Popular Education Tool-Kit #8
The Human Knot Amigos de los Sobrevivientes, Itahi Diaz Cedillo Objectives: This activity promotes team development, and it’s called “the human knot.” Description of Group:
This exercise has been used with a group of survivors of political persecution/violence when this group started, and the objective was to promote team work. The activity took place with more than 20 people (you can use small or big groups), it was done in Spanish with men, women, adults and young people from various Latin American countries. The people involved had just met.
Description of the Activity: The people form a circle, holding hands with their arms crossed. After the circle is formed, the people try to untie the human knot that was initially formed without letting go of the others.
Outcomes: This is quite a fun activity in which people must follow the instructions of a leader, someone who takes the initiative to lead the others. The activity was a success because the people practiced communication and leadership. Friendship developed among the participants and they learned by means of the exercise that there are several ways to resolve a given problem.
Facilitator’s Notes: At first, many people were resistant to participation, because they didn’t trust each other, but once the activity started, everybody felt comfortable. A suggestion for the facilitator would be not to give many instructions since the intent of the activity is that the people investigate among themselves how to resolve the problem.