After attending my first in-service training, I was excited to collaborate with my community to select a project and develop the proposal. However, it soon dawned on me that I had to revisit a group of women I had initially worked with prior to the training. We had generated project ideas together, and they developed high hopes of being the direct beneficiaries for the primary project. What was unfortunate was that, I clearly understood that CorpsAfrica’s target population for the year was the youth, rather than older women and men, which the group mainly consisted of. 

Upon my return from the training, I had a meeting with the women. I was met and welcomed by women filled with joy and happiness written all over their faces. After discussing other items we had on the agenda, we finally got to discuss the project. The moment I mentioned the project, one woman, filled with enthusiasm, stood up and said “alangizi, we are happy to tell you that we have made good progress in our monetary contribution the two weeks you were away. We are very confident that by the time the funds come, we would have already finished our contribution.”

I stayed quiet for a second, trying to find the right words to say. I then carefully started to explain how the focus this year has shifted in favor of the youth. I acknowledged their enthusiasm and appreciated their effort. We then had a long discussion of what we should do with the money that they had started contributing, and we came to an agreement that we will start a business as a group.

Over time, many women withdrew from the group, expressing their disappointment that they will not benefit from the primary project. Nevertheless, I continued to work with a few dedicated individuals, and we have successfully started a doughnut making and selling business which we believe will grow into something big in the future.

They say work with those that are willing, and I concur.