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I stayed at Macheo again today and worked on analyzing some surveys about family empowerment that were filled out by parents in Kiandutu who have children who do and do not attend school, as well as children and the village elders. The questionnaire asked many things like "what do you think are the main problems in kiandutu" and "what do you think should be done about them". It was very interesting to see their responses because some really had good ideas. Others were funny. Some examples...
Q: "What is preventing parents from being good parents?"
A: "poverty"
Q: "how should we solve that?"
A: "eradicate poverty"
...yes, just that simple. Let's eradicate poverty.
Q: "Many people in Kiandutu seem idle during the day. Why do you think that is?"
A: "They work at night."
Hahaha, that one was a child.
In the afternoon Faith and James of Family Empowerment came to Macheo and we met with Joan to discuss a better way to determine who we should enroll in the FE program. There are a few reasons why this is so important and actually very challenging at times. Anybody can say oh, sure I'll follow through with the help if you give me a business, but when it comes down to it some people show no drive and remain in their bad habits. A few days ago we even saw one of the pregnant mothers stumbling around drunk in Kiandutu. So, it is worthwhile to spend our time and resources on the people who really have the desire and will to be helped. This leads to more success in the program, which in turn can lead to more funding. But how do you determine who would be a good candidate?
We spoke about different factors that show some promise when we first meet someone. For example, one lady took out a picture she had of her children in school uniforms because she was proud she sent them to school. She cares. Another had us take off our shoes because she keeps her plastic floor clean and had a mosquito net over her bed...that also tells me she cares. Other women can have a bad attitude and some are just looking for a handout it seems. For example, last week we visited a new client and her neighbor came in with us. As soon as she realized we weren't here to give food or money she left.
Another thing that we thought about was recommending that they do something, such as get an ID, and if by the next time we visit they have done it, we will be more likely to help them because they are cooperative.
It was a good thing to talk about and I really think it's something that can improve the program. It's also difficult because it's sometimes hard to say no to someone or not help them when they have children at home who are not eating or going to school. I am told, however, that sometimes it might not do much good when the parent still neglects their children.
Later tonight we went out to dinner at Eton with Sylvia, Margo, and Noortje. It was nice to get out! The Netherlands played again at 11pm so we went to Noortje's place to watch it. She is a pedagogue and works with the house mothers here and at another children's home to help with parenting.
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