Carding: Nervousness

Nervousness fades once you’ve offered the leaflet to a few people. Students commonly have fliers for upcoming parties and plays thrust at them, so they are accustomed to being approached by leafleters. If you look like you know what you are doing, they assume you’re supposed to be doing it.

Don’t be too concerned about knowing every tiny detail about circumcision. One could spend their lifetime reading every bit of information, but Your Whole Baby has done lots of research to make sure our leaflets are accurate and well-documented. The majority of students will simply accept a leaflet and say thank you or decline a leaflet and say no thank you anyway. Very few will engage you in conversation and even fewer will grill you on facts. If you don’t know the answer to a question, it’s much better to admit you don’t know than to try and make up something you may have heard. The point is not to out-argue them but to get a leaflet in their hands and for them to have a positive image of you as a person and your message of compassion. 

A couple of leafleters give their experience:

• “When I first started leafleting I felt uncomfortable and was kind of rigid. Now I stay really loose, I mosey over to people and give greetings as I leaflet, often engaging in friendly banter. When standing I bounce a little bit to be loose.”
• “At first I would feel personally offended if someone didn’t want to take a leaflet from me... I found that this faded with time when I realized it’s better to simply focus on the next person instead of giving in to this negative thinking. After all, there are too many people to reach out to to be overly troubled by those that deny me.”

Remember, there will almost always be students who are glad you’re there giving a voice to those without one and who are excited to get the information!