Monday was the day for our big community meeting. There are always so many things we could discuss with the team, and we choose carefully as too much information all at once can be the same as no information at all. We realize that it is far more beneficial to take on manageable steps well rather than spread ourselves so thin that nothing gets the attention it needs for a successful start. This trip, in particular, it was a dynamic process to pick those things out from the hours of discussions with the amazing colleagues who joined us on this trip. Funny how one meeting can seem so simple and yet be the result of days of work.
We did our usual rounds of the property before starting the meeting.
Winter and Shadrick at the pit latrine site.
The men keep the concrete of the ring beam on the hammermill building moist as it sets.
We consulted with all the men to be sure we are clear on how the roof for the hammermill building will be done. We lose Mama Cheri tomorrow (she flies home), and we are making sure we use her building expertise while we still have her here.
Going over the points.
Charles signing the roof drawings.
At last, on to the meeting. There are two main items we have chosen to attend to for now: English and reporting. It is clear that people want to learn English, many are shy about practicing, and it is easy to slip back into speaking only Bemba. We have set a co-op wide goal to be able to conduct all day-to-day business in English. We have many fun ideas to help make that happen and are feeling optimistic that everyone is excited to take it on. Being good students of Best Year Yet (our annual goal setting process), we know goals need to be measurable. That is a bit tricky in this case, but we settled on an oral “test” the next time Cheri and Jen are here. A written test would be easily measurable, of course, but the majority of the folks in the co-op are not literate in Bemba so learning English through written language is not an option.
The second item, reporting, encompasses a great deal and has the whole team involved at one level or another. We tell them endlessly that all of you are riveted to their successes and cannot wait for any news! We have put structures in place that we hope will result in more updates directly from the team here. We also worked on the business reporting between the Zambian and U.S. side. They have taken giant leaps since May, and we are now at the stage of going for consistency.
Aside from those two large items, there are a number of other things we are starting on to see how they go. That tends to be a successful flow: discuss an idea and if people like it, start and see how it goes. On a next trip, if it is going well and seems to be beneficial, we incorporate the ideas as an official part of the project. We are excited about this next round of seeds: the girls’ program, some expanded health programs, a sports program and a reading program. We will meet with the teams responsible for the various areas over the next few days to sketch out the details. One VERY fun aspect of the timing of all of this is that we will have a list of all the new funding opportunities for our fabulous donors by week’s end—just in time for the Bridge Walk season!
In the meeting.
A popular point—we can’t remember what it was!
After the meeting Jen meets with Theresa and Duncan to talk about ideas for the English program.
And it is time for the team to say goodbye to Mama Cheri.