development puzzles..
Today a thought struck me: I like development work.
I think something just clicked. I met with a man this morning ... he laid out pictures of his little douar, told me of their woes, of a women's training center that a Japonese organization donated, and trained teachers for but didn't provide continued funding for the teachers to actually train girls. The result: a brand new center with brand new machines, two trained teachers and lots of eager girls... an no money to pay them. It would only cost 1000 Dirhams a month to pay both teachers, which calculates to $1200 for an entire year of training. All that work, all stopped for a small sum of money. However, the thing that struck me was not this, but something else he said: "We want the training center to help girls actually generate an income, not just make silly things that no-one will buy." There are thousands of similar "Nedies" all over Morocco.. employing 2-3 women who teach about 30 girls each year how to sew sweaters, embroider, etc. Most of these girls never finished school. It gives them a diploma, (which, I think would build some confidence), and I believe the program is intended to help them have a livelihood in the future. The problem: No one is going to buy some cheap locally-made sweaters when they can find "Diesel" jeans (from China, of course) in local shops. Whoever came up with the strategy for all these Nedies... well erecting training centers is a great idea, but the training being done is outdated and impractical.
If there was some, somewhat simple type of work/craft/training that was in high demand here or light enough and impressive enough to be shipped abroad, all these centers could actually be training grounds for income-generating work, a livelihood for thousands and thousands of girls around Morocco. Maybe if they put computers in all of them and used them to teach girls how to use the Office Suite, to type quickly on a keyboard, how to search the internet and sell things on Ebay.. maybe those would be more timely skills. The beauty of it is that there are already several women on salary, buildings, and girls ... all this infrastructure. What is lacking is a simple craft, or simple skill that could allow the centers to be easily and cheaply converted. I'm sure this is not a new thought...
He said he knew I couldn't solve all his problems in a flash, but he wanted to help this tiny community (his father was born there) and wanted to share with me ... so I could ponder creative solutions with him or connect him with appropriate organizations. I had him draw a map of the douar, all the significant institutions, etc. I don't have any ready-made solutions, but upon leaving, I realized that I think I really enjoy the problem-solving aspect of development work. Little solutions, on little resources, tailored to the needs of the community, city, or country dealt with... requires a creative mind. I like being resourceful.
I also went to my assigned association tonight. I met a man from the organization the other day. He asked why I hadn't been there. I said no one had showed up for a month so I stopped going. He said they would be there Wednesday ... so i went. No one was there. The school girls I was walking with urged me to come for tea, of course, so I went for 20 minutes. Returned to the association and sat on the front step teaching a crowd of girls and flirting boys words in English and in turn they taught me words in Shilha, the Berber dialect.
Then finally one man showed up, their teacher. He opened the door. We all went in. They asked me questions about the passive voice, so I started scribbling on the board. I realized I'd been giving lots of examples and looked around for the teacher. "Oh he left, you're teaching now!" OH.
At 8:10 we called it quits.. after I miserably failed to explain "oppression" and something they wanted to know about how to turn "Mohamid wasn't visiting his friend Hassan" to "Ought _____________________". But maybe they understood the passive voice and pollution vocabulary better.. So no meeting, no directors, etc. I decided my strategy now with them is to just show up ... always, whenever the door is open and I can possibly be there.. whether they are there or not. They'll eventually get the point that I want to help them... I guess.
Ahh development work, in it's many forms.
I think something just clicked. I met with a man this morning ... he laid out pictures of his little douar, told me of their woes, of a women's training center that a Japonese organization donated, and trained teachers for but didn't provide continued funding for the teachers to actually train girls. The result: a brand new center with brand new machines, two trained teachers and lots of eager girls... an no money to pay them. It would only cost 1000 Dirhams a month to pay both teachers, which calculates to $1200 for an entire year of training. All that work, all stopped for a small sum of money. However, the thing that struck me was not this, but something else he said: "We want the training center to help girls actually generate an income, not just make silly things that no-one will buy." There are thousands of similar "Nedies" all over Morocco.. employing 2-3 women who teach about 30 girls each year how to sew sweaters, embroider, etc. Most of these girls never finished school. It gives them a diploma, (which, I think would build some confidence), and I believe the program is intended to help them have a livelihood in the future. The problem: No one is going to buy some cheap locally-made sweaters when they can find "Diesel" jeans (from China, of course) in local shops. Whoever came up with the strategy for all these Nedies... well erecting training centers is a great idea, but the training being done is outdated and impractical.
If there was some, somewhat simple type of work/craft/training that was in high demand here or light enough and impressive enough to be shipped abroad, all these centers could actually be training grounds for income-generating work, a livelihood for thousands and thousands of girls around Morocco. Maybe if they put computers in all of them and used them to teach girls how to use the Office Suite, to type quickly on a keyboard, how to search the internet and sell things on Ebay.. maybe those would be more timely skills. The beauty of it is that there are already several women on salary, buildings, and girls ... all this infrastructure. What is lacking is a simple craft, or simple skill that could allow the centers to be easily and cheaply converted. I'm sure this is not a new thought...
He said he knew I couldn't solve all his problems in a flash, but he wanted to help this tiny community (his father was born there) and wanted to share with me ... so I could ponder creative solutions with him or connect him with appropriate organizations. I had him draw a map of the douar, all the significant institutions, etc. I don't have any ready-made solutions, but upon leaving, I realized that I think I really enjoy the problem-solving aspect of development work. Little solutions, on little resources, tailored to the needs of the community, city, or country dealt with... requires a creative mind. I like being resourceful.
I also went to my assigned association tonight. I met a man from the organization the other day. He asked why I hadn't been there. I said no one had showed up for a month so I stopped going. He said they would be there Wednesday ... so i went. No one was there. The school girls I was walking with urged me to come for tea, of course, so I went for 20 minutes. Returned to the association and sat on the front step teaching a crowd of girls and flirting boys words in English and in turn they taught me words in Shilha, the Berber dialect.
Then finally one man showed up, their teacher. He opened the door. We all went in. They asked me questions about the passive voice, so I started scribbling on the board. I realized I'd been giving lots of examples and looked around for the teacher. "Oh he left, you're teaching now!" OH.
At 8:10 we called it quits.. after I miserably failed to explain "oppression" and something they wanted to know about how to turn "Mohamid wasn't visiting his friend Hassan" to "Ought _____________________". But maybe they understood the passive voice and pollution vocabulary better.. So no meeting, no directors, etc. I decided my strategy now with them is to just show up ... always, whenever the door is open and I can possibly be there.. whether they are there or not. They'll eventually get the point that I want to help them... I guess.
Ahh development work, in it's many forms.
posted by Rachel Beach | 3:32 PM
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