12:34 January 14, 2010
Kigali, Rwanda
Fatima Sabar, SHE's trailblazing Fellow, has arrived in Rwanda to make things happen. She's no stranger to SHE, having helped draft the hygiene curriculum used to train hundreds already in Rwanda. Following in the footsteps of the great Stanford dropouts like the Google founders, she's taking time off from school (don't worry Fatima's mom, she'll make graduation!) to bring ideas to life. Meet Fatima now!
Fatima
Muraho from Rwanda! Life is exciting here - I’m writing from Shirley’s inzu where across from me is Julian (SHE Operations Wizard) translating a community healthcare worker feedback from kinyarwanda to english in between answering calls to plan important meetings, and next to me is Elizabeth (SHE Chief Instigator) working on product development. What am I doing, you might ask, as my colleagues are hard at work? I, dearest SHE followers, am taking a break from redesigning a monitoring and evaluation system. Soon I’ll be out in the field talking with community health care workers (in the company of someone who can go between english and kinyarwanda, as my learn-10-words-each-day regimen has failed me in effective communication thus far) and meeting the women and girls who are learning about menstruation and general health and hygiene, and subsequently buying pads. Stay tuned!
Fatima
3-2-1 Launch!
29th October, 2009
Kigali, Rwanda
I was set for the first SHE health and business skill training for the group of 28 Community Health Workers. The first training session has people hailing from all parts of Rwanda, ready to equip themselves with the tools to educate and provide greater access to essential products to their peers. The training started at 10am with an introduction to menstrual health and hygiene and business management with a good exchange of ideas that ensued. People asked things such as, "Why do women and girls menstruate? What are the infections that happen when I use rags and how can I avoid it?"
Each of the Community Health Workers trained today will go back to their communities and train 100 others in the health and hygiene they learned today and set up their own small distribution businesses, earning a margin on every product sold. As two of the participants commented:
Moise says, "The training will help me improve my family’s welfare."
Claudine says "I learned about health and hygiene during menstruation, what can be done when it occurs and now I am going to pass it onto the rest of the communities."
Next training is coming up soon!
Julian, Chief Operations Wizard
.
Kigali, Rwanda
I was set for the first SHE health and business skill training for the group of 28 Community Health Workers. The first training session has people hailing from all parts of Rwanda, ready to equip themselves with the tools to educate and provide greater access to essential products to their peers. The training started at 10am with an introduction to menstrual health and hygiene and business management with a good exchange of ideas that ensued. People asked things such as, "Why do women and girls menstruate? What are the infections that happen when I use rags and how can I avoid it?"
Each of the Community Health Workers trained today will go back to their communities and train 100 others in the health and hygiene they learned today and set up their own small distribution businesses, earning a margin on every product sold. As two of the participants commented:
Moise says, "The training will help me improve my family’s welfare."
Claudine says "I learned about health and hygiene during menstruation, what can be done when it occurs and now I am going to pass it onto the rest of the communities."
Next training is coming up soon!
Julian, Chief Operations Wizard
.
This is why we do what we do
October 29, 2009
Kigali, Rwanda
FAWE Uganda is making things happen. In their study of challenges to girl child education, the Forum of African Women Educationalists (FAWE) researchers found that taboos and silence associated with menstruation in many communities mean some girls are in any case unable to ask their parents for money to buy pads, and forced to find ways of getting money on their own, sometimes through sexual relationships with much older men who can provide the cash The response? Time to talk....about health and hygiene, girls' obstacles, and how to overcome them together.
This article started circulating among Rwandan women this week and talk about how the issues some of their own sisters face and how they can help ensued...wait, not just ensued, but rather took off like Usain Bolt at the 2008 Olympics. Here's an example of one person sharing:
Hello sisters,
Thank you for the discussions but for me this is a problem i have been struggling with for quite some time.
first of all i happen to know of a female headed family(widow) who has 5 children we go to the same church.
she is not educated infact i can say she is poor; i met her daughter coming from school abit far from her home and was walking legs apart so i asked what had went wrong, she first hesistated to respond then i inquired whether she was raped? she told me she is in her monthly periods and because she uses old clothes as her pads stuff had socket and burnt her because it was a hot afternoon; then i created an atmosphere for her to talk to me freely en she said even getting soap to wash it is not easy for her mum who doesnt work.
I also happened to mentor the 200 female students at KIST but every time i met them or meet them they are ever lamenting of very little allowances that can not be enough for them to buy enough pads barked by other needs a student requires.
generally this is an issue that can not wait anymore lets give it time.
YES, this is why we at SHE do what we do.
Kigali, Rwanda
FAWE Uganda is making things happen. In their study of challenges to girl child education, the Forum of African Women Educationalists (FAWE) researchers found that taboos and silence associated with menstruation in many communities mean some girls are in any case unable to ask their parents for money to buy pads, and forced to find ways of getting money on their own, sometimes through sexual relationships with much older men who can provide the cash The response? Time to talk....about health and hygiene, girls' obstacles, and how to overcome them together.
This article started circulating among Rwandan women this week and talk about how the issues some of their own sisters face and how they can help ensued...wait, not just ensued, but rather took off like Usain Bolt at the 2008 Olympics. Here's an example of one person sharing:
Hello sisters,
Thank you for the discussions but for me this is a problem i have been struggling with for quite some time.
first of all i happen to know of a female headed family(widow) who has 5 children we go to the same church.
she is not educated infact i can say she is poor; i met her daughter coming from school abit far from her home and was walking legs apart so i asked what had went wrong, she first hesistated to respond then i inquired whether she was raped? she told me she is in her monthly periods and because she uses old clothes as her pads stuff had socket and burnt her because it was a hot afternoon; then i created an atmosphere for her to talk to me freely en she said even getting soap to wash it is not easy for her mum who doesnt work.
I also happened to mentor the 200 female students at KIST but every time i met them or meet them they are ever lamenting of very little allowances that can not be enough for them to buy enough pads barked by other needs a student requires.
generally this is an issue that can not wait anymore lets give it time.
YES, this is why we at SHE do what we do.
Africa is Rich!
October 10, 2009
New York, NY
The African Social Enterprise Forum sent me an invitation to speak in late September for their inaugural conference in NYC in late September. None of the words from the title "Africa" or "Social Enterprise" or "Forum" popped out to me. But what did, was in the phrase, "Africa is rich. This is not a charity." You said it!
In the past, I'd say it wasn't a far reach to think of Susan Struthers with young skinny children with extended bellies and flies swirling around them when someone mentioned Africa. Hunger, poverty, war, and despair might have even come to mind. Well think again. Africa is rich. Hear a little bit of why I think Africa is rich as well as some of the reasons why I think being an entrepreneur is the least risky thing I could ever do:
Elizabeth
New York, NY
The African Social Enterprise Forum sent me an invitation to speak in late September for their inaugural conference in NYC in late September. None of the words from the title "Africa" or "Social Enterprise" or "Forum" popped out to me. But what did, was in the phrase, "Africa is rich. This is not a charity." You said it!
In the past, I'd say it wasn't a far reach to think of Susan Struthers with young skinny children with extended bellies and flies swirling around them when someone mentioned Africa. Hunger, poverty, war, and despair might have even come to mind. Well think again. Africa is rich. Hear a little bit of why I think Africa is rich as well as some of the reasons why I think being an entrepreneur is the least risky thing I could ever do:
Elizabeth
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)