Hurray for the women

Since the other foreign couple that worked in our community development project left in October, I have learned a lot about the women’s work.  My wife T comes over to the office to socialize with the women’s team, but for work matters, I’m the only foreigner left for them to voice their concerns to or get help from.  There are 8 women on the team, 4 that have been with the project since the start in 2005, and 4 that we hired new last March.  We doubled the size of the women’s team because their participatory tools, courses, and monitoring and evaluation is more time-intensive than the men’s often “one-off” style of working. 

In a culture where men and women seem to live in different worlds, our teams have found a smart way to work together.  Our men’s team assists our women’s team by being the sort of chaperons and gateway guards that women in this culture must have.  At least one of the men always travels with the women, and hangs out near where the women are working, to stand up for them if some trouble arises.  Before our women can bring any sort of material to share with village women (training materials and aides, films, etc), the men take samples of the material and have a quick sitdown with the mullahs and other big men of the village.  Without this simple explanation and introduction by the men, our women run a great risk of being labeled as proselytizers, harlots, or spies- all of which could get them stoned.  Once the men get the nod, our women can safely go ahead, and any gossip that starts will be stopped by the male leaders of the village.

Our women’s team assists our men’s team in return by being informants about the inner-workings of each village.  While the men can walk throughout the whole village (unlike the women), they cannot freely go into private yards, which are surrounded by tall mud walls.  The women, however, can and do go into private yards all the time, and so it is very useful for our men and women to have a discussion early on in their time in each new village, to compare the information they have about life and needs both inside and outside the walls. 

With all of this introduction out of the way, I am pleased to share some actual results of the women’s WASH (water, sanitation, advocacy, hygiene) work with you.  In the past month the women have been doing the first +1 year evaluations of their WASH courses.  This is our first chance to get a real statistical gauge of the learning and change that happened in the hygiene courses 1 year ago, and that which still remains.  The way that this evaluation works is that our women conduct a KAP survey (knowledge, attitude, practice) before the course, and then repeat the same KAP survey 1 year after the course has concluded.   The KAP surveys require excellent facilitators who know how to turn the list of questions into a fluid dialogue which elicits the village woman’s understanding and belief about WASH.  Then the skillful facilitator also weaves an actual walk around the yard into the visiting time, so that the WASH practices can be observed.  By doing the same survey before the course and 1 year after it, findings from both surveys can easily be compared to see the impact on the cognitive, emotive, and practical levels of WASH in each village where our women have a course.  Below I will give you a summary of the most significant findings from the first three villages we have evaluated:

Knowledge changes:

• Understanding that unclean water is the most common cause of diarrhea increased from 64%-100%
• Understanding the causes of diarrhea in children:
• Flies: 10% - 90%
• Germs: 25% - 80%
• Not washing hands: 25% - 90%
• Understanding how to prevent diarrhea in children:
• Washing hands after toilet: 45% - 100%
• Washing hands before cooking: 27% -100%
• Washing hands before and after eating: 19% - 89%
• Preventing and killing flies: 10% - 90%

        Attitude changes:

• ·      Reasons for washing hands:
• To avoid food contamination: 33% - 93%
• To keep good hygiene: 20% - 89%
• To prevent disease: 52% -100%
• ·      Reasons to have a latrine and keep it sanitary:
• Disease prevention: 38% - 97%
• Preventing flies: 26% - 100%

     Practical changes:

• ·      Pre-treatment of drinking water (boiling, filtering) increased from 30%-100% (this is in villages where drinking water is gathered from streams).
• ·       Handwashing with soap increased from 41%-100%
• ·      Treatment of children when they have diarrhea: giving ORS: 20% - 100%

And my favorite finding: Before the course, over of 90% of the women in the courses had at least one family member with diarrhea.  Exactly one year later, close to

90% of the women reported no diarrhea in their families at that time.

Certainly our work is not about stats, but this evaluation does help us to know that this course has been worthwhile, and worth continuing! 

In 2011 the women’s primary purpose was these WASH courses.  For 2012, this course will be continued by 4 of our women in new villages, and the other 4 have just started a training we call BLiSS (Basic Life Saving Skills).  The BLiSS course is a very interactive course for traditional midwives and mothers.  We feel this emphasis is also critical here, where maternal and infant mortality figures are still so disturbing.  In one of the BLiSS courses we just started, the women reported that just 3 weeks ago a mother and baby both died during labor at home, just a few kilometers away from the hospital.

