19/05/09 Challenging but plenty to learn as usual.
It is 8:30a.m and our cab is about hitting the not so freeway to Gwagwada. Be warned cos this is not your regular cab (depending on the part of the world you come from). This must be, has to be the oldest Volkswagen model….a hatchback that is literally falling apart. Pix don’t lie and even if they did, trust me, this one is telling nothing but the truth. We (all the passengers and the driver are riding the African way; sorry the Nigerian way; Two people in the front seat and 4 people at the back; just as tight as a pack of sardines. You see, this is life as we have come to know it and we are indifferent to the fact that the cab is a wreck (except for the painful part where my dress gets hooked on an exposed nail and tears). As rough as it might seem, I’m so glad to have gotten this ride cos it’s saved me a couple of hundreds… So off we are to set up the listeners club.
…And 5 hours later….the ride back to town is not half as crappy as the cab; Brand new, tear-leather Peugeot. Generally, people (myself inclusive) are a pain up somebody’s butt but this man giving me the ride redefines PAIN. So what happened back in the community? What took us 5 hours to set up? ABSOLUTELY NOTHING! As usual the women were no where in sight and who can blame them? After all there is a need for any activity that would reap the immediate benefit of setting dinner on the table. At the women’s suggestion, the meeting has been shifted to Sunday. I did not mention where all the women were. There’s this thing called “YASHI”. It is sand from the river bed so all the women in the community go and dig deep and these huge trucks come and gather what they have packed; Such hard labour and so little pay. A pail costs 35 cents and some of the women have to walk a long way to offload.
The good or not so good part is that everyone wants to know what this young girl in a gypsy dress and cameras is about. Where are you taking pix of us to? Were you sent here by the government…a little diversion here; what really is the government? I try to explain for the umpteenth time to these new sets of people about the listeners club where they can work together to help think themselves. I further explain the radio program that would be a means for them to get information with regards to farming and they go, “Oh, great, see you on Sunday”….one woman sneaks up to you, insists on carrying your bags and tells you about her daughter who needs a hair dryer to open up her salon and all I can do is listen and pray that somehow, perhaps, the club would indeed build their capacity so that some of their needs would be met. …another tells me about her daughter who can only sit for one of her exams….real women, real hardworking women with real needs and I can only thank God for more time to think and pray about giving the women a mind frame that would actually help them help themselves. Another wants a job; says she can teach; and I think that perhaps she could that within the scope of the club and get remunerated. The best gift to these women would be capacity building… I mean, if they could grasp the concept of empowerment and be able to stand on their own two feet and help others who can’t….passing on knowledge…growing from knowledge and experience…developing your instincts…progress development…we will get there.
Focus! That is what we need so that we do not try to do everything and end up doing nothing. We must try to make the listener’s club very effective…and in that aspect, actually better the livelihoods of these women….one step at a time….
Later in the evening, Aunty Comfort, sent a msg saying that an hour of time would cost 43,000.00 which is way above what we have budgeted. So, she is yet to grant us a convenient time to see her because of the Governor’s entourage; hopefully we can negotiate. We might also need to cut the time to 30 minutes and make it very effective.
Because the women have not elected officials, we cannot register them and open the account.
Time Plan:
Sunday……election
Monday…..registration of women
Tuesday…opening of account
Sunday….phone training
The women also suggest that the radio program run over the weekend (Sunday precisely); in the evening……
We would pay the radio station a visit on Monday the 25th, to try and negotiate the price and also allocate time.
Reported by Seember
