November blog post: too quick, too soon!

November came and left so quickly. It started with bidding goodbye to the film crew and me subsequently taking my leave for two weeks to attend a friend’s wedding in Cape Town and then going on a road trip through Namibia. After holidays it is always difficult to come back to work, but I was really looking forward to returning to Kongo this time. After a busy two weeks in what didn’t feel like “Africa” at all, but was still on the same continent, I was missing Kongo village, where life is simple, slow and peaceful. This community has really grown on me and day-by-day I feel more and more at home here. I am already dreading the day I have to leave, which is basically just around the corner. I think 6 months is far too short to meet the objectives that I set out to do in the beginning! It is now that I have made good friendships and that community members, especially the cooperative ladies I work with feel comfortable around me and have really welcomed me as their own. Not only personal relationships, but also in terms of work and the sustainable impact that I hope to have. Training women with little to no education on business, communication and marketing is a long process and not exactly straight-forward. There have been so many unexpected bumps along the way that needed attention and training people for lasting impact is not as easy as it sounds. I feel like I need more time.

When I got back from holidays Johanna, former Mondo board member, and her daughter came for a one-week visit from Canada. They were here privately and taking care of Johanna’s new business, Mamaa trade, that she has set up in her family’s new home in Toronto, Canada. This meant that I didn’t have to host them like I did with previous visitors, but made sure that I followed and understood what orders and special arrangements/requests they made with the cooperatives to stay on top of things.

After having attended the conference for SUDHAV phase 2 host organisations, I had more knowledge on what was available in terms of funding by EUAV and the possibilities it meant for KoCDA and the cooperatives. So, we arranged for a black soap and shea butter quality training for Nongtaaba shea butter cooperative paid by EUAV and are planning other trainings to come. We also organized for several promotional materials to be prepared on behalf of KoCDA by the EUAV initiative as well.

This month was also the final month of Mondo’s AFR3 project and meant that funding had to be spent by the end of the month. This included housing works for both cooperative buildings, like the finishing of 3 energy efficient stoves to be built, and trainings, like for instance the Yakoti weaving training, a follow up of the book-keeping training administered by Sister Jacinta and follow-ups for the tree nursery as well. Due to two funerals that took place at the end of November, the Yakoti weaving training and the book keeping training were postponed to early December.

November thus meant a lot of preparing and organizing to complete the AFR3 project by Mondo and to commence EUAV funding and planning for new initiatives. For me also, with the end in sight, I need to make sure that I will be able to finish everything that I had set out to do. There are a few things that I have kept postponing, like making a new basket catalogue that I need to start and finish before the end of December. December will be a very busy month! Crazy to think that back home people are staying cozy indoors and preparing for Christmas, because down here the harmattan season has now really started to kick in, meaning very windy, dusty and dry heat conditions, with cool mornings and evenings and extremely dry and hot working hours. Needless to say, I am not really feeling Christmas down here at all! But diverting my attention to staying properly hydrated, moisturized and trying in vain to stay “clean” and dust-free as much as I can.