A Great Week: Friday

Friday might have been my favorite day. More fried eggs in the morning, but I was starting to look forward to Milo each day. We headed over the community center to find out that the megaphone people had announced to the communities that all of the girls should come not just the ones who had not taken the survey two days ago. After sending about 10 girls back home, we were left with about 10 which did not bode well considering our $100 announcement. I was feeling discouraged especially because the language and culture barrier was really hindering my ability to help offer advice or suggestions. I really had to rely on other people to figure out the best solution and 10 people is not a good result. Nadia, Kwame and I left the staff and the few girls to meet with a local bank to help us design a group savings scheme for the girls. They man and the woman we met with were just as motivated about educating the girls on the importance of savings and keeping business profits separate from personal spending. The woman wanted to speak with the girls on our first orientation meeting, so we had one of the speakers now in place for February 26. They also said that the girls could keep their savings at this bank as long as we designed a system to collect the savings and their staff would not be responsible for that or for transporting it to the bank.

Our next step was to conduct a market feasibility survey. Somewhere along the line it was communicated to someone that I was an “expert” in market feasibility surveys. I really had no idea what it even was or is at this point, so I really was confused about why I suddenly became the expert. I really should not be considered an expert in anything here since it is all so new and different from anything I have ever experience. One thing though that I would say I am a pseudo-expert in is winging it with stuff like this. I asked Kwame to bring us to the largest market around and wrote up some questions that I thought we could ask several of the vendors. The key concern of mine was to make sure that these vocational skills we were providing to the girls would be viable. In no way did I want to set these girls up to fail or to have to supplement their income in other ways, which is what we were trying to prevent with this program. We spoke first with a soap maker, who had clearly been working at it for some time and was very happy to talk with us. The friendliness of the market women was striking. Despite how hard they all have to work, they couldn’t have been nicer and more open to talking about their work. She wore a great hat too! We heard about the process she uses and where she goes to get all of the ingredients. I later purchased some clothes detergent that is formed into a ball. At some point I am going to have to wash my clothes in the buckets.

We walked over to a “fast food” seller. This woman was preparing wassche (the rice and beans breakfast I mentioned in an earlier post). She had been making it for 20 years but had only moved to this location three years ago. She moved because she had gotten a divorce. My first reaction was how sad it is that after all that time in marriage it didn’t last, but then I realized that the divorce was probably the safest and best option for her and she probably had been thinking about divorce for a while. So, here she was making her food. We asked her how she differentiates her food from the others in the market, and she was very proud to tell us that once in a while she adds something extra to the ingredients to give her customers a little extra flavor. She also emphasized the importance of customer service and treating people of all ages equally well. I noticed that she had a variety of price points too – selling children small bags of rice and sauce for 10 cents and then most adults spend about $2 or $3 on a bag of the wassche. She said that some days she doesn’t make any money but other days are good, so you have to be very careful about how you spend your profits. She also informed us that the economy in the area had been in decline for a while and she used to work at the market for three days a week, but had recently reduced it just to Friday.

