Work, slow!

Work has started out quite slowly, I have two agricultural extension agents (AEAs) to work with but one has gone back to school and so I basically only have one! This feeling of frustration was really getting to me – I left a job that was incredibly busy and well defined to find myself not entirely sure what to do and not really feeling like I had a purpose. Thankfully things are changing – I am co-hosting a training session on Thursday to try and engage extension agents into the program. I will also be working on a small research project that the District Director has asked me to work on. So hopefully within the next week and a half I should be able to start having an impact (even if it is small!) on farmer groups and AEAs in the Bolga District.

My first farmer group meeting:
I went with Victoria, my AEA, to my first group meeting. I wanted to find out from them where they were along the program and continue from there. I arrived on the back of the moto in one piecely (actually motorbikes here don’t go that quickly so it wasn’t that scary) and was given a chair to sit on while most of the woman sat on the ground. They decided to give me a local name, Ayinsonba, which is translated into “God’s gift to us”. Then they asked what I was going to do for them now that Aaron is gone. Yikes! Despite wanting to run away and jump on the next flight home, I kept my calm.
I realize that at home we give guests a nice seat and treat them with respect, but the name “God’s gift to us” made me feel really uncomfortable and I felt a lot of pressure. I realized later that it is a cultural difference and really, we’re all God’s gift to each other, all equally precious and valued. I spent about an hour talking with the farmer group, they were trying to decide upon a group project to work on together and to decide what they would like to do together – once this has been decided – Victoria will help them come up with a plan. It’s really important to me and to EWB that the AEA does the teaching and training and helps the farmer group with the business planning – I want Victoria to be able continue teaching AAB after I leave. I also want the groups to see what they can do – they have so much potential and I’m confident they can figure out how to make their dreams come true. I know I sound cheesy here, but this is truly the goal of the program.