Dear Ladies in Monrovia and Harper!
We are also very excited to have your first news!
Thanks a lot for your messages! Today we tried to find out a little more about Liberia. So we searched the internet. For us it’s very practical to meet in an Internetcafé for women. Not all of us know how to use a computer but together it’s no problem.
When we came to palaver today all of us were cold. The weather changed and it’s quite freezing now. Actually we have 5 degrees. We found out that at your place it’s 27 degrees and some of us are thinking about visiting you during winter :-)
We found out that English is the official language of Liberia and that there are many more.
Which language(s) do you speak besides English?
Among elderly people in Austria it’s not very common to speak more than German. Now this is changing a little as the children are learning at least English at school and sometimes a third language.
How is school in Liberia? Is there a compulsory education?
In Austria all children need to go to school from the age of 6 to 15 years. After nine years of school you can choose to continue until university-entrance-diploma or you start an apprenticeship. But sometimes it’s hart to find a place where you can be an apprentice to someone. Another problem is that boys and girls have very different wishes which profession they want to learn. Most of the girls want to become hairdressers, salesperson or clerk. This is a problem because those are the jobs with small salaries and little prestige. So when they are older and married thy often depend on their husbands who earn more or they are single moms and it’s hard to earn a living.
Some of you are Business Women and you wrote us you have children. Who is looking after them while you are out on the streets?
We saw your president on TV! She seems to be an amazing woman!! In Austria there are some women in politics but it’s far from sharing 50:50 between men and women. There is a discussion if government should do a quota regulation to force the parties to let participate more women. We are supporting this idea but we don’t think it will happen.
It’s great to learn you have a palava-hut! And we are looking forward to having the photos from Brigitte a lot!! Birgit showed us a photo from a palava-hut in Mali which we found especially interesting because it’s so low-ceilinged. Supposedly this is to avoid great conflicts as you can’t jump up in anger without hitting your head.
If this is true we think it’s a good concept! :-)
Birgit told us that the women who founded palaver-connected in Graz were thinking about a place like your palava-hut (for discussions, meetings, …) when they chose the name for the Internetcafé. Generally the café at palaver (not the computers) is open to men also (altought there is rarely one), but it’s first of all the women who meet and use the room. Sometimes it’s not easy to find a good way of communication as there are very different women meeting but this is on the other hand also kind of interesting. We are always trying to find solutions which fit for almost all women. There are some men and women here who think it’s not necessary for women to have a space on their own, but to us it’s very important.
No one of us has ever been to Africa except Morocco and Tunisia and as we stayed in hotels we don’t know much about peoples lifes there. Only Birgit travelled a little in Niger and Senegal. She told us some stories and we wondered if there are similarities to Liberia. How is cooking? Do you use gas, wood or coal? Is there a traditional meal?
On march 22cd is “World Water Day”. The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.
At palaver-connected provision is made for several activities to call the attention of the people on that important subject.
Austria is blessed with rich resources of drinking-water but nevertheless it’s important to care about this vital good and not to waste it for farming, pools, …
We are so used to always have clean water running out of the water-tap going to the sewer that it’s sometimes easy to forget how valuable it is.
There will be an exhibition at palaver-connected with drawings from women from many different countries which show their approach to water. Lots of articles are ready to be read by the women, …
It would be great being able to tell the women here YOUR perspective on water, like it would be a “real true story” from friends.
How is the situation concerning water at your place? Is there a difference between big cities and rural areas? Is there enough water for everyone? Is it potable or do you need to prepare it? How is the access to water?
So, once more we have many questions and are looking forward excitedly to having your news!
Best wishes from Austria!
Iris, Erika, Birgit
gefördert von
2009-10-13
Hello from Monrovia/Liberia
Hello Ladies from Austria
We are so exited to hear about the first message from you. As you will see by reading this e-mail - we (the women who meet here in Monrovia) do not have the Internet. But we know how the Website looks like, because when Brigitte was here in August she introduced us to the site.
As you can see the meetings in Liberia started - and the communication is not always that easy. I have a group in Monrovia and a group in Harper. With the group in Harper I meet in person and we are meeting once a month (on Saturday) and we had our first premeeting on October 13th, 2009. Our first meeting in Harper will be the comming sunday.
