I have eight children, we live happily together with my husband, his two other wives and my mother-in-law. I’m a trader, I sell things like soap and cosmetics. Before I got involved with the Reflect group I felt out of touch with the world around me, but now I’m learning so much. We women didn’t used to sit out with the men, speaking in front of them used to make me nervous, but now I’m in the Reflect group I have more confidence in my own point of view.
Also it’s not just me that is learning from the Reflect group - my husband and other men in the group seem to be learning something. I see some changes starting. It used to be that fetching water was women’s work - and people will say that it looks strange to see a man doing it, but my husband sometimes helps out when we go to gather firewood - or he takes care of the children.
I never used to leave Wayamba village - I would buy my goods from a middleman who came here. I have always sold things in my village but I didn’t used to make much profit. Now I go to the wholesaler in town - and find goods at a better price. At first I worried about leaving Wayamba, I didn’t know how to talk to a wholesaler. Also there is no transport system here. But me and some of the other women in the Reflect circle realised that we could share a taxi together and get into town quite cheaply. I have learnt to not be scared, to buy directly from the wholesaler and make a better profit on my goods. I have more control over my business. Before I always had to ask my husband to buy school uniforms for the children, now I have the money to buy them myself. Reflect has helped me to realise that I can make changes in my life.
We meet in the Reflect circle 3 times a week - we usually discuss a topic, such as the work we women and the men do everyday, or the natural resources we have in and around our community. We will draw something to help us analyse - we all help in the drawing - taking turns to use the stick or decide what symbol represents something. This might take us quite a long time, but all the time we are drawing we are also discussing. We might talk about the same topic all week - we decide what we are happy about, if there is something that we all feel we need to change we sometimes plan what we can do together. This happened recently when we decided to rebuild the school building which had collapsed as it had been built badly the first time. Or it might be that just talking and analysing gives me something to think about in my own life. Other times we use what we have been discussing to improve our writing and reading skills. The meetings are very flexible and we decide what we want to do - we are in control.
