During our October Team meeting, SMART Africa coordinators and seasoned Multiple Family Group (MFG) facilitators William Byansi and Phionah Namatovu took the U.S. ICHAD/SMART Africa teams through MFG session one as part of the team-building exercise. This session, designed to introduce group participants to each other, create rules for participants, and give an overview of the MFG, introduced newer members of the U.S.-based team to the curriculum as well as common issues and questions that are raised during these initial sessions. For example, how facilitators may deal with people initially unwilling to attend all 16 sessions or those that might have conflicting family rules. In this interactive session, the facilitators reviewed the four R’s (Rules, Responsibility, Relationships, and Respectful Communication and two S’s (Stress and Social Support) and asked the team for input from their own experiences throughout. Thanks to William and Phionah for transporting us (momentarily), into the classrooms of Uganda, Kenya, and Ghana!
