Women's Group

 

Perhaps one of my favorite parts of my volunteer experience is working with the women's group in Yambio. There are several different ones but I have just been working with one group. I have met with them a few times over the months and every time things seem very positive.

I know I have written about this group before but let me explain them a little more. This is a group of maybe 40 women who started this group all on their own as a way to support each other. The women meet once a week. While I do not know all of what their group does, they do help pool money so certain people from the group can start a small business and then pay them back. It seems to work very well.

They meet and discuss different topics every week. They pray together, share tea, and talk together. There is a wide range of ages, some girls seem like they are at the later side of being teenagers and other women are in their 50s or older. Most are mothers. Some who have nursing babies bring them along to the meetings. Some women are married and some are not. Some work and some do not. There is a variety of different women in the group.

On Saturday we arranged for them to have a special meeting with us at the CMMB office. We held a longer meeting than they normally have but we told them it would be. I worked with a few other people from the office and 3 topics were prepared: maternity care, finances, and, of course, mental health. We each had an hour to present and discuss our topics.

I didn't expect as many women to come as did. About 35 women came. A few medical professionals from the state hospital also came by and joined the discussion. It was good to have so many people actively a part of the presentation and talks.

I presented on my topic first. Since I have already talked mental health a few times my part of the discussion was more of a conversation. The women asked questions and raised concerns and we talked through different issues. Of course, I do not have solutions for many of their challenges but as a group we discussed ideas and referred a few for specific mental health care. Topics were discussed in Arabic and Zande, as well as English.

Some of the challenges the women face are not so different from the ones that women experience in the US. We discussed what to do when adolescent children are defiant and don't want to listen to their parents. We ask discussed relationship challenges. However, they also have those more complex challenges, especially when it comes to abuse in relationships and that women are seen more as property and less as human by some people here.

Even though these women face a lot of challenges and hardship their group gives me a lot of hope. I believe groups like this are a fantastic support system for the women. They present a great opportunity for women to learn from each other. I am so happy that I got this chance and hope that more opportunities to educate these groups continue.