Public Demonstrations

Spreading information in a rural setting isn't a simple thing.  What we would use in the United States like emails, flyers, and even cell phones aren't readily available in a village.  The cost of these things, especially minutes (or talk-time as it's called locally) for a cell phone, are sometimes excessive.

So, the best way to do this is to tell as many people as possible - over and over.  And to further that spread of information it's always a good thing to have a demonstration, where people can see firsthand how something works.  

Here, a volunteer is showing a kiln that locals can use to make charcoal for cooking out of maize cobs.   Seeing this kind of project is a must for sensitizing people and spreading information among those that are interested.

Most of the people in the communities where volunteers work are farmers that prefer to learn by seeing and doing, rather than listening and blindly believing.  I can't blame them either.  A lot of the things that volunteers promote sound too good to be true... and sometimes they are.  This is another reason why public demonstrations are important: to openly test a new concept or design.

Sometimes the demonstrations have a few people at them, and sometimes the demonstrations get a much higher turnout than expected.  This is always great - although rare.  

Here, another volunteer (in the blue, white, and red shirt towards the front left) is demonstrating a hand washing station to some locals at the Peace Corps' training center in Chipembi, Zambia.  At this demonstration the locals got to try the station and see how it was built - so they could successfully make their own.

Some volunteers do a lot of public demonstrations and then there are others, like myself, that do only one or two per month.  I prefer to work in smaller settings, sometimes just in a one-on-one kind of atmosphere.  Part of it is because I like getting to know the person I'm working with, then other times I find the public demonstrations to be overwhelming - it's a lot of people staring you down all at once.

One of the issues I have is that when I do hold demonstrations people show up late or not at all, which is discouraging.  However, when people do come they may show up intermittently throughout a two hour period.  Hardly ever is an entire group there right at the designated starting time.  All of this has taught me one very important thing: always bring a book... you may be waiting for a while.

It can be hard to hold a demonstration when people are showing up randomly throughout the session. Once I get rolling I like to keep it going in a forward progression: not starting, stopping, and then restarting again.

There is a trade-off between doing small group work and public demonstrations.  A public demonstration might reach more people, but a small group setting may allow for a more full understanding of the subject at hand.

Every volunteer is different though (I've learned that that can't be reiterated enough in Peace Corps).  Some hate doing one-on-one kinds of work, which I much prefer, and others like the mass meetings.  It's always interesting to me to see how other volunteers hold meetings and demonstrations with their community.  What they use for incentives, what they teach on, where and when they hold the demos, etc.

When a demonstration is done well it can have a rippling effect.  I once held a demonstration about making charcoal from old maize cobs, then two months after that demonstration - some 40 miles from where it was held - a man approached me and asked if I would do another demonstration like that in his community.  Word travelled fast and with it - interest.

Vaccinating Chickens To Buy Fish

The women's group that I work with - the Tukwatankane Women's Club - has been working incredibly hard since May to build a fishpond and then stock the pond for the raising and selling of fish.  However, one problem was that the women's club didn't have money to buy the required 300+ fingerlings.

The vaccine was mixed with water, put into syringes, and then placed in the chicken's mouth.

Due to this, I ran an idea by the women for a way that they could raise money to buy these fingerlings.  We would do this by buying a chicken vaccine, then selling doses of it to locals that were interested in vaccinating their chickens.

The vaccine was enough to treat 1,000 chickens.  Although only about 150 chickens were treated.  This was because not as many people were interested in vaccinating their chickens as we had hoped.

The vaccination cost about $4 to buy, with each of the women contributing just 30 cents apiece to buy the vaccination.  The women would then vaccinate chickens for the small price of five chickens for 20 cents.  It was incredibly cheap, which made it doable in a village setting.  Their vaccination was good for 1,000 chickens - which, if sold completely, would raise about $40.  

The illness that we were treating against was called Newcastle.  When Newcastle infects a chicken population it decimates the numbers - chickens die left and right, leaving no chickens alive in its wake.

