The MAP at Home Psychosocial Manual delivers five units covering the following themes: 1) Emotion; 2) Sharing Stories; 3) Active Listening & Deep Stories; 4) Family & Community Engagement; 5) Give & Take. The exercises were delivered as part of online digital workshops delivered between March - August 2021 with over 108 research participants working in five Districts of Rwanda.
In Kinyarwanda, the proverb ababiri bashyize hamwe baruta umunani barasana means ‘two friends working together are greater than eight person that are in fight’. We use this proverb to show how working together collectively can contribute towards making positive social change and to support community aspirations. Collective and social support offers a space to understand emotions and to establish trust between young people and their community. This manual focuses on understanding self and other, expressing oneself through visual and performance-based methods, and enabling a
space to share individual and group reflections based on how to understand emotions and to develop trust.
Research has proven that as a result of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, elements of trust and hope have been adversely affected. In Rwanda, it has been found that psychosocial interventions are an important contribution to building individual and community resilience, social cohesion and trust. The lack or absence of trust has been shown to not only effect
victims of the genocide but have transgenerational effects with young people encountering issues with developing meaningful relationships. Arts-based approaches and its core conventions of trust building and team building can support psychosocial wellbeing. The exercises aim to combine arts-based approaches with psychosocial interventions for young people to explore emotions and to develop trust. To summarise, the Rwandan proverb ahari abagabo ntihapfa abando means ‘where there are men, others could never die’. The proverb summarises the intention of the unit; collective working can support the resolution of internal psychological conflicts whilst developing positive social outcomes
