So we, FT5 (Foundation Team 5), just got back from a relaxing weeklong break. What made it even better was knowing I had left the program in good hands. How did I know? The Friday before we left, I sat down for some 1 on 1’s with my team and couldn’t help but see how much they’ve grown as leaders. Here’s a quick blow-by-blow account of how each 1 on 1 went.
Rosa: This 1 on 1 actually didn’t start off too well, because I could tell that she was really tired. I asked her if anything was wrong, and she said that she had stayed up until 1am the night before. I was about to launch into a self-righteous tirade about being prepared for work when she cut in by explaining that she had gone to her neighbors’ houses to teach them how to boil water. Rosa’s area, Moheto, recently had an outbreak of cholera, and her neighbors, scared by the outbreak, found out that Rosa had been giving trainings in the area along with the Health team. So, they asked if she could come over and teach them how to boil properly. Rosa agreed, even if it was the middle of the night
Elias: Our focus lately has been water testing and preparing for the presentation of the results to the community. However, he told me that he felt another of his main tasks was to motivate the WatSan reps to take responsibility for educating everyone in their village. He understood that he could not change the behaviors of his village by himself, that he must also lead and equip others who are willing to be change agents with him.
Eliza: She started the 1 on 1 by saying how much she had learned through Nuru, and she didn’t just mean learning about increasing her crop yield by 300% (which she did). She said that when Nuru first came she thought “oh, I can’t talk to those mizungos (slang for white folk). I don’t know English and I’m not well educated.” Now, she is a Field Manager of her area and is confident in her ability to lead her team to affect change in their village. She claimed that “it’s all about learning and improving” with Nuru. When she first started learning how to use the computer, she thought “hmm, I thought only college-educated folk could use these things.” But now she realizes that she has the potential to do so much more, and plunged right into hunting and pecking on the keyboard (home-row keys will be taught soon).