Our next survey subject was a gari (crushed grain) and dried maize retailer. Kwame knew her from his teaching days, so we were able to have a more candid conversation. She was able to make enough money during the market day not to have to work any other day during the week, but she did sell to people out of her home. Her booth was set up as a table that contained a large bag of the gari and an even larger bag of maize on the ground next to it. A wooden shed was open behind her where we sat to discuss the project. There were 6 foot tall bags of both of her products and she said that she had to travel about 40 km to purchase them, but she didn’t have to go every week. She said that what helped differentiate her business is that she also treated everyone equally and was especially pleasant to people who had to buy from her on credit (not credit cards, but promising to pay either in installments or in the future at some point). During our conversation, a coconut seller sold several to Kwame and we all ate them. The man used a machete to hack off the top of the coconut so we could drink the watery contents. It was certainly better than the canned coconut water I had tasted at Whole Foods. The coconut seller also used his machete to help pry off the coconut flesh so that I could eat. It tasted oddly like avocado, which is how I found out about the whole pear thing. It had a nice, creamy texture. I took a few pictures with the retailer and some girls got excited to get into the picture too. We walked around to look at the other products that were selling at the market. There were quite a few used clothes. I have heard, but have not confirmed that organizations like the Salvation Army actually bag the donated clothes and sell them in bulk to individuals who then sell them on the street. I do see a lot of used clothes and shoes for sale, and I don’t see or hear of places where people can go to get free clothes, so I am starting to believe that this is the process of clothes distribution. Along these lines, I saw a motorcyclist wearing an Eric Lindros hockey jersey the other day. Since Nadia had never heard of hockey, I am guessing that the jersey had made it to Africa through this process. We found one woman who was making a bleach-type project that was used for removing stains and disinfecting toilets and sinks. She was the only one selling this and she said that she sold out of her products everyday. Very interesting… oh, and the best part is that she uses old water bottles for the container, so she is recycling too. We were done with our market survey or at least as far as I could tell since I wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be doing.

Our last stop of the day was at a vocational training institute. It teaches girls cooking and sewing, similar to what we are planning, but the girls live there. Prior to entering the meeting place, I asked where the washroom was since I had been struggling for a while. They pointed in the direction and Nadia held my things. I opened the door and saw a cement floored room with nothing in it but a small drain at the far end. I opened the door back up and motioned for Nadia to come over. I told her that there was nothing in there, no toilets or anything. She said “yes, that is it.” I said, “Well how about that other room that says ‘toilets?’” She said it would look exactly the same. Huh. I stepped out for a moment to compose myself and weigh my options while Nadia went in to use the facilities. I felt stupid and snobby for not just going for it, in addition to being quite uncomfortable. When Nadia came out I decided just to go for it. It wasn’t bad, but it is a little weird that it all just drains outdoors somewhere. After I was done I wanted to ask Nadia what happens when someone needs to go #2, but I didn’t think the translation would work. So, I left it to my imagination.

The man at the vocational training institute was incredibly helpful. He offered his space to any of the girls who were interested in learning the skills for which they had equipment and also said that he would talk to his team about how they could provide trainers in other areas that may not be located at his place. We also talked about which skills are actually viable and how his former students are doing. Our program is somewhat hindered by the fact that the girls are getting only 3 to 6 months of training, so we have to find something they can learn that quickly which eliminates things like hairdressing and dressmaking which is what most girls want to learn. He said that girls can learn and earn a living doing parts of the dressmaking process, such as doing embroidery and making test patterns for dressmakers. He also mentioned the emergence of vegetarianism which certainly piqued my interest. We mentioned how we had heard about the possibility of teaching the girls mushroom farming and he confirmed that it is a growing field and that people are eating more mushroom fried rice instead of the beef fried rice. We came to the conclusion that we could create a whole mini-supply chain for some of the girls. With a few mushroom farming, a few processing the mushrooms and then a few preparing the mushroom fried rice. He also mentioned how they are looking to brand some of the products they make include a uniquely scented hair pomade and liquid soap. My CSR instincts kicked in and I thought of how their products could talk about how they are made at this school and each purchase helps to fund programs that train girls to become entrepreneurs. That would certainly differentiate it with a feel-good brand.

We returned to find the team at the office. Only 10 more girls had shown up so we were still well under our target of 250, but had enough to conduct quality quantitative research. We went back to Mary’s house to see her before she left for a funeral. She mentioned wanting to buy me a funeral dress so that I could accompany her to one on February 23^rd. She also gave Nadia beautiful sea green fabric for a new dress. We thanked her and decided to stay one more night because it was raining fairly hard. Our driver is pretty good, a little quick with the brake, but I was not the comfortable driving with him at night or through rain so that combo of the two on windy dark roads in an area that is literally closer to Timbuktu than I have ever been before all suggested that we should just stay. Plus, we could stop by a botanical garden on the way home. Nadia went to bed early. I finished my book and then took one of my last showers for a while.