The power of success

That's a pretty heavy title for a blog post, no? It sounds like I'm going to give a lecture to a group of businessmen in a nondescript convention center - "We may be the number 4 wholesaler of paperclips in north eastern branch, but gosh darn it if we keep pushing our products we could make the 3 spot!". Okay, not quite. Hopefully this should be a bit more interesting.
You all know that I work with three woman's committees: two have been around for almost a decade and one is brand new. I have had difficulties with one of the older groups due to a lack of participation in meetings (nobody would show) and them simply asking to be gifted things from myself or other organizations. I had little hope for this group and felt that it would probably fall apart sooner than later. So, we sat down and had a talk. I know I've previously discussed how Paraguayans shy away from confrontation and would do without strong words. I tried my best not to be too strong and direct in the way I said things but still told them how I felt. I told them that they could not accomplish anything without being responsible and showing up to meetings - they all agreed. Then I asked them exactly what it was they expected to gain from being members of a committee. Did they want a place to sit around and complain about neighbors? Did they want to find ways of making extra money? They decided that they wanted the committee to be a place where they could learn new things, and find ways of getting more resources (food, money, etc.) for their family.
With their goals clear it was much easier for me to work with the women; they started showing up more regularly to meetings and actively participating.
Our first project was to make detergent soap. Detergent soap, along with cooking oil, yerba mate, and meat, are the biggest expenses families have on a week-to-week basis. The women and myself both felt that this was an important and potentially profitable thing to learn. All the ingredients could be obtained locally: cow fat (tallow), caustic soda, fabric softener, room deodorant,and water. We also made the fabric softener and the deodorant as a side project before hand. We made around 8kilos of soap and the women were ecstatic. The process was so easy and fast while the end product was just as good as commercial detergent soap.
This got them thinking. They could make these products and sell them to neighbors and other communities. Currently, they want to make more soap and want to expand to bar soap and other deodorants with different colors and fragrances.
I was amazed at how well this simple project got the women so excited. You could see the ideas popping into their heads and they really got enthusiastic about working together as a group.
So, I brought up the garden seeds I had received from the national newspaper. Last year we divided them up and each woman took them back to their own individual garden. I have been pushing community gardens since the day I got here with no success, but I figured I might as well try again. After five minutes of ironing out the logistics, the women decided that they wanted to start a community garden! Before I knew it we were grabbing hoes and rakes and preparing the garden. All this happened within about 15 minutes of bringing up the idea. By the end of the day we had prepared and planted our seed beds, prepared the other beds with manure and planned out how we would plant the garden.
It was truly unbelievable. This was the power of success. The women were so excited after successfully making soap that they felt they could do anything if they tried, especially if they did it together. The one group in my community which I felt would fall apart has now become the strongest,and most active one. I can only hope that this trend continues.