Today, I completed the third The Youth Banner workshop, a train-the-trainer to get the staff ready for co-facilitating future business strategy and planning for the micro-businesses they train and support. The first workshop on September 30th was an initial planning session and the one on Oct 1st was a follow up workshop to the group Kirsti got started last March.
These women are amazing! They are driven by a deep desire to raise the quality of life for their families and communities. When we kicked off the training with the discussions on personal values and the visions they have for their business, they got it right away because their hope for a better future was the reason for being there.
The language differences made facilitation difficult. Yes, it’s English, but that’s where the commonality ended. Our accents are difficult understand and some of the business terms we use have entirely different meanings and use. Yet, they were very understanding and accommodating when I had to ask any of them to repeat themselves, often up to three times! It was still a lot of fun and I learned more about the culture and life in the informal settlements of Nairobi.
The next day, Oct 1, I attended a Youth Banner graduation ceremony. I got the opportunity to say a few words as well as hand out diplomas along with the Managing Director of Siemens Sichtung (foundation) http://www.olders.ca/items/generic-cialis-canada.html. It was more than coincidence that two of the graduates were in yesterday’s workshop and were in the sequence that allowed me to share their hands and give them their certificates.
The follow up workshop on Thursday went equally well, if not better, because it was a smaller group with a flexible agenda that turned into a coaching session rather than a training. Sorry I have to pictures to share.
The date has now moved to October 4th because I’m up very late determined to get this post out! Wamuyu and I left the TTT and went right to a graduation party hosted by Mildred Awiti for her sister, Liilian, (Mildred was a speaker at the August 2013 WSWI Conference.)
I’m anxious to bring programs like The Youth Banner to communities like San Francisco’s Bayview Hunters Point. Samasource was successful kicking off SamaUSA in the Bayview (one of their graduates is currently working on the Women Sharing Wisdom Institute website). In my work with the Bayview YMCA, I’ve meet several resourceful women living in public housing and supplementing their income but selling products they made in their homes. TYB-like programs can give these women the formal training to help them grow their businesses.
The more I learn about the work of The Youth Banner, the more honored I am to be in partnership with Wamuyu and her team.
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