Friday, March 11, 2016

Thursday training at EMUS

Today was a day of consolidation for the CHWS.  We did not teach any new material but encouraged them to teach the material back to the class--and to us. They were shy and uncertain, so I started "playing" real life scenarios: choking, fainting, having "my baby" not breathing. As they gained confidence, they became better at teaching. We feel comfortable that they know the material and will be able to teach it back to their communities with the aid of the manikins Edie is donating.

Edie instructing on infant CPR
After reviewing our PT exercises and CPR training this morning, we were very impressed with how well our students had recalled and been able to reproduce and even teach their lessons, so we pressed on with infant and child CPR. Now that they understand the basics, the CHWS  are thinking on their feet and asking good questions and showing they are able to extrapolate. I gave them a challenge when I pretended to be the Frantic Friend and they had to get me out of the way in order to perform CPR.  My point was that there would be a lot of hullabaloo when and if an emergency happened, that they would be performing under stress and they might need to tell people what to do to help.

Deb, Charissa and Gaspard
role-play negotiation training
Meanwhile, Gaspard had brought some "tourist" objects for us to look at. Deb began to negotiate with him and then decided the negotiations would be great examples for her class. Her class was very enthusiastic about these "real-life" negotiations and learned a lot from the experience. Later we saw Fatou Lo with her children Marie and Michel.

After class, while the students were working on their presentations for tomorrow, Christine and Paulette took Edie and Kathe and me to the fabric mart so that Charissa and Edie could have clothing made by Paulette's tailor.  It was quite a production, choosing fabric and necklines and sleeve lengths and decorations, and being measured. He finishes the outfits in less than 24 hours. We can't wait to see how they turn out. We saw Paulette's three daughters on our way back to the church: Mavis is so grown up, and Emma and Kitty Paul are not far behind, all lively, lovely girls.

Then after dinner we were invited to the home of Binta, Edie's guardian angel. She lives only a few blocks away in a very nice home with her daughters, while her husband works in Italy. Christine came with us to translate, as Binta speaks very little English and of course the rest of us speak very little French.

All around, it was a day of revelation about these wonderful people we are getting to know. Everybody at EMUS is so friendly, helpful and anxious to accomodate us.  Martine and Awa have been providing us with the most delicious food (nobody has been ill) and plenty of filtered water. I wish I could bring them home with me.  Gaspard is endlessly helpful, Valerie and Paulette and Christine are our mainstays. Bill and Joe are always around and available for "consultation".

Hosting teams must be a very challenging task and to do it with the grace and flexibility our hosts in Senegal have shown us is outstanding. I am humbled by their friendship and the kindness they show us every day.

 CAM
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  1. Deborah HillMarch 11, 2016 at 6:37 AM

    Today another group of micro-finance recipients attended day one of the Lean Startup training. Based on interacting with the first group the following changes were made to the training; pictures were added because they can’t read French and the examples were changed to reflect the type of work they do (selling fruit or other small items to cars at intersections or to people walking along the street.
    With the changes in the class the women were more engaged. I also simplified the customer interview homework (while keeping it focused on letting their client tell them how to improve their business.) Friday they will have their second class when we’ll see if they do the customer interviews.

    Gaspar and his friend who is an artist brought things to the church to sell to us and the health care workers. Gaspar taught his friend to say "what can I do to make this worth my price to you?" instead of dropping his price. As a result, they came up with a deal for people who bought two items. The first item was full price and the second was discounted. So, almost everyone bought a second item. Since the second item was still profitable for them -- although at a lower margin -- the overall revenue and margin for their sales was higher than normal.

    As an aside, Senegal is a negotiation culture, people expect to bargain for goods so I don't tell the students they shouldn't bargain because that wouldn't work. I teach them to bargain different ways. They also learn to differentiate between the light bargaining that occurs when their client really wants what they are selling and hard bargaining which signals their product is missing the mark in some way. When the latter occurs the question, "What do I need to do to make this work my price to you?" is the best way to find out how to improve their product and make it easier to sell.

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