February 10, 2024 - Week 3
The big day finally arrived, my first day at school aka Abilities Foundation! Day 1 was actually Jamaica's local government Nomination Day so we had to work from home; so pseudo Day 1 for me became an intense day of joining Abilities Foundation's Farmer's Market event.
As the past auditor that I am, I knew my role would encompass some sort of monitoring and evaluation, especially of programs and whether they met objectives: profit, advocacy, "empowerment" of rural disabled female farmers, etc. With my handy notebook in hand and PBC list and questions, I was ready to activate my CPA auditor mode.
Before I had time to take my first photo, I was thrust into a stall, asked to write signs for the prices of the fruits and vegetables, and then proceeded to morph into the role of a stall manager. I used a hanging scale to weigh fruits (some of which I had never seen in person before e.g. soursop, cocoa, tumeric, callaloo, green bananas, coconut (not shaved), etc)) and use a calculator to sell the produce (in cash!) to these clients. My brain was flashing with fraud, reconciliation, and marketing concerns, as I manually tallied my sales, gave change to people in a foreign currency, kept the bag of cash in a clear bag on the table (no cash registers!), and made an embarrassing realisation I had been measuring my produce erroneously in kilograms but selling them by the pound. Needless to say, I may be the control issue at this stall.
I received a lot of joy seeing these inspiring female farmers proudly sell their produce and the students also selling their own products: cold pressed coconut oil, hand-sewn recycled bags and towels, plants grown in their school backyard, and the camaraderie of the clients in purchasing more when I explain to them who farmed these produce. Please remember, that all these students are disabled, and to see them sew better than me with impaired vision, or rake the grass better than me but with only one functioning arm was very humbling.
I will be looking forward to the next few farmer's market (and setting up a few more controls in place) in the coming months.
On a more somber note, this week also brought some disheartening news for my fellow volunteer who flew to Tanzania on the same day I left for Jamaica. Recently she was mobbed by a group of 30-40 people who thought she was an LGBT activist, this resulted in an ongoing police investigation and unimaginable trauma for her. Unfortunately, this incident occurred to two other people in the last week, resulting in her difficult decision to discontinue her placement and fly back home to Canada.