Community based Organizations reflection during ACP in Mozambique

[Virgilio Suande]

 

Members of 40 Community based Organizations from Matola and Boane in Mozambique had opportunity to participate and deeply engage on ACP by participating in the  invent hosted by Handicap international in Mozambique with the support of constellation coaches. The reflections were so deep in a way that revels the capacity and strength of people and communities to identify, care, stimulate and change…  

“Yesterday I didn’t understand – I thought I was lost.  But now I am understanding more clearly.  ACP is who we are and how we relate to others.  It’s not about what someone can bring from outside.  It’s between us and others, and from them to us.  As time has gone on, through the different group-work and processes, I’m starting to understand the integration. I’m happy.”

 

“Yesterday we were feeling a little bored because we didn’t understand anything.  We thought we were wasting time because we’re used to trainings with manuals where we know what’s going to happen each day.  Today we understand that this is a different way, and we’re getting into the spirit of the programme.”

 

“I’d like to congratulate the group because of the methodology we’re using.  I think it’s going to help us;  no one is telling us which way to go.  Instead, we are discovering the way to work, and its going to help us in the community.”

 

“I realize now that we are moving in a positive way.  We need your help to get what we need to get.”

 

“I don’t feel that I’m losing my time here.  I’m learning here how I need to behave when I get to the community.  This process is showing me that there is a need for me to discover my own concern, and be willing to share that with my community.”

 

“I’ve discovered various things that I don’t think I knew before, or I knew them, but didn’t think of them in the same way as I do now.  The expressions that we’re using here – like “love” – we use in our daily lives, but not in the field.  And this will help our activities in the field.  So, there is an advantage in helping us to understand that the knowledge that we have – the attitudes of our normal lives – are the same ones we need to apply in our work.”

 

“This process is teaching me how to live in my home, and even in the community.  We used to live lonely;  now we can live with others.”

 

“I consider us all to be facilitators in this process, since we’re all involved and participating in this process.  This is so different from other trainings where the facilitators just give and give.  Here the facilitators are allowing us to contribute, and then they summarise, and sometimes give advice.”

 

“Congratulations to the facilitators:  don’t give up; gradually things are changing – we’re starting to understand, whereas before we did not.”

 

“I discovered that in my community, something is already being done – at institutional and family level – to move development forward.  When we visited today, I saw a house where they’re doing things like income generation and building houses for beneficiaries.  And those same beneficiaries are not just waiting to be helped;  they are also doing something to help themselves.  What impacted us was to see a widow and child leading her family, and even helping those who are married – and she even plays a role in bringing the community together to do discuss crime and take action together to bring the levels down.”

 

“I’ve been able to see that the strengths are there in our communities. What is missing now causes me worry:.when we visit the houses of association members, we are finding the same strengths. Perhaps we need to reach other houses that are not being visited by the associations to identify other strengths. We are talking here about the whole community, and not only about the association members.”

 

Virgilio Suande

[Tony Ghaye]

Lovely reflections and thank you. It reminds me of the importance of patience. That is we need to be patient with our own learning and with the learning of others. The more different and challenging something might be, the more patient we need to be. Thank you.

[Gaston]

wow, that's a great diversity of reflections that show the depth of a first visit. You can 'taste' the transformation in thinking that is happening. It will not happen overnight and therefore needs a team and encouragement from outside. Great work and it gives me a nice inspiration to start my day here. Thank you!