Sadly, it’s our last day in El Bale. We spent the past two days trying to decide what we wanted to do to help the farmers and we came up with a few feasible plans. First, we held a workshop yesterday that emphasized the importance of having an organizational structure. We presented a proposed way of structuring the farmers’ co-op and they were able to decide on formal roles for several of the members. By the end of the day, they had already appointed a president, vice president, secretary, treasurer, and a few other roles within the co-op. We thought this was a great first step for the farmers to build upon. We also held a workshop on accounting and record keeping. Up until now, the farmers did not have any records of their purchases, sales, or inventory. We gave them a simple workshop on balance sheets and recording inventory, and also gave them a template they can use to keep track of these types of things. The third workshop we presented to the farmers was on marketing. I actually wasn’t there for the presentation, but I heard it was great. The students gave the farmers some ideas on how they can differentiate their product from competitors and led them through a SWOT analysis of their co-op.
The most significant meeting we had so far was definitely the presentation of our capital investment fund. Each of us donated $100 at the start of our trip to give to the co-op, which gave us a total of $2100. On Tuesday night, our group met to decide on what we wanted to do with the money. After about an hour of discussion, we all agreed that we were going to help a couple of the co-op’s initiatives. The first was donating money to help complete the central building for the group. The farmers actually started to build this structure in El Bale, however, they ran out of supplies and were not able to complete it. We decided that we wanted to donate all the materials – cement, roofing, and paint – so the farmers could finish this structure. The second initiative we decided to help was the expansion of the co-op. We wanted to buy the farmers the necessary supplies to build up their honey farm. This included 500 wooden frames and 500 sheets of wax. Lastly, we left the remaining money to the farmers’ start up fund. We felt that this money should be left with the farmers so they can pay for whatever costs that may come up.
This was a very emotional presentation. After we presented each item that we were going to donate, the farmers all smiled and clapped in appreciation. They looked incredibly happy to receive the little donation we were able to give. The farmers then took the time to thank us for everything we’ve done in the past few days. They were so grateful that we were trying to help improve their lives and they were especially thankful that we believed in them. It was an incredible feeling to hear the farmers thank us for everything we’ve been working on. Seeing the farmers so excited and appreciative really mad
e this trip worth it for me.
The most significant meeting we had so far was definitely the presentation of our capital investment fund. Each of us donated $100 at the start of our trip to give to the co-op, which gave us a total of $2100. On Tuesday night, our group met to decide on what we wanted to do with the money. After about an hour of discussion, we all agreed that we were going to help a couple of the co-op’s initiatives. The first was donating money to help complete the central building for the group. The farmers actually started to build this structure in El Bale, however, they ran out of supplies and were not able to complete it. We decided that we wanted to donate all the materials – cement, roofing, and paint – so the farmers could finish this structure. The second initiative we decided to help was the expansion of the co-op. We wanted to buy the farmers the necessary supplies to build up their honey farm. This included 500 wooden frames and 500 sheets of wax. Lastly, we left the remaining money to the farmers’ start up fund. We felt that this money should be left with the farmers so they can pay for whatever costs that may come up.
This was a very emotional presentation. After we presented each item that we were going to donate, the farmers all smiled and clapped in appreciation. They looked incredibly happy to receive the little donation we were able to give. The farmers then took the time to thank us for everything we’ve done in the past few days. They were so grateful that we were trying to help improve their lives and they were especially thankful that we believed in them. It was an incredible feeling to hear the farmers thank us for everything we’ve been working on. Seeing the farmers so excited and appreciative really mad
e this trip worth it for me.
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