Sindédji

Yesterday was my first site visit for my job, which consisted of a 20 minute zemi (scooter taxi) ride out to the village of Tourinou to attend the weekly meeting of Sindédji, a group comprised of women who are trying to earn supplemental income through selling palm oil. They just started working with VAID to attain a loan in order to purchase a machine that would make the palm oil production easier. Right now they're doing all the work by hand, which is very slow and laborious, so they can only produce a little bit at a time, but if they had a machine, they could sell a lot more at the local markets, and could expand even to markets in Nigeria. They have the raw materials, the clients, and the motivation, now all they need is financial, material, and technical assistance.

This is the president, collecting the weekly payment ($2/person) from each member. She can't read or write, so she memorizes how much everyone gives her. In her role as president over the last 12 years, she has never forgotten exactly how much each person has paid!

Group Picture of Sindédji: The two men in the picture aren't members. One of them acts as the secretary, since none of the women know how to read or write, and they both act as regulators in case anything gets out of control at the meetings. Stephanie, the director of VAID is the woman in the front row with the blue head scarf.

And of course no village is complete without a group of children around to profit from the entertainment of getting their picture taken. It was easy to see that I was not the first person with a camera to visit this village, as the children lined up and sat down as soon as I pulled it out.

By the end they realized they could see a reflection of themselves in my camera lens, so they started using it as a mirror, which is why they're staring so intently.