As I woke Monday morning to the very noisy street outside my window, I have to confess the anxiety that consumed me getting ready to go to work. Monday would mark the very first training of the Community Health Evangelists. If you’re familiar with the program, Community Health Evangelism is the grassroots development strategy we use to support women here, and the very heart of our program. For a little over a year now, the WOHInt national staff with direction from the U.S. staff have worked to introduce the concepts of CHE to women with disabilities in the community, working with them to identify their needs and the assets they already posses, committing to work alongside them to reach physical, spiritual and emotional wellness. After electing a governing body made up of women with disabilities, they selected Community Health Evangelists (CHE’s) who would be trained by our staff in areas such as health and sanitation, disease prevention, nutrition, disabilities awareness, exploitation prevention, micro-enterprise development and advocacy skills all incorporated with Christian discipleship.
This past year has been one of relationship building, “sensitization” (their word very frequently used for awareness building), boundary-setting, commitments, listening, praying, then listening and praying some more. Out of the over 300 women registered with the program, ten of those women selected by the community showed up at 9:00 am to receive their first CHE training. Out of the original 30 women selected, these ten women repeatedly demonstrated a dedication to the development of the disability community and committed their time and energy for the next six months. The trainings are one day a week for the next sixth months with the expectation each woman will transfer the learned concepts throughout the month to their assigned women.
As the Program Assistant, I have had my hand in all aspects of the program on the U.S. side and in-country, working with Kim to train the national staff so they can train the women. Our intent is to make disciples, so that they will then multiply as God fulfills His purposes in Sierra Leone and transforms the community. I was anxious Monday morning for a number of reasons, but mostly because I wasn’t sure the staff were as prepared as I had hoped them to be. Teaching development and community health principles to illiterate women so they are able to teach others is something that takes an incredible amount of creativity in engaging adults and using transferable concepts. Most of these women haven’t attended but a few years of the equivalent of elementary school if that, and so the ways they learn are completely different to that of someone who has gone to school here. Even the idea of sitting in one area for a period of eight hours is an unusual request for these women who have no school experience and never been to a workshop. Many of the parents of these women long-ago decided it was a waste of resources to educate them, and so they were sent into the streets beg for additional income to support the family.
While reading and journaling before breakfast I couldn’t help but bicker with God (because that works so well all the time J) confessing that I had envisioned this first training differently and I was finding it hard to believe it would go successfully. I had pictured at least thirty women receiving training and a staff much more organized. As I lifted up my concerns I felt the Holy Spirit say, “Hey Kels, you need to adjust your expectations and trust me for the results.” Grumbling, I left for the office bracing myself for what I would encounter. That wasn’t the response I was looking for after all the hard work I had put into the program up to this point. Finally I had to acquiesce, considering I was arguing with God. NOTHING goes as planned in Sierra Leone!
At the office I was happy to see the training was underway on time. Kim and I entered the office and politely greeted the women. Many of the CHE’s present were older women, each with hard stories written on their faces. In the social hierarchy of beggars, those who roam the main streets of town for their daily food are the lowest class. I recognized some of the women as falling into this category and others as being more respectable within the disability community itself. All of the women fall into the category beggars, prostitutes and second-class citizens in Makeni. Again I found myself wondering how the staff would accommodate the learning styles of these women, reach them wherever they’re at, speaking into their needs as individuals and as part of the greater whole.
Kim and I sat in the reception area of our office where we were able to look in on the training and show moral support for the staff, but not play an active role. I worked on Admin. team finances as I listened in on the lessons. They taught on the value of in-home medical care, proper sanitation, discussed expectations for all parties invested in CHE and again went over the CHE process. The women actively engaged themselves openly discussing issues they see and sharing with each other and the staff. As it neared noon, the staff told them they would be signing a voucher acknowledging receipt of a small amount of money for their transportation costs for attending the training. Immediately the women became restless and looked around in shock and excitement. None of these women knew how to sign their names. Most people in Sierra Leone who have never been to school are forced to give a thumbprint to acknowledge receipt of something or to make a formal agreement. A thumbprint “signature” is a dead give-away that an individual is uneducated, and therefore lesser.
Our Operations Officer assured them that a signature is often times an illegible scribble, and that they would be able to make up their own chicken scratch and use it as their personal signature. The women began to clap and squeal with enthusiasm as the staff first taught them one-by-one how to hold a pencil and gave them paper to practice the exact scribble that would serve as their personal identification. “Ah Papa God, we don’t know nothing and now we’re going to learn how to sign!” said one woman of significant years. These mothers and grandmothers each stood up, awkwardly with pen in hand and demonstrated her new signature for the rest of the group as the others yelled and clapped in excitement. With each “signature” presentation the women glowed with the dignity that had just been awarded them. I couldn’t help but cry at their unexpected reaction to such a secondary piece of the training.
I pray that some day we will be able to measure success in terms of a decrease in malaria outbreaks amongst our women, lowered infant mortality rates and reports of higher annual income. I believe God is working on that even as I write this blog. Basking in the enjoyment of the women I had just experienced I sat in our dirty little office recording recent expenditures, and I felt rich with the success of the program. At that moment I felt the Holy Spirit say, “Kels, I’m going to measure progress in chicken scratches.” My expectations were yet again adjusted and only my radical God could produce such beautiful results as these.
