Facilitating Digital Changemaking

For this assignment, I chose to spend it with our community coordinator and women who benefit from our vocational training; learning knitting school uniforms, sewing traditional outfits. I decided to facilitate a talk with them because they are the most dedicated group of our initiatives despite having very little resources. I met with our community coordinator Masoso in Kigali, then we skyped 20 women in Minembwe to talk about the barriers they face in accomplishing their training.

They are enjoying being the only association that is able to supply school uniforms to several schools in the area, yet realizing that they can not meet the deadline due to lack of sewing and knitting machines. They discussed with me how it is impacting their income but most importantly their drive to keep coming to the center every day knowing that they will have to take turns because they lack sufficient equipment. Some days, a woman may spend only an hour a day on the machine, which is discouraging.

I told them that I am on the mission to raise fund to make sure this issue is resolved as soon as possible. I encouraged them to keep the momentum despite countless barriers they face. Together, we came up with a schedule to make sure women’s time at the center would be worthwhile and productive. The center will remain open every day for six hours, there will be six women each day instead of all twenty women to make sure everyone gets a chance in practicing their skills and contribute to the production of their clients’ orders.

This activity inspires me because I see the courage and the will these women have by showing up every day even with limited resources. In addition, this activity taught me to be patient with progress. Sometimes we get fired up, and ready to change everything but when obstacles come in our way, we have to be flexible and come up with another plan to overcome barriers. These women taught me so much than I could ever teach them. I listened. We had difficulty with the internet connection throughout our calls but we persisted and got through everything. Next time, I hope to facilitate such activity in form of face to face meeting.