The two Social Theatre operators involved in the #lemieradici project, in partnership with Cifa Onlus, CCM and the Italian Agency for Development and Cooperation, return to Hayk, Ethiopia.
The mission began at the end of September, with the first selection workshop to select a new Community Mobilizer, from among the twelve candidates who had applied. The majority of the participants who took part in the 2-day workshop were men, but the operators’ choice fell on a woman, Selam. “In her we saw the possibility of training and growing within an international NGO, such as CIFA,” they maintain.
The workshop was followed by numerous meetings with the local staff involved in the same project, to agree on the actions to be carried out together: a large team effort, demanding but indispensable.
Then we enter the operational phase of the project: the workshop begins with 31 young people from the 3 Woredas involved in the project. Ambassel, Tehuledere and Worebabo. The 31 young people had been selected in the previous mission through a TSC workshop: they will be the protagonists of the 3 community events, one for each Woreda, with which the mission will conclude. The workshop focused on the themes of sexual education and health: “it was surprising to see how trained and aware the kids are, however false beliefs, embarrassment or lack of information are still very present in the community,” the operators say.
The TSC team grows and every day faces the new challenges of the project, especially of a logistical nature. For example: how to organize the movement of the kids to allow them to reach the place where the workshop takes place, coming from rural areas where means of transport are absent and roads are not paved?
There is no lack of moments of relaxation, which allow the operators to immerse themselves in the life of the local population and begin to weave those relationships that will be crucial for community work. A Sunday walk to the lake – Hayk in Amharic, the local language, means “lake” – is an opportunity to make friends with the staff of the NGOs working in the field, and to taste excellent freshly caught fish while listening to music… strictly sitting on the ground and… with your hands!
