REDES Workshop 2013

This post is meant to be a summary about how the REDES Workshop went this past weekend, but I am finding difficulty to put what happened into words.

Essentially this was party planning, Mozambique style. We had 12 groups registered and confirmed to come – unfortunately, having to turn one group away the night before because that's when they called to RSVP… the night before. . . really? So 12 groups of 3 girls, 11 Mozambique counterparts/facilitators, and 5 PCV’s were all confirmed for the REDES Workshop here in Quissico, Inhambane Province.

This Workshop happens once a year usually at an “internato” (a boarding home) at a school when the students are on break. It's a chance for all of the REDES groups in one province to get together, have information sessions, dance, sing, create friendships, and see that there are other groups around. This experience helps to show that there are other girls going through the exact same things they are, and that together they can be a cohesive new generation of empowered girls and women.  In theory, it's a fantastic idea.

In reality, it was a bit more stressful, hectic, and lackluster than the vision of the on-paper theory may describe. As you all may recall, I was in Namaacha at PST (training) the week leading up to this Workshop. I was not present for my weekly REDES meetings, in town to do shopping, or available to go to the school to see what their internato looked like, and what the conditions were with the school. I came home on Sunday, to find no stores open as per usual, no girls/coordinators around to help me start the preparation of this conference. Monday it was the same luck, my two facilitators/counterparts were MIA from Sunday to Tuesday (the one never actually bothering to show up) leaving the heavy lifting, running around town and frantic-ness all to me. Luckily I had some amazing fellow PCV’s that helped me talk through some things over the phone while I was doing all of the errands.

“errands” include, but are not limited to; planning an entire menu for Thursday-Sunday, being sure that food matches the specific, and rather limited, palette of our host country nationals here. Making sure that each girl, and facilitator receives a plastic folder with; all of the handout materials, the workbook, a notebook, a pen, soap, individual packets of laundry detergent, etc. buying all of the necessary materials for the workshop itself; capulanas, giant paper to make signs, markers, sticky tack etc. LOTS of running around my town, haggling down prices, carrying things back to my house to only go back into the market to buy more. I spent a few hours every day in the photocopy shop in town- to the point that the woman there was trying to fix me up with her son.

I think that's the hardest thing about Moz…. Planning for something like this, knowing that no matter what, people are going to complain about every tiny, last, little detail (they always do when its something free), and having to deal with the politics of everyday life when trying to arrange everything. Prime example- I’m at the bakery, trying to coordinate for 60 loaves of bread to be delivered at 6am the mornings of fri/sat/sun, and the baker says that he will only deliver them if I agree to go on a date with him . . . . hardly amusing. I told him that my husband would be very upset by this, and I would just have to take my business elsewhere if he didn't comply in a businesslike fashion. – its shit like that, which makes daily life here in Moz annoying.

So, running around town, trying to get all of my purchases done, get the plastic binders filled for each participant, cleaning the internato (it was possibly one of the most unfortunate locations to ever host this workshop) all the while fending off calls from groups around the province about transportation issues, money, and whatnot.

The money for lodging and transportation was supposed to be given from the Department of Education here in Inhambane Province . . .again, a great idea “in theory”.  What resulted from this brainwave was transportation money distributed to various schools in the districts where REDES groups existed, with almost no explanation about what it was to be used for. Now, this does creat some problems – 1) not all REDES groups are facilitated through the local schools, for example, I am a health volunteer, and have almost no interaction with the school here, so how would I know to go get my groups money for transportation? 2) for Mozambiquean run groups (without a PCV) the same issue arises. Considering we have a few of these types of groups, and some groups in the transition phase between volunteers (having a 16’er COS, and waiting for a 20’er to arrive from training) there was issues receiving the money as well. 3) because there was no formal REDES documentation sent with this money, just an invitation for a “girls/women’s empowerment conference” the male directors of some schools chose female community leaders and told them to select three girls to come to this workshop. . . .

This resulted in me having to turn away 5, yes 5, random groups of women who showed up at our door on Thursday. Talk about uncomfortable situations…. As much as I wanted to just welcome them into the folds of REDES, and encourage new groups to form- we had a specific number of beds, food, and workshop materials that was set on the final attendance number. Fortunately 3 groups were able to go home in the same day, two of the random groups had to spend the night at the internato because they came from so far away. – this means that, many of the girls were sleeping 2 to a bed, and that we almost ran short of food that first night.

So, with all of this confusion we realized that the money for transportation for each group either went ‘missing’  from the schools or was used by these random 5 groups, forcing me to work in the cost of transportation into my budget. That's how I spent my first night, re-hashing the budget, what I had already spent, what I needed to budget for, and how much any little incidentals were going to cost me.

The actual Workshop sessions went extremely well. The girls were very involved, the counterparts facilitated each session with aplomb, forcing retention of the material. All of the girls seemed to get along with one another, new friendships forming with each exchange of smiles and laughter. So all of that was a big “thumbs up”.

It was the politics of the actual conference that forced such stress and anxiety. Outside of the sessions, the facilitators were NIGHTMARES! Acting like such diva’s when it came to every little thing. Rather than putting on a happy face, and trying to set a good example for all of the girls, they were the ones that complained about every meal (though many got second servings each time) the housing conditions, the snack not being enough etc etc etc. . . .  I eventually started hearing the soud that Charlie Brown’s teacher makes ‘wommmp wooo woommpp’ every time they opened their mouth to complain about something else. Rather than being part of the solution, they just continued to be part of the problem.

Whatever.

Friday and Saturday went decently, like I said, the sessions ran well, which is what the entire workshop is about- imparting knowledge on the girls and creating a safe space to have open dialogue about anything and everything. Saturday afternoon, we had sessions about income generation projects. This is going to be very important in the future here with REDES, considering our budgets have been, and will continue to be cut. The program needs to start being self-sustainable, and each group can help to make that happen. After the sessions on Saturday, the pcv’s and I went back to my house and had a small feedback time, to discuss how the material was presented, and how we can better it/change it. A bit idea that was thrown out, was having a national brand of something like peanut butter that is created by, and distributed by REDES. Using the money from that to not only support our individual groups, but also on the national or provincial level. We will see what comes of that.

Sunday, everyone departed bright and early, giving me most of the day to unwind, and just relax. Considering it was my birthday, that was very much appreciated.

In hindsight, I would have made MANY MANY MANY changes to the way the Workshop was prepared for and run. But because we were working on such a short timeframe, and there were numerous variables to take into consideration, I feel that we pulled it off just fine. Was it the greatest? No. Was it the worst? Also no. I’d say it fell somewhere in the range of a solid, yet lackluster workshop.

My birthday;

It was this past Sunday, I turned 24. I spent the afternoon/evening with 3 very good PCV friends that were kind enough to come to my site/stay an extra night after the conference. We relaxed at the bar overlooking the lagoons, and just enjoyed one another’s company. While sitting there, we saw these two white men ride past on laden down bicycles. When they stopped, I went to introduce myself and find out what their story was. Turns out, they are Mexican tourists, who are biking from cape town to cairo. . . WHAT?! Haha madness. I offered my front yard for them to camp out, and they joined us for dinner. A simple, yet amusing and nice birthday evening.

To my friend;

There will never be just words to describe how very sorry I am for your loss, but from so far away, that is all that I have. I wish more than anything I could be there to give you a hug, and hold your hand through this hard time. Stay strong, keep your chin up, and know how much you are loved. Sending you all of my love, and good vibes from Mozambique. Hang in there RFF. I love you.