It was a sad day. First, because RA1 had to use a ‘village bathroom’ which equals, a latrine. A latrine minus a toilet and a hole that stretches across the entire bottom of the bathroom house. The bathroom house also had a door. However, aforementioned door covered about 1/3 of the doorway.
Besides general bathroom related horror, we had a great morning sewing designs onto bedsheets with our ladies. We got to see some of their finished products which were incredible to say the least. The designs were intricate, yet not kitchy and so beautiful. It takes 2-3 months for the ladies to finish one sheet. The sheets aren’t the best income generator for the women, so as of right now, the embroidery is a side activity they all take part in.
Our last activity in Gisenyi was to sit in on a co-op meeting. We had some things to catch up on since our last meeting, like had the ladies thought any further about funding options for securing their own meeting place. The ladies had some clear apprehensions towards microfinance. Once bitten, twice shy type thing and they were nervous to open up the information about their co-op far and wide. We completely understood and also talked through some other options.
These ladies have been able to do so much (clearly demonstrated in the short amount of time we were able to see) and we have no doubts that they are going to do amazing things in the very near future. We are so proud and so lucky to have met these women and been able to share this week with them. They are such an inspiration to two young, American, Recovering Assistants and we will hold them in our hearts forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment