Health Clinics – Assinie Village

In the Village of Assinie, we have a partnership with JEDAS (Youth Association for Assinie Development).
JEDAS organizes health clinics in their village every year and we welcomed the energy these young men and women invested in their community so that it may become the healthiest village in Ivory Coast. Yacoli.Org raised funds in the US to cover the cost of doctor’s hotel and food expenses as well as their stipend. We also solicitated local donation for buses and prescription drugs which helped establish a record attendance since the association was created in 2007.
JEDAS project is in correlation with the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG) to end poverty by 2025, with a focus on objectives 4, 5 and 6, reduce children mortality, improve maternal health and combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
The 2009 health clinics conducted the following activities:
- Education, AIDS/HIV screening and other STDs
- children’s pathologies screening such as malaria, diarrhea, malnutrition, anaemia, etc
- diabetes and hypertension screenings
- doctor’s evaluation and referrals
- prescription drug

Before our involvment, the health campaign attracted 169 patients. With our fundraising efforts in 2009, JEDAS was able to attract 346 patients. Details of the statistics can be found on our website www.yacoli.org

Women of Yacolidabouo

WOMEN
If we thought men were challenging, women were the most mysterious. A meeting with the women association of the village called OUYINE ASSOUAGNE was scheduled in the misdt of our stay. We should add that the women association include young and older women as opposed to men who segregate the elders and the young men.
The first meeting was energetic, how women are able communicate and work together. They arrived on time and in great numbers for our kick off meeting. The president was in attendance as well as the vice president, the secretary and they even thought about bringing their own translator. Not all women were fluent in French so they made sure to bring someone from the association who would handle any communication issues.
We spoke about their children and our assessment that they are not too disciplined at school, how they need to be involved in their children schooling and participate in Parent-Teacher meetings. This topic was a little challenging because we did not want to appear telling them how to raise their children, rather initiate a conversation and exchange of ideas on how to better structure children lives before and after class.
The subject of raising children is still developing and we expect to create children workshops/discussions for our next mission in 2011 with Mr. Jean Marc Bernard, Education Consultant.
Another subject discussed was women independence. The ladies shared with us that they need to find first an activity that will allow them not to rely financially on their husbands and second a way to loan each other money, in other words a microfinancing system among them.
We liked the idea which could become an amazing project to create an association, develop an activity and teach them how to manage it all. We created a partnership with MZK MANAGEMENT (MZK-MD), a reputable local organization that manages such projects pro bono.
So far, only $300 has been raised to establish the association but much more is needed in order to start their activities.

The Women of Yacolidabouo (Ouyine Assouagne)

During our trip in November 2009, we set up a meeting with the women association of the village which was an altogether different experience than the men. I should add that the women association include young and older women as opposed to men who segregate the elders and the young men.

At our first meeting, we could see the synergy among women, how they are able get together and work together. They arrived on time and in numbers for our kick off meeting and I have to say that they were prepared. The president was in attendance as well as the vice president, the secretary and they even thought about bringing their own translator. Not all women were fluent in French so they made sure to bring someone from the association who would handle any translation issues, the Communication Director.

We spoke about their children and our assessment that they are not too disciplined at school, how they need to be involved in their children schooling and participate in Parent-Teacher meetings. This latter topic was a little challenging because we did not want to appear telling them how to raise their children, rather initiate a conversation and exchange of ideas on how to better structure children life before and after class. The subject of raising children is still developing and we expect to create children workshops/discussions for our next mission in 2011.

After talking about their responsibility within the village, their children and their husbands, we asked what do the women of Yacolidabouo want? They spoke among themselves for about five minutes and presented a clearly and constructed idea. In the Southwest region of Cote d’ivoire and precisely the Bete region, a man marries a woman from another village NEVER from the same village or group of villages. Marriage for a woman means that she is leaving her village and is welcomed to her husbands’. The trade off in this marriage vows is that women do not own any land or property in their husband’s village; therefore, they remain completely independent from them.
In their own words, the women told us that they need to find a way to become financially independent. Rice being the main food in their diet, they realize the closest they can buy rice was 30 miles away. So they want to develop a co-op or association to purchase, sale the rice and use some of the income from the sale to lend to each other for their own small businesses. But they need our help to learn how to manage and would like no men to be involved in this project. We were curious as to why? We could not get an answer but understood that some cultural issues cannot be violated. We just have to work around them and make sure that everything that they are accustomed to remains intact.

What's next? Their wish is to start fresh, with an all women team and Yacoli.Org as the Project Manager responsible for fundraising, Angele Kouamé as the Project Manager responsible for guiding and organizing the women locally. Our Finance program fundraiser this year will focus on the women association of Yacolidabouo named: ASSOUAGNE OUYINE which means TOGETHER WE ARE IN CHARGE.

Follow up

Our trip to Cote d'Ivoire came to an end on November 14 2009.

For three weeks, we were welcomed and cared for beyond our expectations, so leaving the country was tearful for all of us. We visited Abidjan, Assinie, and Yacolidabouo. For each location, we had a different goal since the villages have different needs.

The village of Yacolidabouo was more complex because many things are happening at different levels in education, personal financing, health, infrastructure, immigration, etc. We found ourselves confronted to developed countries issues in a poor African rural environment.

In Assinie, the focus was on a sanitary campaign we financed and co hosted with the JEDAS (Youth Association for the development of the Village of Assinie), getting to know the area, the people and understanding how well they are organized.

On one hand, we came to not only bring assistance but also understand the deep issues that are scaring Africa. On the other hand, we discovered the generosity, kindness, abundance of Africans. I wish I were an excellent writer to convey how we were deeply affected by the trouble Africans are facing on the daily basis but also by the determination they have to survive and improve themselves. The problem is that they ARE NOT BEING HEARD.

Let me make clear that I am only talking about the population at large, not the head of states and governments. What is flagrant when in African and no one is actually addressing is the fact that African leaders do not care or value the life or well being of an African person. From this point on, the aspirations, goals and needs of the population are completely overlooked. They have not much room to evolve which creates the never ending circle of poverty.

Yacoli.Org search villages who take the responsibility to erase poverty by identifying, organizing and solving their own problems. Erasing poverty must be an organic process and as an international organization we help them structure and/or finance their solutions. Furthermore, we encourage and arrange for the younger population to work together, share information and ideas on how to resolve issues. Maybe one village success could be the solution for another village problem?
It is a way to guarantee that the work we are doing toward sustainable development remains for generations, especially when the solutions are driven by villagers.

School is starting...

Thursday the 29th was the preschool children and my very own first day of school. I don’t know why the younger children start so late because the 1st to 5th graders have been in school for two months now, but anyways they were very surprised to see me. I'll begin with the school, it is one long big room with no closed doors or windows, but a roof there is. It’s been in this condition for two years. You can imagine how difficult it can get, especially when all the older children from the other schools who have never seen a white girl can distract the classroom. They pop their heads, laugh, cross the classroom, and get in and out of it. A little frustrating, because of the disrespect and distraction it can cause, but I can understand their interest. Not necessarily because of my color but for the reason why I am here.

Anyways to continue with the preschool classroom, it doesn’t have much other than a small round table, mini desks and chairs (adorable by the way), a small chalkboard and a mat for the children for circle time. The assistants made wonderful decorations, which brings life to the dark cold room. There are two assistants, and no permanent teacher for about 30 children. The teacher who hasn’t arrived yet, stays for a short period of time until the next rotation. I was told that since the school is about only two years, the educational board waits until the third year before they send a full time teacher. They want to make sure that there is a solid demand in the village; Not very assuring if you ask me. I forgot to mention the restroom situation which in my society would be considered shocking, but to for them, it works. The children must do their business outside in the bushes. As for the boys, lucky them, they have a concrete structure on the floor with a hole to go number #1. Hey, at least they learn quickly how to aim a target. It isn’t as bad as it seems and yes they wash their hands. My lovely students, have big eyes for me. Let’s just say they listen during singing, dancing and snack time. Other than that you can imagine what 30 children can be like. First day though!

For being someone who doesn’t like attention, I came to the wrong place. Whenever I step outside the house, it takes only 1 child to attract an other and by the time you know it, I have 20 children behind me following every step I make.

-- CASSANDRE

Yacoli...here we are!

Last Tuesday, we traveled to Yacoli the village that inspired and gave the organization its name. We are spending a week here. I will be teaching and Yolande will be organizing budgeting seminars, computer workshops, talking to villagers, and working hard to develop and help improve the villager’s life style. Coming here was a bumpy adventure. The village is 4hours away from Abidjan. We travailed by car with a driver, a bodyguard actually a soldier accompanied by his Ak 47. He made our travels faster and avoided us to get pulled over each time we went above the speeding limit. The ride was as I said bumpy because of the big potholes in the middle of the narrow road. I was amazed to see how fast we were going on these small roads with both sides of traffic, little rain here and there and people riding their bikes or walking on each side of the road. We made it and I didn’t fall asleep, which is surprising because car rides and watching movies on the couch are sleepy times for me. The scenery was so beautiful. Ugh! We were in the middle of a tropical forest everything is green, spacious so many things caught my eyes. Especially, the small towns and their houses, the markets, the villagers, clothing and all the colors of those combined. I love to see the woman carrying food, laundry or wood on their heads with the baby wrapped behind them and their little heads-popping out. Before leaving, I promised myself that I am going to learn how to wrap the baby behind me.

The best part of the day was the traditional welcome we got by the chief and important people of the village. They welcomed us by singing and dancing and yes guess who had to dance! Yep, I had to celebrate too and they brought me to the circle. Apparently, they’re going to know me as the white girl who can dance like an African woman and the girl who wants to steel their baby’s hahah! (They don’t know that yet though) Anyways they were impressed by my moves and Yolande’s going to You Tube it to share with you all. What a marvelous day!

-- CASSANDRE

First Days in Cote d'Ivoire

After 26 hours of traveling; Los Angeles - Dubai, Dubai - Abidjan we finally arrived to our anticipated designation, ton- ton- ton ABIDJAN. Today October 24th, second day of our adventure, I am very pleased to be here even in the humidity and heat that is my enemy for having the skin of snow white. My heart has mixed messages of the city. The City itself is yes, unfortunately in need of reconstruction, financing, cleaning and poverty which being its main aggressor, but hidden in the City are a group of educated fighters (and I don’t mean that violently) who fight with love and compassion for the development of their city and country. These men and woman that I had the chance to see express there realistic engagement at a conference called “African forum economic” discussing as the title in tales, the economy of Africa and what must be done to improve it. Even though the topics and discussions were a little too hard for me to understand because of the economic language they sang to me. The quality of their French was so distinguished and refined, it sounded like a lullaby. The reason for my sensibility of the city is the large gap between what you see and what you don’t see between the poverty and groups of inspirational leaders who are working so hard to get them out of this negative perception. Yes, they still have a long way to go but people should celebrate and reinforce their actions.

In two days I have made a wonderful friend, Yanise of age one, have blushed too many times from many smiles of an adorable boy Librone missing a front tooth, have fallen in love with a home made chocolate cake, have eaten and is living like a queen, is humored by a man that carries three cell phones and a phonebook that shall not be named, is in need of a Boubou and last but not least, has had a slap in the face more than a reality check on how uncultivated I am about the world and will start interesting myself by finally reading the paper. Abidjan I like you!

-- CASSANDRE

New Online Store!!

We just announced our first online store where the proceeds of all items will be for the benefit of the villages! You can go on http://www.cafepress.com/yacoli to browse and purchase some of the products. Here is the new logo we decided to use:



In effort to bring more native or local arts from the Ivory Coast to the forefront, we will seek unusual articles to add to the store. Of course all benefits will go toward the development programs.

Volunteers

We are so happy to have two volunteers, Cassandre and Scott, joining us for our second mission to the Ivory Coast! In keeping with our mission to provide financial, intellectual and material assistance to innovative villages we are traveling with two bright, dynamic and young educators.

Cassandre is a kindergarten teacher at the Lycee Francais de Los Angeles and Scott is a Biology teacher for grades 9-12. He also designs and implements a variety of classroom management strategies to maintain a high level of student engagement.

In addition, we have two program directors in the Ivory Coast. Mrs. Jeannette Allelet who is an educator and recently completed her degree for teaching mentally challenged students. Mr. Daniel Kodia a doctor who designed prevention health clinics for his village of Assinie.

Now that our team is growing and a date for our second mission is set, we are focusing on gathering as much supplies as possible. The list of supplies can be viewed on our website www.yakoly.org

Don't hesitate to contact me (yolande@yakoly.org) if you wish to help in anyway, such as conducting a drive in your area to gather school supplies, etc.

Upcoming Mission 2009

Our first mission to the Ivory Coast in December 2007 was to introduce ourselves, identify the needs of the village of Yacolidabouo, identify similar villages, establish contacts and develop a relationship. We also addressed the following:

1.What are the aspirations of women and men in the village? Looking at local entrepreneurship, or the mirage of big cities?
2.Health prevention discussion
3.Finance discussions, including budgeting and saving in your community
4.Western countries, perception vs reality

Our second mission in November 2009, following the assessment of our 2007 mission, will focus on education for pre-school and grade school students. We will not only assist teachers in the classroom, but we will bring ideas on educational activities and interact with the children. Even if the children are attending classes, teachers often do not have the tools to properly teach, therefore, we will also seek educational tools which are listed on our website at www.yakoly.org.

The goal of the 2009 mission is to open up the children to fun education (inside and outside the classroom), provide the teachers with new teaching ideas and educational tools.

While in the Ivory Coast, we will mainly work in the villages of Yacolidabouo and Assinie.

Upcoming Travel

We are getting prepared for another trip to the Ivory Coast. This time, we have more help coming our way! We will be accompanied by two teachers and a Med student.

Plans are being laid out and I will make sure to post them!