Aug. 6th 2010
Melissa Smith
Waterproof

I would like to introduce you to my friend Aminata Dusuba.  We work together at CAUSE Canada Sierra Leone Partnership…she teaches our adult literacy classes.  She also gets up at 6:00 in the morning to take me to a remote village on the back of her motorcycle (in a torrential downpour) to find out if Feremusu Marah has indeed purchased a sheep! 

Allow me to explain…

Our Women’s Integral Empowerment Program includes a component on business skills training.  So, the women who take our literacy classes also learn to budget and practice saving money throughout the year.  About half way through the class, teachers like Aminata sit down with participants and help them to make a plan for how they want to invest their savings.    Next year, we follow up with them to see how their plans are going.  That’s my job…and Aminata’s. 

The process of following up with these women is always inspiring.   Many of them have invested in productive activities like trading or animal husbandry, which provide their families with regular income.  Others have made wise one-time investments, such as paying their children’s school fees or repairing the roof of their family home.  It’s a joy to meet with them and their families and to see what they have accomplished.  The difficult part…is finding them! 
 
There are 499 women who made investment plans last year and they are scattered throughout the Koinadugu district.  Every Thursday,  Aminata arrives at my house in full rain gear and we set out before the sun comes up, travelling form village to village asking neighbors and friends until we find them.  If the participants are engaged in Animal Husbandry, we may wander even further afield to meet their goat or their cow.   This process is complicated by rain, mud and the fact that about twenty women in th program last year were named “Marie Koroma.”  But we are a dedicated team, Aminata is indefatigable and, of course, it’s worth it.