There are some memories you can't help but hope you hold for a lifetime. When a room full of men sitting in a health post on beds turned against the wall, in a rural village you haven't been to for 9 months stand up to applaud you, for having done no more than try and do what you said you would do, is a heart-aching moment of emotion and a rush like no drug. Knowing that not only what you're doing is helping, but it's wanted, appreciated and you're doing it together. This was after watching the same room full of men highlight the benefits of our MoonCup program to each other, and telling us that they think it best if we encourage their daughters to use the menstrual cups so that they don't keep on missing school. . . words fail me. In a world where gender equality issues are endemic it was a refreshing reaction, and this is before the formal meeting with the local women themselves!
All fears, concerns and general anxieties over the potential and often the very real difficulties of operating as a small NGO out in the field were washed away by the trickle of nods and smiles which quickly turned into the dam burst of community led ideas, proposals, constructive critique and eventual consensus and action plan. If you're finding your strategy meetings boring, maybe it's time to change sector!
Now all that was left was to finish writing the data collection workshop, agree a computer training schedule, check up on the planted trees, then, depending on how the weekend panned out, let Yogina know she had to do 2 presentations... for Mother's Groups and Young Women... back to back. Joining us on this journey has been Rowan, our newest volunteer who we'll dedicate some real time to introduce to you soon. A young altruist who's hitch hiked across Europe, but that's his story to tell.
Hopefully the mother-goat tied up outside the window has realised she'll get her 2 day old kids back in the morning now and tonight we can all get some sleep!