One of my classmates has put up a countdown on-line to
encourage us as we get close to finishing up our master’s program. We are now
in the double digits and it is pretty exciting to be coming close to the end. I
will have to say that I have learned so much about development, its real
implementation in the world, and how development and faith intersect in
people’s lives. That last one has come largely from the lives and testimonies
of fellow classmates, professors, and others practitioners I have met along the
way. I have also learned that sometimes the textbook way of doing things isn’t
necessarily the most faithful.
The first class we ever took was on project planning and
management. We learned how to write a good indicator, something that was
specific, time bound, and measurable. Indicators are the targets that you have
to meet that tell you whether or not your program is being carried out
successfully. Indicators let us know whether or not we are doing a good job.
Earlier this week during a meeting with the Emmanuel Center Executive Committee
I heard an indicator of our work in Gamasara in trying to change the attitudes
of the community in regards to women’s and children’s rights. It was not
specific, time bound, or measurable, yet it filled my heart with joy as if we
had passed a major milestone, and I guess in some ways we have.
A woman said that she had attended a church activity,
returned home after dark and her husband had not beat her…First of all we need
to pause there and look at the fact that this was something worth mentioning,
which means that most other times that is exactly what he would have done. It
is also worth observing that the woman expected to get beat when she reached
home after dark and yet still found church a worthwhile place to be. However,
what I am most excited about is that she was not beat by her husband,
specifically because he had seen the benefit of the church and the benefit of
the Emmanuel Center, and what these places had done for her life. His respect
for the changes taking place as a result of the church and this program was
enough to change his behavior and he is not even directly involved.
When we first started even we ourselves felt like we were
taking the long way around the issue of women’s and children’s rights, but
instead of rushing headlong into something that complicated we decided to take
the slow path. We decided to economically empower women, then educate them, and
lastly start working with the community only after our heart for them became
evident. While we still have a long ways to go and while my trained mind knows
that this is a bad indicator in that it is not transferable to others, meaning
we don’t know if we have affected this kind of change on anyone outside of this
one family, it still feels like a huge victory and something to praise God for.
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