Please pray and cheer for our women’s team to continue to serve the women of this country with excellence, and that lives would be saved and transformed because of their interventions.  

A story about a girl’s school

 My plan for the day was to go with one of the men’s teams to see their progress on an agriculture project.  The project was a large grape arbor, funded by a British group, and built in the yard of a girl’s school in a near village.  As we drove to that village, I had in my mind a picture of one of the many well-funded but poorly-built, poorly-equipped, and poorly-attended schools across the rural districts of this country.  Many of the schools in the central province we previously worked in were hollow buildings, empty of anything that resembled education.  I was taken aback when we drove up the hill and into the yard of this girl’s school.

The school sits on a perfect plateau, above the rest of the village, and it is completely engulfed in green gardens and fruit trees.  The school itself is just 1 building, but the yard around it spans about 10 acres, and it is beautiful.  Every type of fruit tree I could think of was present, as well as patches of root vegetables, varieties of lettuce, beans, radishes, cauliflower, and tomatoes.  All the gardens were well kept, irrigation canals had been fashioned to sustain all the plants; clearly much care had been given to this land. 

Being drawn in by the land, I looked more closely at the school.  Built in 2006 with funding from a large Scandanavian organization, this 10-room school building offered local girls courses from grade 1-10.  The building was different from the standard national design, it had been custom designed by a European volunteer who had worked in M-ville for many years.  Like the grounds, the building was extremely well kept and attractive.

On the side of the school I noticed quickly that our project had been here previously, addressing water and sanitation needs.  Three of our Biosand Filters were lined up by the school, and all three were gradually filling the buckets in front of them.  A handwashing station was beside these filters and the latrines further away.  The large latrine structure was also impressive to see.  Usually large public latrines are a horrible site because of the volume of people that toilet around the outside perimeter of the latrine rather than inside.  Not so here, there were no messes around this latrine.  I was so surprised by the site of fully-functioning water and sanitation facilities that I could hardly say hello to the 5 or 6 year old girls that came out of the school to get a drink.  One of the school janitors was there, filling a cup and offering it to the girls, and then making sure they put it back in the right place so it didn’t get dirty.  As the girls returned to class the janitor made his way to the front of the school building, picked up a large steel bolt, and struck it against a large steel gear from a truck axle.  At first this action did not make sense, until he persisted to strike the steel pieces together until the sound of students changing rooms came out of the windows.  He had just rung the school bell. 

Noticing my observation of the school, the headmaster came and introduced himself, and invited me to tour the school.  He first sent me around the grounds with a staff who pointed out all the varieties of trees and plants.  The produce from all these plants, he said, goes first to the students, for their families.  As we walked he told me the history of the school.  Long long ago the plateau had actually been rolling hills, just like the ones around the plateau, and the hills had been an ancient graveyard.  Some two decades ago, the community gathered and decided that this ancient graveyard was no longer of much use to them, and they wanted to reuse this land for the community.  The village all took part in paying for a bulldozer to level the hills and graves, and create the plateau.  The land had been developed for agriculture before the notorious anti-government group (NAGG) came to power, but much of it was destroyed in their time, as well as the small girl’s school.  After the NAGG was pushed out, the community decided they wanted the plateau to become the girls’ school, and they petitioned the European engineer and Scandanavian donors.

Back from the tour, the headmaster invited me to come in the school and take a look.  Together we peeked into one room that was bouncing with 1^st graders.  The headmaster said how sorry he felt for the 2^nd grade teacher today, who was doubling on 1^st and 2^nd grades because the other teacher was gone.  There were at least 30 very naughty looking 1^st graders in that room.  We then went down the hall and I noticed how well the building let natural light in, and how clean and nice the building had been kept.  The headmaster pointed out that not a single fan or switch or window were broken, not a desk or wall marked on, because these students and teachers cared about “their” school.  I asked, and was blown away to hear that 600 girls attended this school between morning and afternoon sessions.

