Get the caps off your markers!

Over the last month, I have been really getting into formations. This is the main goal of my sector SED (small enterprise development). Between learning French, getting used to community protocol here, and finding groups to work with; it has taken until a few months ago to feel capable of actually helping adults through classes. The range of education here is so broad that it’s really important to appreciate all levels and try to cater to everyone. Just like in any type of classroom, you must keep the higher level students interested while not leaving others in the dust. David and I have been biking to villages with health centers and talking about Moringa. Our main audience is pregnant women, mothers, and generally women of the household. People in the communities questioned our deliberate ignoring of men. We had to explain that if any men wanted to come, they were more than welcome, however; if you teach a woman how to eat well, her whole family will. It’s just not the same with men, who (due to cultural reasons) rarely if ever prepare meals. At the end of a 30-45 minute discussion, in which the women themselves are our best marketing tools, we bring out a huge container of bouille, (corn porridge) and distribute it with Moringa and sugar to anyone who brought a bowl (everyone). This is when the madness ensues but it’s all good natured and we even have women purchases bags of powder after the sessions. We’ve chosen towns with the health centers we’re already using so the Moringa will always be accessible to them. In general, this has just been so cool! If I did nothing else in Peace Corps but work with village mothers, I’d be a happy camper. They don’t have the longest attention span and you have to work a schedule around not only field work but all the household chores too. When a group does finally get together, it’s amazing. There are always a few alpha members who are super engaged and share everything, also some who need to be drawn out a little. Then there are the kids to deal with, no babysitters here! Just strap that kid on your back and go! Of course, there are many benefits for the children but sometimes you have to run defense to make sure the mothers are getting the most out of the formations.
Another type of formation I just finished is accounting for illiterates. Only in the past 5-7 years has there been a big push to get girls in school and actually finish. As a result, the grown women of today do not have much formal training or French. Another volunteer posted in a little village 3 hours north has just started and amazing garden project. It is a group of mainly women and two men who have shared 2 hectares of land for the last 18 years. They plant 1 hectare with corn or something else stable and split the rest to grow whatever else they want, some have even been so ambitious as to start really foreign crops like lettuce or potatoes. This means they have to look for non-local buyers, and extreme demonstration of motivation for a small village group. They just received a Peace Corps Partnership Program grant to buy a pump and hosing for an irrigation system to expand the land able to be farmed and just to make life a little easier. Watering cans get really heavy after the 50th round! As a byline to this grant, the group is obligated to learn and use an accounting system. As none of these women has been to school, we opted for the colors and symbols system. This is pretty simple and by no means accounts for inventory or anything above the in and outflow of money; but it is a step towards self-empowerment and they women were so receptive! I have been to the village twice and had two formations with the group. The only man present kept notes and he translated from French into Bariba. He deserves a nobility prize for the work he’s doing with the group. He doesn’t get frustrated and once he understands, he takes over as the formation leader, as it should be. After all, volunteers leave but if the community can learn a skill, it will continue to grow for year! The first meeting was introductory and the women got really into it, asking questions and writing on the practice charts I made posters of. Reality set in when I gave a woman a marker to make a line with and she couldn’t figure out how to get the cap off (and she wasn’t the only one). Hmmmm, baby steps. Just as during the bike tour, we danced and sang at the end. See why I love working with women?! Every meeting is a party! By the second formation, the president of the group brought her very own chalk slate and showed me that she’d been practicing making the symbols and adding up the math. I showered her with praises and let the group know what she was doing. The caps came off just fine this time and I saw that they had even retained most of what we’d discussed last time. Progress like this is the most encouraging thing to see, it was community initiated, after a little guidance, community run, and with regular meetings to follow up the skills learned, this will remain a community project; thus giving more opportunities to local people to learn a bit more. This has been such an awesome experience and I can’t wait to start next month with my rice growers association in Guinagourou! Lesson 1: get those caps off the markers!