Anti Bullying Project

SETS’ANI ‘Be a Friend’

Participating in the SETS’ANI Anti Bullying Project was a fabulous experience.

I spent a week with kids from K’atl’odeeche First Nation at Chief Sunrise School producing an anti bullying multi media project. When we got together on Monday morning, all we had was a name, ‘SETS’ANI…the Slavey word that means, ‘be a friend.’ By the end of the week, we’d written and recorded an original song, created an encouraging and exciting game, coloured huge posters and produced a video. 

We started with a brainstorming session and compared our personal experiences. We found there was a lot of common ground when it came to how bullying made each of us feel. For our first breakout session, the kids came up with lists of nice words and mean words and we started making a list on the board.

I set up my camera and recording equipment in a quiet office space and some of the kids came in for a one-on-one interview. I filmed and recorded these sessions, not really knowing if the footage would be used in the final product, or just as source material. Their stories told in their words was the perfect beginning for our video.

One particular idea emerged when a little girl named Claudia described how her initial bullying experience led to a friendship. She concluded her story with, ‘now we’re BFF’s’

The phrase jumped out at me, and when I mentioned it to the teacher later that day, she told me they’d been using it in their anti bullying strategy.

Be a good friend

Use a Friendly voice

Find a solution 

We started writing lyrics and BFF became a great refrain for the kids to sing/scream in the chorus.

Be a buddy not a bully

A joke that hurts isn’t funny

Words can build us up big and tall

Or tear us down make us feel small

On the second day I got an idea for a game. The game starts with a stack of cards lying face down on the ground. There is one SETS’ANI card (printed in green) one card with a mean word on it (printed in black) and all the other cards have nice words on them. The kids coloured in the bubble letters of the nice words and we included the Slavey translation below, which was a great way to incorporate their traditional language. The kids would take turns picking up a card without showing anyone. When they flipped them over, the person with the SETS’ANI card needed to ‘be a friend’ and take the mean word away and replace it with a nice word.

The game highlights how random and unfair bullying is, and how each of us has the right and responsibility to be a good friend and support those around us. The kids had fun taking the bad word away and tearing it up, stomping on it or crumpling it up…cause they knew they didn’t want to keep those bad words around to reuse them!

We wrote a song that had a simple little ‘oh oh oh’ part, and of course the big BFF crescendo. Throughout the project the kids had lots of opportunity to be involved. Colouring the letters of the nice words, creating big BFF posters, being interviewed, singing, acting and playing the SETS’ANI game gave everyone an opportunity to work together. After they learned to play the game we started filming scenes in the classroom and on the playground, so the game was played in the actual environment where bullying often happens.

On Thursday and Friday I set my portable recording equipment up in the classroom and we recorded a number of takes live off the floor. At the end of the week I took the tracks into the recording studio and added some vocals and guitar. Once I was finished editing the video, I added a little music for the intro and the ending of the song to fit with the story we were telling. 

We ended up with a great finished product, and just as importantly, (in my humble opinion) had an amazing experience through the process. Please feel free to share this video with any teachers, schools or students you know who are struggling with bullying or looking for positive solutions to use in their classrooms. Maybe you can adapt the SETS’ANI game to your classroom and discover what word in your language means, ‘Be a Friend’ You can download SETS’ANI HERE.

I hope you enjoy the video and please leave encouraging comments below as I’m passing them all on to the kids!

Rik Leaf is a multi media storyteller, slam poet, songwriter and member of Tribe of One, an international collective of indigenous artists. He’s also the author of Four Homeless Millionaires – How One Family Found Riches By Leaving Everything Behind. Contact 250-896-2572 or info@rikleaf.com to book a residency in your school. 

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