Cartography

"I can't find a place where I can dig my feet in and say, here I can help" Frivolocity

Kweli, I feel like I'm bobbing for greased apples, but I'm not as helpless as it may seem. The first two months in-country I received training in everything from Swahili, to housekeeping TZ style, envinronmental projects (gardening, compost making, tree nursing, bee-keeping, sustainable energy production-how to make stoves and fuel out of shit, etc.) and PACA tools (Participatory Analysis for Community Action). Of course training communities are veteran volunteer hosts and trainings such as PACA sessions-being led by Swahili speakers and attended by seasoned participants unfold like a slinky down a staircase. The slinky I'm picturing is in the slinky commercial..we all know in real life the slinky often stops after the first step...and so went my first PACA session.

Language is the most important factor in integrating, and rightfully we spent most of training going over noun classes and how to buy bus tickets in Swahili. PACA tool sessions were infrequent, and in truth I had never heard the term "PACA" until I took the technical exam and got the question "Identify the following abbrev.: PACA" wrong. Having since received the manual and read cover to cover how to facilitate village groups which help you understand your community, and identify areas where you mutually agree you can help. With this in mind I set about holding my first "participatory blah blah" session: "Community Mapping". According to the manual, this is how it works:

Step 1. Invite group of single sex to session.
Step 2. Welcome everyone, make introductions (meetings always involve a formal introductions of every person in the room).
Step 3. Explain the purspose of the session "we will be making a map of the community to share everyon'es ideas of what the area looks like...the activity might reveal some interesting perspectives about their community and it should be fun."
Step 4. IDentify central feature of community and encourage everyone to participate.
Step 5. After map is drawn have group place colored paper in areas of importance...and this is where I'll stop. There are more, but my slinky didn't make it past the 4th step...

My village is extraordinary in that they show up early for sessions. As usual I showed up 5 minutes late and was the last one there. Fifteen timid women awaited me outside the town meeting room. I began:

Step 1: Success. They had all showed, and I was able to arrange a room in the dispensary to conduct the session.
Step 2: Introduce session. The women, dressed in their colorful kangas (matching cloths wrapped to cover the upper and lower body), some with children slung on their back, were clearly amused by attempts at introducing the session. They introduced themselves one by one, and that was the last time I heard most of them speak.
Step 3: Explain purpose of session. I was excited about this part, I had just learned the words 'to draw' "kuchora" and 'map' "romani". However, I was met with confused faces as I tried in my broken swahili to explaine why I wanted a map of a town I already new.
Step 4: I identified the Lutheran church- a relatively large and fairly central building in the village. I searched for an eye to make contact with me, and not one, not a single woman took her gaze off the floor. I identified Ester, the chairman of the chicken group (an environmental group in town I'd met with the week before), and pleaded with her to volunteer to draw. When this failed I shamelessly bullied her into taking a stand (I'd been hanging out with the primary school teachers enough to pick up some iron fist techniques). The rest of the group mumbled and then Ester finally said "But we can't draw a map, we are unable". "Here" I said drawing a cross" the Lutheran church. "Here" I drew a square, "the town offices". "Where else?" I asked, the tone of my voice sharp- 40 minutes into the session and we'd made no progress, "where else do you go in Ujindile? Every day? Every week? Where?"..nothing.

I tried another approach, another PACA tool: Daily Activities. We mapped out a day in the life of them: wake up, clean house, make food, work on farm, make food, bed.

This seemed to stir Ester. She dropped the marker and walked up to the board. She drew 5 shapes: 2 squares for the school, one square for the public offices, one cross for the church, and a square for the farm. I implored her with my eyes, and asked her to put the map on the paper. Widespread talking broke out in the crowd and finally Ester stepped forward and said "We need paper, and markers. We will make you this map and show you next week." Progress!! There was progress, even if it was on their terms. I agreed and made a date for the following Wednesday at 8am.

I went back to my house and had chai with a friend. Fifteen minutes passed and there was a knock on the door. It was Ester. She asked me for a green marker to make trees. I was impressed that they were taking the activity seriously and apologized for not having a green marker- markers are expensive and red, blue and black seemed sufficient. She sighed and returned to what I pictured as a super fun, sorority-party like map-making session back in Ester's nyumbani. Ten more minutes passed and there was another knock on the door. This time it was a man, a man who I hoped would be the fundi there to fix my sink which had/has been broken since I moved in. "I am the map maker the women have asked to make you a map. I need a green marker for the trees." he said, sinking my heart one swahili syllable at a time. I told him I had no green markers, and decided to let it be for the moment.

Unfortunately, I have not yet seen the map. The session was about two weeks ago, but I found myself in Dar es Salaam with a kidney infection for the past 10 days or so. I'll meet with them this coming week and take a peek at the work of art the women commisssioned.

Last night I reread PACA, looking for something I missed. They suggest an icebreaker...I guess pombe could work, but a name game..I think not. My village is atypical in that they not only come to meetings on time, but they are extremely self motivated and are improving their economic status without my help-and I'm sure they recognize my help as being more $$ signs than anything else. The women can manage their own groups, and attend meetings with other NGO's-run by men- and learn skills to improve their situation. They can not make their own maps. They can't imagine themselves being able to do anything that men haven't enabled them to do. We learned about this is training- the gender jacket- but it's cold in my village, and it won't be easy to persuade these women to change.

I've come to realize that the Peace Corps trainings are like little seeds. Each community has a different environment and it's up to each of us PCVs to negotiate and foster growth...as you can see my mind has begun to think not only in swahili, but environmental volunteer language...I'm not sure it's a good thing.

On a lighter note, aside from the kidney infection, I had a great time in Dar. I went to a beautfiul beach, bobbed in crystal-blue bath-warm waves while herds of goat and cattle strolled by on the beach. I walked around the bustling mosques (Dar has a large muslim community) during nighttime call to prayer- mid-Ramadan. And, I ate chapati at what I beleive to be the only YMCA in world to serve chapati. All the while, I was amongst good company. I'm sad to be leaving the beach and the company in Dar, but I'm excited to be back at site. To see the map the man made, and try to make a new one.