I can Transform ya.....

So I'm back from vacation, I'll blog about that in my next posting of course. :) It was a lovely 2 week break, but I'm back in the Fouladou now. As promised, I'd like to update you all on my last project that was completed right before I left for vacation: The Fruits and Vegetables Transformation Training. It took place in Pam's site, Velingara (about 30K from Kounkane) on September 5th through the 9th. The five day training educated 30 women, 20 from Velingara, 10 from Kounkane on various and highly important topics. The women were all from different womens groups as well because we are trying to stress cooperation and knowledge sharing amongst the several different women's groups in the area. Pam and I collaborated on this project together, with the help of a Senegalese trainer and his assistant as the lead educators. The project was overall extremely stressful to execute, but a great success in my opinion.

On day one, the women learned how to make three different kinds of juice concentrates using local ingredients that are widely available in this area: bissap (hibiscus flower), tamarind, and ginger. The women learned about proper hygene techniques, the recipes and the cooking process for each concentrate, and how to properly package the juice to avoid contamination and leaking.

The women making bissap juice

 Day two, the women continued a little further with juice making, but instead of concentrates they made boisson, or individual juice bags that can be sold anywhere. As oppossed to the concentrates, the boissons sachets are already diluted and ready to drink.

Jonasse (our trainer) helping the women seal the juice sachets

 On day three the women learned how to make jams: two kinds were made including sweet potato marmalade and monkey bread fruit (the highly nutritious fruit that grows on the baobab trees) and mango jam.

Making sweet potato marmalade with baobab fruit

Makin mango jam

Day four was veggie day! The women made tomato concentrate, hot pepper concentrate (which was delicious!), and they also pickled veggies. Also because day four was a little less labor intensive than the prior days, Pam and I held a session on nutrition where we held a group discussion on the importance of fruits and vegetables, why conservation is important, and eating a balanced diet. We talked about how the training was important, not only because they were learning skills that could potentially earn them an income, but also because they and their families can have access to nutritious food products year round. Especially now when the mangos and most other local fruits are virtually nonexistant in this area, and corn is primarily dominating the food markets--for now.

Hot chile pepper concentrate

The last day, day five, the women learned about packaging, labeling their products, and most importantly, my counterpart came and talked about the 4 P's of marketing as well as a brief introduction to direct and indirect costs and how to ensure they are making a profit on things they sell. At the end of the training, the sous-prefet of Velingara made an appearence, and he and his entourage helped hand out certificates to all of our participants.

Learning about marketing with our awesome trainer!

The group (except for my lovely Pam who took the pic)

Like I said, this project was stressful, and we encountered a few problems, but for the most part, things ran pretty smoothly. We definelty had some women who didn't seem to care about the training and viewed it as a chance to socialize, but at the same time we had some extremely motivated women who worked hard and asked questions. Pam and I will be doing follow-ups with our women's groups to see who is continuing work with transforming fruits and vegetables. We plan on helping the women further grow and manage (inchallah) the business side by going more in depth in other business concepts that will help these groups better manage their income generating activities. I'll keep you updated on how that process is going :) Until next posting!

Our women and their certificates

Team Kounkane!