Tses Training

Baby Bride

*** Post written March 2013 ***

This week I and three other SEED volunteers went to Tses to give a week long business training to the local youth group.  Our training went from 08h00 to 16h30 every day.  I was very impressed to see that most everyone arrived by 08h00 or earlier.  The youth (youth being classified as 18 – 35 year olds) were very enthusiastic and loved to sing so we had several breaks were we sang and did little dances just to get moving.  Our youngest attendee was a 3 week old little girl named Bride.

We started the week off doing a community map.  This basically gets the participants to map out what is in their community, where the business areas are, where the problem areas are, etc.  Then we had them do one for what they want Tses to look like in 5 years.  With that activity we lead into where they wanted to be in 5 years and said that our hope was to give them some tools throughout the week that they could use to get there.

Two ladies wanting to start a needlework business

It was a bit of a busy week having to present all day, then prepare for the next, and make sure dinner was made for the group of volunteers.  We prepared all our dinners at Sachi’s place because there are no restaurants in Tses or really any places to get take away. Lunch was prepared by someone from the village that the youth group set up, so we eat the staple Nam foods, rice, some type of salad mixed in mayonnaise, and MEAT at every meal.  It was very nice… we even got to try donkey.  Apparently it is a very cheap meat so it’s very popular.  I’m not sure how to describe the taste other than it just tasted like meat.

One business man did a very good job marketing his ice :)

During the week we did sessions on how to write a business plan, costing and pricing of products or services, registering a business, marketing, bookkeeping, budgeting, saving, and more.  With so many volunteers we were able to meet one on one with each participant to answer specific questions they had by the end of the week.  The Ministry of Trade and Industry even came out to talk about some of the programs and sponsorships they offer.

I really enjoyed the training and meeting all the youth, but I also had a great time getting to hang out with all the volunteers and stay on the hostel (where Sachi lives) when kids were actually there.  One day there was a large group of boys playing soccer.  I’m always amazed by the learners running around barefoot.  Most of them weren’t wearing shoes, some were sharing a pair of shoes (wearing one while someone else wore the other), and some were in socks.  I wish my feet were that tough!

One shoe on... One shoe shared with a friend...