Starting Work

This past week has been jam packed as it was the first week of programming. Tuesday was my first presentation to seconday students in an area outside of Morogoro known as Bigwa. We were greated by the second master of the school who introduced myself and the local consultant/translator that I will be working with. This school has about 700 students and the head master told us that so many students signed up to be a part of our governance workshops that they had to select students. So what they did was take the top students from different school departments and thats who we're teaching: the cream of the crop. The level of respect and readiness to learn was astonishing. The first lesson was a success and I hope that all the ones to come will be as well. This is the first time YCI has ever done Governance so this is a huge leap for the organization.

My second task was to start Gender workshops in the area of Chamwino. Chamwino is known for being low-income and under-resourced. It is also the site of high rates of youth prostitution, early pregnancies, unemployment, alochol/drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, and other illnesses. The houses in this area are stick-mud huts, usually with six to ten people living in one room. The girls that come to our workshops are un-educated and have little to no english knowledge; thus, a translator is needed at all times. Although a mere five girls attended the first workshop, many important questions they had were addressed. Their eyes were glued to our presentation as they studied our makeshift drawings of a woman's uterus and discussed details of the women menstral cycle. It was aparant that these women know little about their bodies and issues that face them so I am excited and eager for the coming weeks.