My name is Ntsekiseng Clementina Thetsane and I proudly hail from the beautiful landlocked mountainous kingdom of Lesotho in Southern Africa. As student of the Diploma course, my journey with TFT began in April 2024 in Cape Town, Kleinmond South Africa on the first phase at the Grail Centre until currently doing my social research project. As a dedicated spiritual counsellor and facilitator, I am deeply committed to nurturing the well-being of individuals and communities. My journey has led me to specialize in sign language and palliative care, allowing me to serve diverse populations with compassion and understanding. While I currently find myself unemployed, I remain devoted in community work, addressing the social issues faced by our youth, striving to build connections and foster a sense of belonging among those around me. My mission is to create a community with a heart, where empathy, support and shared growth are at the forefront of our collective experience.
Tools and Concepts which stood out for me
The best part in TFT for me was when I got introduced to the Paulo Freire philosophy of conscientization. The concept encouraged me to participate fully and freely without being judged rather than being a passive absorber like the traditional way of education we got from our formal schools, and that really made my learning process more relevant and impactful. What I like most about this concept is that it is learner-centred, there`s dialogue and collaboration with critical thinking and reflecting on real life experiences for us to understand more what is happening around us. It allowed me to reflect on my beliefs, values and assumptions and that helped me to understand better social, political and cultural contexts that shape my life and the life of my community.
The river of life: Stood out for me as a tool which helped me in personal development, knowing where I come from and where I’m heading, all the obstacles in my life and how I can fix my life. It is also important in community building and conflict resolutions as it helps also participants to gain insight into their experiences, emotions and needs and developing understanding of each other and building connection and rapport. It is a visual representation of our life journeys as it shows every step of the way and helps us also to structure our ways in life, what we want our life to be like. It is important for self-actualization and also therapeutic and empowering, as mentioned earlier; it allowed me as an individual to reflect on my past experiences and fostered a sense of personal growth.
Holon: This is one of the tools I used since it possesses a degree of autonomy and interdependence, this tool allows small groups to function effectively and adapt to change in the environment. I also took with me the LTT Planning template which really helps in planning a program well and making it organized, knowing what to be talking about so as to be relevant.
Political economy came out as the most interesting module for me even though my field of profession is in mental health and spiritual health. After the module in the first phase, I came back home with a clear mind taking care of nature for it to do the same, planted some vegetables, collecting water for irrigation and stopped using tap water in order to reduce the water bill.
How I have changed personally because of the TFT process and the difference it has made
Before enrolling in TFT, I always longed for skills in public speaking. I was never aware of the best participatory methods but rather into the banking method of education when facilitating some workshops and having group counselling sessions. 12 With the knowledge that I have now, it brought light to me that each person has knowledge and what is needed is for us to guide them, bring their knowledge to the surface, make them feel confident and be able to share with others. On top of that I was recognized and acknowledged by Valued Citizens Initiative of South Africa for the method I used in facilitation, the way I posed the problem in the session made participants understand the Sexuality education better.
Participating in TFT has been an enriching experience that I deeply value and I’m grateful that I got to be one of the beneficiaries of transformation. The insights gained and the skills developed during this training have indeed empowered me to embrace change, both personally and professionally. The dedication and the hard work put forth by the facilitators and fellow participants have created an inspiring environment that fosters growth and collaboration. This course has indeed helped me with improving my emotional intelligence, boosting my selfconfidence. Also with the facilitation skills I am able to facilitate workshops. Again, it has been therapeutic since we were able to talk about what never sat well with us and by listening to others’ stories.
Being in the programme helped me realise that people act differently because they lack emotional intelligence and therefore now that I’m in the light, I can help others work on their emotions as well.
I had a session before, with survivors of GBV at Lapeng Care centre and one of the participants became very interested in the method used to facilitate. After the whole week of sessions, she approached me and asked if I can share with her all the discussions they had since she feels like it will benefit others from the outside. Her plan after was to go out there and share the skills and knowledge she got from our sessions, which was a positive outcome for us. It changed her life and hence she felt the need to go change the lives of others.
Challenges: I once faced a challenge of having a participant who did not want to be part of the discussions but rather be in a group, so it was a bit difficult because some participants wanted her out for not participating. As a facilitator, I had to make sure that both parties benefit and no one is left outside, so I had to talk to the whole group about being one and having different personalities and they had no choice but accept each other with their differences. I also had quiet participants in one session and for them to be engaging, I had to think of a game we used to play as kids of spinning the bottle, If the bottle faces your way, you’ll share something, then spin it after, pointing it to another person.
In conclusion, I wholeheartedly encourage people to enrol in the TFT journey if they are seeking for personal development, leadership skills, and improving team work because this course offers invaluable tools and perspectives. Together we can build on the incredible work already being done and continue to drive positive change within our communities and organizations.