Without a warning, the headmaster led me into a room full of 10^th grade girls, and asked to see their artwork.  The surprised girls all stood to their feet to welcome a visitor, then relaxed when the headmaster told them I was with the organization that brought the water filters.  A stack of artwork came together, and the headmaster proudly showed off what these young women had been creating recently.  There were pencil sketches, portraits of historic leaders and family members alike.  The pencil shading on some of these works of art made the faces as real as could be.  There were also calligraphic poems and verses about philosophy and life.  Lastly there were watercolor and oil-based painted pictures.  The watercolors had been painted with a variety of brushes and creative finger strokes.  Each of the paintings was a lesson.  Some were about clean water, sanitation, nutrition, and others about agriculture.  The colors, designs, and truth in the lessons were utterly amazing. 

My favorite painting of all was divided in half, with a good side, and a bad.  The good side of the painting depicted a beautiful village home, surrounded by gardens, animals, and happy people.  In this half of the picture the sun was setting, and a man was coming home to his family, tired, but pleased with the days’ work.  The other half of the picture was an elaborate, almost woven field of opium poppies.  In the center of the tall poppies, surrounded by two great flowers that circled like snakes, was an erect and eerie human skeleton.  No words were necessary on this painting; it clearly depicted that this girl had seen both realities, and wanted to show the world the pain and longing she felt. 

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This is the end of the story of my observations about this school.  I will continue in the next post by drawing some points out of this story, to clarify what this school does and does not mean about education, change, and women in this country.  But I made this separation between the posts because I want you to savor this amazing story with me.  My visit to this school has given me fresh hope that despite all the things that are against good change, it is possible.

Some conclusions on the girl’s school

 This is part 2 of a 2 part blog.  You will want to read the above post “A story about a girl’s school” before continuing on this one.

The true story I have told you about this girl’s school does not mean that all schools in this country are like this.  Many schools are nothing more than useless building.  In development, too often buildings are put first, as an assumption that it will encourage people to take responsibility to fill in the rest of the program.

However…

The girl’s school does mean:

• ·      Some communities do value education, and will make sacrifices to establish the human infrastructure for educating their kids.  This community leveled an ancient graveyard and used it for a school, because the land was too old to be claimed as private land, so it was equal access for all.
• ·      Communities that value education have amazing potential, but sometimes fall short on the resources to finish their dream of education for the next generation, and they need donor support for buildings.
• ·      Donors pay for buildings, but the people make the schools.  The donor’s name was on the plaque outside, but little touches like the school bell indicated that this truly was the community’s school.
• ·      When the above happens, everyone wins: donor, engineer, headmaster, community, and most importantly: students.

The girl’s school does not mean:

• ·      Does not mean that all the buildings built and called “schools” will turn out this way.  Too many building projects are donor driven, and do not pick up the warning signs that the community is not ready to send their kids, let alone take care of the building.
• ·      Does not mean that everything in this school is perfect.  The 10^th grade class was all uniformly dressed in black uniforms and white headscarves, but the 1^st graders were a mix of uniforms and village clothes.  This indicates that in this school as well, classism thrives, and the families that cannot afford to buy uniforms for their daughters are probably pulling their daughters out because of teasing, or because the girl’s have chores at home.
• ·      Does not mean that the future is bright for these girls.  Unless dramatic and unlikely changes happen, these girls will still be expected to marry in their teen years, and then assume a suppressed domestic role.  Some of these girls will marry men a generation older than them, a generation that has no respect for educated girls, and does it’s best to beat the empowerment back out of them.  
• ·      Does not mean that there are jobs for these girls.  Other than a few nurses, a few teachers, and a few NGO jobs, no woman works outside the home here.  Who sells women’s clothes?  Men.  Even underwear?  Yep, men.
• ·      Does not mean that we will ever see the creativity or artwork of these girls again.  From the time they are married, these women will have too many chores and children to take time for art.  Even if they did, how would women, who cannot even go to the doctor without a man coming to speak for her, be able to show her heart and skills to the outside world?

But the girl’s school does mean that good change is possible, despite all the forces that work against it.  The status quo here says some horrible, horrible things about the female race, but some are willing to challenge it, and some girls themselves find enough freedom to dare to learn, express themselves, and be women created in the image of God.  I am glad that this special school does not have wide press or special documentaries about it.  A school like this needs it’s own privacy, and some decades of security, and it will produce a new generation of mothers that can gently but definitely influence this place.  

Women’s Day 2011

 March 8 has been named Women’s Day in this country.  After some of my recent blog posts you’ll understand that this national day is something we are going to be paying close attention to.  Like you, we want to know what Women’s Day means here. 

