Quick adaptation was key during my fourth week, which involved both stability and unexpected developments. SOS Children's Villages houses orphaned, abandoned, and precariously housed youth, and working here has challenged me to become the best version of myself.

What went well?

The progress I made; what was achieved and done

Comedy-based psychosocial intervention for teenagers

• At first, it would be a struggle to get volunteers to play in any game involving an audience, but now, everyone seems to want to go first when I ask.

Comedy-based psychosocial intervention for preschoolers

• At first, for the younger group, I had to keep my interactive questions simple (e.g., "what was that animal's favourite colour?"), but now, they seem to be able to handle more complex questions (e.g., "why do you think that animal felt like that?").

Soccer-based psychosocial intervention for school-aged and teenage girls

• Some of the girls have told me that they used the relaxation technique that I taught them last week, and that it has helped them stay out of fights at school.

Skill sharing with the centre’s staff

• Our usual training time was postponed due to it falling on a South African national holiday. However, a staff member that I ran into on site told me that they felt sad that it was being postponed; the training we are doing seems to be helpful for them.

What could have been done differently?

Things that did not get done and/or could be changed

• For the teen comedy intervention, I asked some of the teens to make new choices in certain scenes that seemed to revolve around making fun of another's identity.
• For the girls soccer intervention, some of the younger girls felt that I was not paying enough attention to their match (i.e., the younger and older girls get split into two separate matches at the end of sessions).
• For the preschool comedy intervention, some individuals seem to be non-verbally expressing disappointment (i.e., pouting) if I do not select them for a scene right away.
• For the staff skill sharing programming, I wish I was more mindful of South African holidays so that I could have more efficiently communicated a new date for our postponed training.

What did I learn about myself when working with others?

Contributions, behaviours and values I exhibited

This week I focused on the Laidlaw Scholar value of being fast. I found out that the venue that we had planned to use for our final teen comedy show was no longer available, therefore, I had to quickly make choices and find a new one. I was able to refrain from overthinking the situation, and this allowed me to accept what I could not change. In the end, we were able to secure another space, which seems to afford new opportunities that were not present in the original venue.

What did I learn about leadership?

Leadership attributes and insights I developed

This week, I was able to work on the attribute of resilience and determination to achieve. Although there was stability in many areas of the programming that I am running, there were still some major adjustments to be made. For instance, finding a new venue for an upcoming show required a strong desire to maintain the goal that I had originally set out: the experience of a class show in front of the entire centre so that the teens could cherish this moment. This motivated me to remain resilient and make some quick decisions that ultimately allowed us to find another venue.

What do I want to develop or focus on next?

What I still need to develop

• For the teen comedy intervention, similar to the girls soccer intervention last week, I want to remind them of some agreed upon rules from our first week. Notably, I want to draw attention to our previous agreement to avoid humour that revolves around another's identity.
• For the preschool comedy intervention, I will make sure that I do not reward any disruptive non-verbal expressions of disappointment. I want to be able to teach them to deal with disappointment in a healthy way, so it is important that I do not encourage this type of behaviour.
• For the girls soccer intervention, I realize that I have been spending all my time on the older children's matches. This is because I have two teen assistant coaches helping me out, so I thought it would be easier if I assigned them to watch over the younger children's matches. However, I now see how this can be seen as unintentional favouritism, so I will try to engage more with the younger children throughout.
• For the staff skill sharing programming, at the end of our sessions, I will ensure to clearly communicate the plan for upcoming sessions so that they know what to expect and not be taken by surprise (e.g., being unsure if we were going to have a session due to an upcoming holiday).