Unfortunately, the women's club didn't vaccinate 1,000 chickens, instead about 150 chickens.  But, they did raise enough money to earn their investment back, and then some.  So for a very small investment the women now have raised enough money for 60 fish to put into their pond.

Here, Enedy is holding the chicken's mouth open, while Beauty is administering the vaccination.   The woman in the back is named Vivian.  All are members of the Tukwatankane Women's Club. 

Those fish will be delivered by the Department of Fisheries on Friday, November 15th.  The delivery of these fish mark the end of a long journey to this point.  But the women will have a fully functioning fish farm and after 6 months they'll be able to harvest, then eat and sell their fish.

After the vaccination the chickens were carried off and returned to their villages.

The Tukwatankane Women's Club

There's a women's club in my village that I've been working with for a few months now that consists of some of the some of the most physically imposing, strong willed and joyous women I've ever met.

They're great to work with, but it's been somewhat of a process getting to this point.

These women work incredibly hard day-in and day-out.  Working with them wears me out, so it's a good thing we work only a few days per week on the fish pond.

The group is called the Tukwatankane Women's Club. Tukwatankane means, "We're united" in the local language, and that's a fitting title as the group was formed to aid the members by improving the women's lives through creating more income through collaboration.

At first I didn't work with the group very much because they didn't seem serious.

Initially all they wanted was for me to teach them the same things that the volunteer before me had taught -- how to make fried pastries. I kept thinking that they weren't serious if they hadn't learned it the first time. What would change now?

About six months later they came to me and said they had a new idea: they wanted to build a fish pond. They had seen the production of my friend Mr. Nshimbi's fish pond (the first and, until then, the only in the area) and wanted to build their own. I responded, "Absolutely. We start tomorrow."

This was a project I could really get behind. We were going to build something we could all touch, stock it with fish to farm, then eat and sell our product. And, it would benefit the groups' members and their families through better nutrition and income generation.

The fish farm is constructed of earthen walls, and a lot of hard work.

I've learned during my time that to make the most positive change and assist those who really make a difference then working with women is the way to go. I was eager to get going.

We didn't start the next day though. Instead, we had to have a meeting with the whole group first to discuss how the project would be done. It should be noted that at the meeting, I became a member of the women's group -- the only male member.

Myself and the members of the Tukwatankane Women's Club.

After the meeting we went to work. We mapped out the pond and then began the laborious process of constructing a fish pond in Central Africa where hoes, strong backs and lots of hours of work must all come together to build a fish farm.

The actual structure is simple: earthen walls that slope down into the center. This slope is necessary so the fish will have an ideal place to breed and build nests.

The pond construction began at the end of May and some five months later it finished.  Now, we're planning on stocking the fish pond in mid-November.

But the construction of this is not as simple as its explanation.

About twice a week I join my fellow members in constructing the pond. Some women dig out the soil chucks, almost like sod, and pile it where the rest of us then form a line, pass the pieces to one another and place it along the wall.

I'm always last in the line because the women seem to believe I have an engineer's eye and build a better wall than most. It's the easiest job, which is also why I believe they gave it to me -- they don't think I can do the work.

Here, the women are constructing a "crib."  This structure will hold the food that they'll be giving to their fish.  An algae bloom will form due to the food they put in the pond, and this is what the fish will feed off of.

In truth I probably couldn't keep up if I were doing the digging. These women are far stronger than me. A couple of them look like they could be NFL fullbacks, and their resiliency is impressive. I don't have the mental or physical wherewithal.

So, they give me the easiest job and forced me to sit when they believe I must be tired. I love working with them -- they take care of me. They even help to pull me out of the knee-deep mud when my legs get stuck, which I hate to admit is about once every half an hour.

When the women are out there, away from husbands, they're free. They gossip, laugh and carry on without any worry. To them it isn't only about work; it's also their time for socializing.

Fish farming is a great way for rural Zambians to increase their livelihoods and food security.  This project has been one of my best so far during my two years of Peace Corps service, and the group has been one of my favorites to work with.

I don't understand a lot of what they say, but for me I'm happy to be out there in the bush, working with some tough "bamamas" and building a fish pond -- a fishpond that will bring improvements to their lives.