The only plan we have heard is that one of the local NGOs that deals expressly with women’s issues, is going to host a women’s celebration here in our city, and host some 500 women from outlying villages to come in for the meal and party.  What will this be like?  We also wait anxiously, and hope we learn something to report on later!

Be in prayer that this Women’s Day would be safe from any insurgent threats.  They generally do not like any projects that benefit women, because it calls them away from their standard roles of staying in the house all the time.  Pray for something really great to happen on this day.

Gender issues in WASH

I’m not an expert on gender issues.  I took one graduate course on gender and development and it opened my eyes to the subject, but I still understand very little about how to work against gender issues. 

By gender issue, I mean something that is unfair for women, or worse, an outright violation of women’s rights.  Perhaps it would seem better to call this a women’s issue.  No, I would recommend we use the term gender issue, because the problem is not solely with women, that they are denied so many rights in this land.  The problem is that both genders are messed up in their God-given roles of male and female- serving and caring about one another. 

WASH stands for water, advocacy, sanitation and hygiene.  This applies to both women and men, but it applies differently, because genders here are quite separated the majority of the time.  In an agricultural village here, men do not hang around the house or the village at all, they are in the fields, the mosque, or the bazaar for all the daylight hours.  Women do all domestic duties: care for children, care for animals, care for gardens, wash clothes, wash dishes, wash children, chase chickens, weave rugs, knit socks, stitch clothes, make bread, make meals, and the list goes on (and you wondered why they have big families- children make good helpers here).  So when we come to a village to talk about water, sanitation and hygiene, we need to talk to the ones who fetch the water, wipe babies’ bottoms, and wash childrens’ hands- you guessed it, the women.

I’ve insisted before that rural and community development must be more about behavior and belief change, and less about building stuff.  For this reason our first WASH intervention is a participatory hygiene and health course for women.  If women attend the course and apply what they are learning as real lifestyle changes, we reward them with a water filter (read BSF posts below).  In the course they learn about the importance of clean water, and how it can change the whole course of family life for those who have suffered a lot of diarhoea.  This part of our WASH work is good (I think).  But in evaluating the effect of the BSFs (water filters) on life, we have realized that we’ve walked right into a gender issue.

We focused on women because they do all the water and sanitation chores, and can pass good behaviors on to their children and ensure that their children are getting clean water.  We did not predict what would happen by leaving men out of the initial WASH intervention.  Actually we did not leave them out entirely, but we did not involve them until it was time to install the BSFs in their houses.  Suddenly one day we show up with a 200lb blue concrete block that their wives and us want to put in their house.  We need their help to lug this massive thing that they don’t understand, and then we show them we’re going to load another 150 pounds of sand and rock into the thing, which guarantees that they will not easily move the thing ever again.  No men that we know of have outright resisted it, but their passive, unknowledgeable acceptance has had another consequence- numerous men have been unwilling to provide for their families need for a pit or composting latrine. 

Let’s be honest, men here do not need a latrine as much as women do.  I said above they are seldom home, and they can more easily get away with peeing behind the house when they are home.  It is a much harder situation for women who do not have a latrine.  Mothers without a latrine often let their babies and children toilet in their dirt yard, where the rest of their siblings play.  What is a woman to do about toileting and menstruation if she has no private latrine?  The answer will shock you- many women do not toilet at all while the sun is up.  They hold it.  The number of kidney stones and twisted bowels here is sickening, and this is a big contributor to it. 

Suddenly water filters seems to pale in comparison with the importance of latrines and sanitation huh?  I wish we would have planned the way we did our water intervention (the BSFs) around the goal of mobilizing whole families to shape up their whole water and sanitation system.  Yes it doesn’t benefit men as much so it made sense to focus on women, but now we need the men to strongly support the initiative to build latrines, so that clean water is not useless because of all the filth of open defecation.  By focusing and delivering to women, we have allowed some men to say to our project women’s team, “okay, if this is a women’s problem, you fix it for them, it doesn’t concern me.”  Pretty distorted isn’t it?  Ideally, focusing on women will lead to empowerment, which gathers the recognition and affirmation of men who suddenly see women as more capable, more valuable.  Well, I guess it doesn’t always work out as ideally as we’d hope. 

Send us your ideas and suggestions on how to proceed!