This week has been everything but normal. We have spent some days in different villages in southern part of Zambia, where RN provides self-help facilitation. Camping in the bush, having dinner with the families by getting a chicken from the backyard and cooking it by the out-door fire, getting water from the water pump, listen to stories from and about the villages. Someone turned back time a hundred years, but forgot to leave out cell phones, bicycles and solar panels.
We have been a part of some of the workshops that RN arrange for the citizens in the villages. The workshops have handled different areas, but do all have the same baseline; that the citizens need to come up with the solutions themselves, RN just provides a spark of motivation and information. The reason is basically so that the citizens next time they end up in the same situation know how to solve the problem on their own – not depending on any aid organization.
Improving your physical health by exercise is important for a longer life. Therese is RN´s sports volunteer from Norway and is having a workshop to encourage the people to start a sports club.
These ladies are making an action plan, and have came up with the idea that they will try to find some chickens to sell so that they can get money to buy a netball and goal posts.
Calleb wants the citizens in the village to be aware that people with disabilities have the same rights as other people. He tries to break the myth that people with disabilities are cursed by witchcraft and encourage them to be take part and integrate with all activities going on in the community to improve their lives.
Women being abused is common. Florence is having an important workshop about womens rights. She is encouraging these women to claim for leader positions and be a part of the political structures. One task during the workshop is to pretend that they all are ministers and about to present their views – and suddenly there is a room full of inspiration and discussions!
