Girl power - not!

Thursday 1st November 2007
It’s November!! Yey!! It’s nearly Christmas. Can’t wait!

The rest of our time in Pariak was good. But frustrating too. I wanted to train two people to sight latrines, one male and one female. But the Shieke said no, he wanted to guys. And Charles, my Sanitation Supervisor, didn’t bother trying to convince the Shieke otherwise. Charles just told me that it’s their culture and tradition and we can’t change it. That really annoyed me. No one seems to be bothered that women don’t get a voice, even though it’s the women who look after the house, clean it, get the water, do the cooking. They’re the ones who know where a latrine should be!!

So the way I got around it was by training the guys to speak to the women in the household first to ask them where they wanted the latrine. I bet you any money they don’t do it…or am I just being pessimistic???

Then we had arranged a community meeting and unfortunately the water tanker arrived at the same time. So all the women had to go and collect water. I tried to show them how to clean their jerry cans by putting stones in them and shaking it. I think it was more humerous for the people watching then it was effective. Some white girl trying to get them to clean their jerry cans – and they probably don’t even understand why! Oh well, I can but try.

Oh yeah, the community meeting….well, no women showed up. I asked if they could come and I was told no because they have work in the home. I was really annoyed. So asked if three representatives could come, the men said yes, but never bothered to call them!! SO frustrating! And I’ve just got to accept that it’s their ‘culture’ and ‘tradition’…?