After two intense weeks of training in Paris, our eight volunteers flew to their respective destinations and have now well settled. Discover their accounts of the first weeks of their adventures!
Émilie and Biljana in Ivory Coast
Last Friday, we were invited to a “therapy of the fairies’ network”. The “fairies” are business leaders or considering becoming business leaders. Every month, they meet to exchange on their difficulties and benefit from their mutual experience.
The theme of the day is “vision” : the most experienced members insist on the importance of picturing oneself achieving one’s goal. It is necessary to take the time to close the eyes and depict the scene in details. For this vision not to become an illusion however, they recommend to set oneself goals for the next 6 months and to identify the impediments at the end of this period.
All of the fairies have an extraordinary story to share and we are thinking about interviewing some of them for you. We went out of the therapy with a crazy will to tear down walls and some stomach cramps after having laughed so much… A big thank you to the fairies!
Marie and Clara in Myanmar
This past week, we were invited to a wedding by Ni Ni Tun, one of the beneficiaries of Empow’Her’s program. Equipped with our Longyi (typical Burmese clothes), we jumped at this chance. As we got stuck in traffic on the way, we arrived a bit late to the ceremony. We were among the special guests and had to go through the whole room in order to go seat in the first row, next to the father of the bride, which was very embarrassing…
In any case, the experience was amazing and it was great to discover a Burmese wedding. As it was a Christian wedding, it was not so different for us, except when they cut the cake between 2 prayers, with a knife ornamented with a plastic ribbon, which ruined the work of the pastry cook.
Léo and Marine in Peru
At the beginning of the second week, we had a meeting with Rufino, a farmer of Marachanca, to help him plant new avocado trees, like our predecessors Alexis and Louise, 8 months before us.
Despite the instructions we had to find the place, our walk quickly turned into an impossible trek. Indeed, with the rainy season, the mountains were covered of a luxuriant vegetation involving tall grass, flowers and cacti which were covering completely the tracks of a potential path. We ended up on all fours, zigzagging between cacti to climb the steep slope. After an hour of struggle, we arrived at Rufino’s, out of breath, sweaty and our clothes covered in sticky grass. After having planted 7 new avocado trees, Rufino told us how to go back to Matucana in less than 10 minutes. Of course, the way back was easier… but much less funny.
Élodie and Gabriel in Senegal
This Thursday 6 April, we organised, with the help of our local partners, our first official meeting with the women of the village of Senktiou Mékhé. This meeting aimed at presenting ourselves officially but also presenting the project that we are going to implement in the village.
Even if all the women of the village were not able to attend, about twenty women were there. Thanks to the precious help of our interpret Abdou, the women were able to ask their questions and we made easy contact. We then spent the rest of the day in the village in order to discover the Senegalese culture better.
