By Laura Nott, Live Well San Diego Support Team, on behalf of the K-12 Youth Services Community Grant Recipients

“Safa! Safa! Safa!” Ryan bellows, waving his arms in the face of his fifth-grade classmate. Safa’s only crime was to correct her new acquaintance-turned-tormentor when he initially called her “Saka.”

“My family is from Zimbabwe,” the 12-year-old tells him, but instead of providing an explanation for her uncommon name and possibly laying the groundwork for a friendship, Ryan’s mocking only intensifies. Finally, a frustrated Safa wads up the papers in her lap and buries her face in her hands.

“Safa’s Story” is now being told in an interactive play funded by the County of San Diego’s K-12 Youth Services Community Grant Program. It is the true story of Sasha Hofisi, a former Cajon Valley Union School District pupil who faced race-based bullying in school. “I grew up in a primarily white neighborhood,” Hofisi told KPBS. “I was teased and bullied a lot because I was different and because I come from an immigrant family. 'Safa’s Story' basically gives you a glimpse into what that was like, being called racial slurs, students telling me that I was worthless because of my race and being made fun of.”

“Safa’s Story” was funded by the County of San Diego’s K-12 Youth Services Community Grant Program. Some $6.4 million in grants was recently awarded to more than 40 local organizations to offer such services as tutoring, after-school programs, business development and anti-bullying campaigns. Groups who benefited from the grants include SAY San Diego, Access Inc., Boys to Men Mentoring, Episcopal Community Services, Logan Heights Community Development Corp., the Warner Unified School District, and many others.

At the end of the play, students in the audience get the chance to address the bullying of Safa, which had been missed by her friends, her teacher and even her mother.

“And this is where the magic happens,” the video narrator says. The students begin to rewrite what happens to Safa.

The children and actors mill about, talking with each other about how they might have intervened. The play then begins anew, with the children being allowed to stop the performance and make changes at any point.

A young boy stops it when Ryan ridicules Safa’s name. He takes Safa’s place on the stage, turns to the bully, tells him, “I don’t really like that,” and asks his teacher to move the boy. The actors and students go on change several scenes.

“They are taught to identify situations that could turn into bullying and learn how to call out bad behavior and guide their friend Ryan to change,” the narrator says.

At the end of the rewritten play, a child in the audience said the experience helped her understand how to support someone in a similar situation.
“I feel like, after the play, I’m going to be able to help people more because it helped me realize that a lot of people need support.”

If you think a child is being bullied – or bullying another -- the National Alliance on Mental Illness San Diego has resources to help identify and stop the abuse.

Watch the video above from County News Center.