Redefining Success

Four people attended my 2-day agriculture formation.

It took a lot of time and reflection before I could say this with a sense of accomplishment. Time, energy and emotion were invested into this project--searching for and collaborating with a counterpart and trainer, developing a theme for the formation and going door to door to inform the 2,500 inhabitants of my village. And after waiting 2.5 hours on the first day of my formation inside an empty classroom, four people walked in.

The following week, I planted Moringa trees with the students at the school garden (see some of it on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvXPjZlbCpU). Hundreds of children were there to watch and to plant. They asked for seeds as if it were candy, pushing and shoving each other at times just to get more seeds to plant. Over 100 seeds were planted that day, all by the students themselves.





Several days later, I had my first soap formation with the womens group in my village. All 6 of them were eager and attentive--I barely even lifted a finger to make the soap. And before the soap even hardened, people crowded around to watch and ask for prices. And the women really did it all; they were so excited they even told me they wanted to finance a building just for making soap.



So whether its four people or a whole classroom full of people, I've learned that something, anything they can take away from a formation or a lesson is meaningful. Its not about numbers or times here--its about quality. And when two women walked away from the formation, with money in their pockets from avid customers, referring to me as Amanda Traore (the family name of the chief's family), I must be doing something right.