Beverly Jensen

October 16, 2013

The week has been very interesting.  Our classes are going very well, Allan and I are about to graduate our 2^nd time classes in Akokom.  This village has been an amazing teaching experience.  Every loan recipient in the town paid off their loans and received their rebates, which is rare.  They are so smart and doing very well with their business plans.  Today I told the women of the class about the feminine hygiene kits.  They were all very excited about the opportunity.

Before I left Logan I was introduced to the idea of a feminine hygiene kit. The kit is made up of a cloth holder which can snap to panties and wash cloth looking flannel napkins, which trifold into the holder (which I have nicknamed the holster) The idea is very pertinent, because some of the women out in the bush, do not have access to feminine products and have been getting toxic shock from the misuse of natural products.  This kit is something that they could wash and dry and reuse, to be sure of cleanliness.  It would save them money and be available every month.  I have been researching the area since I got here, looking for seamstresses and shops that already sell feminine hygiene. 

Last week I went to the health clinic and helped the nurses there while they did the immunizations.  I weighed the babies when they first got there, the moms all have a little sling made out of cloth, that the babies sit in and hang from the scale, like a swing. They each had their seamstress make them for this purpose.   Then I showed the kit to Mabel the midwife and she showed me what the women use for post partum bleeding; a pad that fits perfectly into the holster.

After getting all of the information that both Jamie and Ike had about the kits. Ike came out in July and left about 200 kits here, I found them, just this week, after correspondence with him and Jamie (the last intern) I was so excited, because I had already given out half of the one kit I had, one holster and pads to a local Abomosu seamstress to make a copy of it.  She and the ladies in her shop were all very excited about it.  I wanted them to feel like this was their own, so I asked them for ideas of how we could make this product in Ghana, out of local materials.   The kit is such a great idea to help women in poor countries.  But if we can’t reproduce it easily here, we could give out all 200 kits and that would be the end of it.  So I am very encouraged by the response that I am getting.  I am not handing out the kits, I am keeping them scarce, because I don’t want women to wait for Obruney to solve their problems and I am watching them solve their own problems perfectly, by simply giving them the idea.  Teach a woman to fish…

They decided that snaps are not available in the area, so instead of snaps, they would sew on ties, that would secure the holster to the panties.  I only had to point out the need for plastic in the holster as a moisture barrier and for soft flannel like material on the pads and top of the holster where it touches skin.  I have already gone to four different towns and told the women about this new idea.  I have all of the storeowners and material sellers looking for soft types of material when they go to Accra for stocking up on supplies.  This is being presented as a business opportunity for the seamstress and storekeepers.  The people here are very hungry for a good business opportunity and pretty savvy about carrying it out.  All of the women that I spoke with were personally excited about the idea and could see that it was good for Ghanaian women. I am very enthusiastic about its success and the improvement that it will mean to women’s health here.

When the health clinic midwife and nurses travel around checking on babies, they can also teach the women about personal hygiene with these kits.  This will perpetuate the product.   If the seamstress sewed on ties to all four sides, so that women could tie them at the hip, (like a string bikini) they would be able to use, wash and reuse the kit.

The reason that I am writing this in the blog, is that several of our loan recipients are in a position to take advantage of this opportunity, either by sewing or selling the simple feminine hygiene kits.  This is free market enterprise at it’s finest.  Producing a product that fills a need, saves the women the expense of buying monthly supplies and gives hard working, women a business opportunity, it is a win-win proposal.  I will continue to visit all of the villages in the area and speak with the women about this new product, taking a sample to the seamstress in each town, so that they will know how to reproduce it.

Thank you to Ike, Jamie, and all of the smart women who designed, and put together all of the feminine hygiene kits, your efforts are expanding exponentially.

Beverly Jensen

Teaching

The comprehension ability of the people out here is not as developed as I am used to, so teaching them provides challenges. They are very simple, so we have to simply teach important business principles so they can understand how the concepts will benefit their business. We also have to explain it through a translator, which means we have to make sure the translator knows the concepts well enough to explain and to help answer questions they have (translators are usually teachers who know English well).

Garrett and I teach together, and we prepared for these challenges. I was so excited to teach the first day, especially because we are teaching in a new village, Amonom. The first day went better than expected. We had 75 students come to class! The lesson also went well (at least in English), and we felt that the purpose of the SEED program, which is the first lesson, was well understood.

The next time we went to teach, the class dropped to about 30 students, and has slowly decreased each time. The huge drop was because the people realized that we weren’t giving free money, and the drop was a very good thing. Having the students narrow down themselves makes our job easier when we are deciding who are worthy candidates for a loan.

We have had a rough time trying to make our class understand the importance of being on time to learn the entire lesson. Many think if they just show up, the check mark is what will get them the loan. We have been keeping a close eye on the attendance so we can weed out the people with that mindset quickly. Of course, we encourage everybody to continue to come to class, even though they may not qualify for the loan. The people are motivated by the money, manifested through questions like, “Are we getting closer to the money?” It is exciting to finally have the opportunity for credit, but a loan can be disabling if given to a person with the wrong mindset. We can already tell the people that are mature enough to understand the purpose of a loan, and I am excited we are getting closer to the money to give to the students who are already starting to stand out.

-JD