Teaching teachers

We want to make sure that Samunnat does not depend on the presence of any one person. (Mind you, we probably need to clone Kopila).  So we try to make sure information is shared and stored and that skills are trained to more than one person.  Sometimes this is not possible but it is always our goal.  Some of our next posts share this underlying theme of independence. One goal for the past few weeks was to trial and train some new ladies to select one or two who would join the polymer team.  Another was to train trainers.  Together, before training started, we reviewed our polymer training program to work out what we’d train and how we’d do it.  We shared teaching to see who of us had good skills to become teachers.  We know that we can’t all be good at everything!  We taught like we’d teach our daughters or young sisters, showing a skill then getting them to help with more and more as they could.  We trained both bead making and jewellery assembly, beginning with more simple things.  (No nativities but we did make sari beads!!!) We have some wonderful teachers and it was good to see how naturally some took to the task – this especially included one who had very little formal schooling herself.  She taught the ladies how to improve their work in such a clear, encouraging and effective way.  Here are some comments the ladies made about being teachers: When I learned to make jewellery with polymer I was SO happy and even happier that I can give someone else this knowledge to make their life better. What we have been given, I realise that I can give this.  If I can give this and other ladies can use this knowledge, they will know what we have got.   I never thought I would get to be like our teacher and am so excited to be doing this now. I loved teaching the pumpkin beads because the new ladies learnt so quickly to make them and loved them so much. Teaching well is not easy but when you teach you learn from them and get so much from that.  I divided the people into small groups and that meant we could all become so close to them and see how to help them. We could see what they did right and wrong and could help them more.  Teaching them in the small pairs it was easy to teach them. I was nervous when I was going to teach new bahini haru (sisters).  Would we be successful or unsuccessful?  But then I was very comfortable to teach them and now I will be so happy to teach them. I am .so happy to teach and that I have my chance to teach to other bahinis… Of our 5 potential trainees, two are continuing with the jewellery making – Sita will focus on stringing and Rita will continue to be apprenticed in the polymer.  One was not in our target population and another decided that this was not the right time for her to commit the time required to undertake training.  She will stay with Samunnat for ongoing legal support which is her priority right now.  Meenukha had lots of other really good skills and will receive income generation training in other areas as well as legal support with her divorce case and quest for compensation.