrim
Transport
Flights and busses incredibly expensive over festival time but perhaps cheaper if booked long in advance – look into flight/ bus option for future
We therefore drove to and from Gtown in our own cars
Pros of Driving
- Bonding Time
- Have cars in Gtown to get around
- No issues with number cancellations
Cons of driving
- Need enough responsible and willing drivers
- Safety issues, dangerous roads
- Drivers arrive at seminar exhausted
How it worked:
• 3 Cars from JHB, 2 from CT (3 – 4 people per car)
• Sunday 3rd:
- Dept JHB 5.30am, Dept CT 6am
- CT arrived long before JHB cars – must try arrive on time (organisers to arrive first)
- JHB cars only arrived around 7pm on Sunday eve – must allow for minimum 13 hour drive
• Saturday 9th:
- JHB dept 4.30am, CT dept 5.30am
- Both Arrive home at 5pm
• Petrol: Mazkirim used petrol card and had petrol paid for as per usual, while other drivers filled up and were reimbursed after seminar
Recommendations for driving:
• Drivers must be experienced and older
• Must have 2 drivers for each car
• Have to plan route and compulsory stops
Plays and Performances
• Chosen beforehand based on extensive reading through the options and reviews
• Tried to choose ones with educational value
• Tried to choose a variety of mediums – lectures, exhibitions, physical theatre, drama, and film.
• Average of 2 performances per day for everyone
• Booked a week in advance through computicket and while at the festival
Reccomendation:
• Include a dance show, as a lot of people wanted to see something like this
• Leave room for booking plays that you hear are good once there
• Look carefully at what the lectures are about and how long they are
• We didn’t go to any exhibitions but should try organize to meet with
• Try organize guest speakers, question and answer sessions with people from the festival/ performances
• Attend more musical performances
Educational Process
Attempted at first to have each day be a different educational theme that tied in with the plays we saw that day however this is NOT an effective structure as the dayplans changed so often and one cannot know what the plays are really going to be about, so it is impossible to have a real educational flow.
Instead, bogrim 5’s and 6’s were approached to run peulot on topics suggested by the organisers, or that interested the boger. This resulted in various peulot on an array of interesting topics not usually dealt with. Experiened bogrim running topics that interested them resulted in very high level of peulot and engagement. The passion and interest in the topics was evident. Feedback suggested that participants appreciated the way the educational aspect of the seminar happened. This structure also allows for the order of peulot to be changed on the spot without disrupting the educational flow.
Peulah topics covered: Intro and bonding, Are We African?, The god delusion, The Ethics of HIV testing, New Education Models, The art of peulah writing, Checklist around Gtown, Fun peulah run by bogrim ones.
Chomer Books: Very important to do, although MUST be handed out before the car/ plane ride and people told to read them
Include: list of bogrim, intro letter, dayplans and meal plans, map of Gtown, list of things to do during free time and restaurant suggestions
Articles: Added a nice touch and those who read them really enjoyed them. Some related to peulot, but some were just for interest. Had an additional chomer book with longer articles that no one read – put more emphasis on people taking time to engage on this level.
Reccomendation:
Start peulah writing process earlier (only begun a couple weeks before and peulot were still be worked on during the seminar) to allow for greater depth of research and meticulous preparation
- Peulot should be run by older bogrim, who should invite a younger boger to help
- Good to empower bogrim ones to run something
- Important for younger bogrim to see the mazkirim running high level education and quality peulot
- NB: Need a venue with a space to run peulot
Dayplan and Structure
The structure involved roughly half day of peulot and plays together, and half day free, with almost all nights free.
Recc: give people more free mornings to explore the shops and village green and peulot in the afternoon/ evening as this is the awkward time when it gets cold and dark and things close.
Almost Every dayplan changed from the original because of plays being fully booked, cancelled, new plays arising, people wanting to see things that were only on during peulah time, meal complications, weather etc… Basically, it is almost impossible to stick to a plan. It is important to have one, but one must be ready for improvisation and switching things around, ie be VERY VERY flexible.
Rules and Security
The fact that the seminar is for bogrim only and takes place at the gtown festival which is known for its parties, alcohol and drugs, makes the rule system for this event unique.
The general rule was that people were allowed to do their own thing during free time as long as it did not interfere with their participation in the seminar. We depended heavily on everyone taking responsibility for themselves and their own behavior and safety. It worked very well with no issues at all as everyone was there for the right reasons, participated fully and partied responsibly.
One needs to think very carefully about the kind of people targeted for the seminar if one is to recreate the atmosphere of responsibility and respect we had in 2011.
Group Size and Dynamics
18 people attended the seminar with a breakdown of 3 bog 1s, 1 bog 2, 4 bog 3’s, 3 bog 4’s, 2 bog 5’s and 5 bog 6’s. The group size was perfect and future seminars should be limited to 25 people MAX. Logistics for food, transport, play booking and accomm for any more than that will be impossible, and it will also dilute the quality of the seminar.
Only people who really wanted to participate came and there were no full friend groups. Cliques were thus broken down to some extent and real bonding was allowed. Was particularly good for the bog ones to feel a real part of the bogrim body and for a new comer to get to know everyone well and feel at home in habo.
Venue
The Frontier Country Hotel
PROS:
- R155 pp/night and R450 for the conference room per day
- Ideal location: walking distance from everything
- Conference room ideal for peulot and general facilities ideal for our needs
- Could change booking numbers up until the last minute and they had enough space for up to 40 of us. Rooms were still available when we began looking 6 weeks before the seminar.
CONS:
- Very run down and falling apart – not really any hot water, bathrooms without doors, leaking roof etc…
- Dodgy road – lots of homeless people – bogrim felt their belongings were unsafe. In reality, everything was really fine and people were unnecessarily nervous.
Reccomendation:
• Begin looking for accommodation from the start of the year
• Has to be close to town center
• Has to have a peulah venue
• Must have facilities for coffee, tea, a fridge and space to store food and a safe place for valuables
• Must be comfortable and relatively warm as the cold weather can be a real downer – if people are wet and cold, their ability to enjoy the seminar will be severely damaged.
• If the Frontier Hotel is renovated/ fixed up in the next couple years and they sort out the plumbing issues, it is an ideal venue
• Look into renting a house
