Hello, internet, and happy Wednesday! My apologies for the delay in updating. Between organizing workshops, going on
retreat, and the cold I had last week, I’ve been a bit busy. But I definitely want to tell you all about
how the project has been going. So,
then, ¡adelante!
The first workshop in the Entrepreneurship Workshop was
last Wednesday, he 24th.
Overall, I think it went really well.
The women really seemed to enjoy it, and they all participated in the
activities and discussions. Unfortunately, though rather unsurprisingly,
the workshop was too short to be able to go as in-depth as the participants
would have liked. The curriculum used
for this event was adapted from a 9-week-long course on small business plans,
so I can’t say I’m that surprised that there wasn’t time to fit all the
information in. The good news is,
though, that tanks to the generosity of those of you who donated to the
project, we have enough funds to plan a second session of the workshop, which
will take place on August 13. So once
again, I am so grateful for your generosity, and that it has given us the
flexibility to adjust the project to meet the needs of the participants.
Given the abbreviated nature of the content, last week’s
workshop endedu p focusing mostly on self-evaluation, cultivating an
entrepreneurial attitude, and being creative in identifying business
opportunities. The morning started with
a quick name game as an icebreaker. They
then did an acrostic activity in which, for each letter of their name, they identified a
personal strength that they possessed.
Next was a similar activity called “¿Quién soy yo?”, or “Who am I?”,
where they wrote a short paragraph describing themselves, what they do, what
skills they have, what they are good at, what their personal goals and dreams
are, etc. A few of them then shared what
they had written. I think this exercise
was really great because, as I have mentioned, a lot of the women and teen
girls participating in the workshop have experienced physical or psychological
abuse. So I think having an activity in
which they thought about what they are good at, and how they can use those
skills to create things and start projects and help their families was really
good for boosting their self-esteem and self-confidence.
Some of the participants filling out the acrostic activity.
Filling out the "¿Quién soy yo?" excercise.
Anyeri, my host mom's sister (does that make her my host aunt?) sharing her "¿Quién soy yo?" paragraph
Martita, the Director of Casa de la Mujer, then talked a
bit about entrepreneurial attitudes, or the kinds of character traits and
personal habits it takes to be a successful entrepreneur. The traits were the following: 1) have
self-confidence; 2) search for and take advantage of opportunities; 3) search
for information; 4) create support networks; 5) set goals and objectives; 6)
assume moderate risk; 7) plan and control systematically; 8) fulfill the work
that has been contracted; 9) be persistent; and 10) demand efficiency and
quality.
The list of entrepreneurial qualities.
After lunch, they did a brainstorming activity to spur creativity in thinking of business ideas. They broke into groups, and each group received a collage of magazine photos. They each had to think up as many business ideas as they could that had to do with those images. The point of the exercise was to think outside the box. A photo of a fruit drink, for example, doesn’t just suggest a restaurant or a bar. It also suggests the artisan who made the glass, the farmer who grew the fruit, the travel agent who books vacations, and so on.
Working on the collage activity.
A couple of the groups working on the collage activity.
Some of the participants sharing the business ideas they came up with.
Martita, the Director, demonstrating all the business ideas that can come out of one image.
In the follow up session in two weeks, they will get more
into the methodology of making business plans and budgets and such. I actually think that the way things worked
out makes a lot of sense. They’ll start
out with the more abstract, motivational workshop about entrepreneurship and
their own capacity to be entrepreneurs.
They will then attend the skills workshops, and actually get an idea of
how long it takes and how much it costs to make the products. They will then return to the business side,
and be able to factor in the experience of making the products into their
business plans.
The jewelry workshop was also last week, but I also
wanted to share a few quick stories from the retreat, so I’ll give you updates
about making jewelry soon (and it really will be soon, I promise).
We—two of the other interns and Alex, the Program
Coordinator—started the retreat on Saturday, the 20th with a stop in
Masaya to visit the artisan market, where I bought a few gifts, as well as a
pair of sandals for myself. We then went
to the Laguna del Apoyo, a lagoon outside of Masaya, and spent that evening and
much of the next day swimming and relaxing there. The water was really lovely, and the lagoon
was really beautiful. Below are a couple
of pictures, but they really don’t do it justice.
On Sunday afternoon, we met up with a brigade of
volunteers who had come to work with FSD for two weeks building ovens in Las
Salinas. With them, we went to Granada,
checked into our hotel, and had pizza for dinner. I like most of the food I’ve eaten here in
Nicaragua, but let me tell you, that pizza really
hit the spot after five weeks of beans and rice for a good 80% of my
meals. The pizza even had olives and
artichoke hearts … sigh, so good. On
Monday morning, the other interns, Alex, and I went to a museum in an old
convent that had a lot of Nicaraguan art, including some indigenous
pieces.
The view of the volcano Mombacho and the Cathedral from the back patio of the museum.
We ate leftover pizza for lunch, and headed back shortly
afterward. We actually didn’t see too
much of Granada, but after frantically writing grants and planning workshops
and buying supplies, it was quite nice to take a bit of a break and just relax.
Anyway, as I said, I’ll have an update on the jewelry
workshops pronto. And Friday is the
pastry workshop, so I am quite looking forward to sharing how that goes. Thanks again for reading and for your
generosity, and I hope you all have wonderful day!