So the procedure will be as follow:
# whenever the group in Monrovia meets they will give me a call and tell me what to write on the blog. I also promised them to call Eve (she is my contact person to Monrovia) if there is an answer from Austria. When I met the group from Monrovia - I showed them some pictures about Austria and we were talking a little bit about the project. They showed interest - so I asked them to form a group and report about their regular meetings.
# for the group in Harper - we are starting with 5 women - but this group is not closed and it can be more in November. We are together in Harper and when we meet I can show them the blog - because I have Internet access and as a group we will try to formulate what we are going to write in the blog.
---------------------------------------------------
In this post I am answering your first post from the group in Monrovia. They were meeting on October 5th and I just got a call from them (or I just called them this weekend to inform me about their outcome in their meeting and what I should write on the blog).
This is the first answer from your post in September 2009. There is one group of women meeting in Monrovia (they meet about 3-4 times (that what they told me) - but don't have a fixed schedule). But the next time they will meet on November 4th, 2009).
Group Monrovia (Edena, Wilhemina, Eve,. Princess, Carina)
First meeting: Oct. 3rd, 2009
2nd meeting: Nov. 4th, 2009
3rd meeting: December 2009 (day is not scheduled)
Group Harper (Cora, Christiana, Philomena, Vivian, Lesole meetings with Brigitte)
Premeeting: October 13th, 2009
1st meeting in Harper: October 17th, 2009
after that we will meet once a month (always on Saturday)
----------------------------
(Group Monrovia)
This is our first meeting (no this is the summary of our first meeting from October 5th, 2009). We are a group of women from Monrovia (Brigitte told us about the Blog) and we want to answer some of the questions from Angelika, Birgit, Elke, Iris and Maria. We met private at Carinas place - we will meet 3 times and everytime we will meet at a different place.
We are not from an organization. We met Brigitte at the Women's Colloquium in March that we had in Monrovia and since that time we sometimes talk on the phone. We are Business Women (we sell food and other goods on the streets). Brigitte will provide you with some pictures where she pictured us doing business at the colloquium. We don't even have Internet access. We have some Internet Cafes here in Monrovia, but we are not able to use the Internet, since we don't even know about a computer. But we just discuss some issues here in our group and we will than talk to Brigitte on the phone and she promised to put it in the Internet - and also she will call us when we get an answer.
We are Edena, Wilhemina, Eve,. Princess, Carina. We are all age 27 - 35 years.
Edena, age 27, married, 2 children (age 12 and 8)
Wilhemina, age 30, married, 3 children (age 8, 4, 5)
Eve age 31, 1 child (age 12)
Princess, age 35, married, 4 children (age 15, 14, 12, 8)
Carina, age 32, married, 3 children (age 15, 12, 8)
We also talked about Austria and found out that actually we do not know anything about it, beside the facts that Brigitte told us (when we meet her at the Women's Colloquium and and in August 28, 2009 in Monrovia). She also showed us some pictures and we are greatful, so we got some insights from Austria. We even saw one picture from the Palava-Internetcafe where you wrote that you were meeting in (Brigitte showed us 2 pictures of that Palava - one inside and one outside). So now we have an idea where you are meeting at. Brigitte will send a picture to you so you can see one example where we are meeting in Monrovia. We - who sit in the group together - know each other, because we sell at the same street and talk during the time we work.
We also have something that is called a Palava-Hut (we asked Brigitte to put it on the Website). Our palava-hut is used, wen we have difficulties or problems or conflicts. Than we sit together and try to find a solution. But sometimes we as women are not included so much in the palava-hut meetings. It is more used by the elders in the community.
One of your questions is - you want to know what our city looks like. Monrovia has about 1 Million Inhabitants. (Liberia has about 3.5 Million people). Monrovia itself is quite a dirty city. It is a city with a lot of cars, a lot of traffick, very loud. People are poor here. Liberia had a 14 year civil war. This war ended in 2003. Liberia has a female president - her name is: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Her office is in Monrovia.
Those are things we discussed at our first meeting. We are looking forward to get a call from Brigitte - whenever there are some news from you.
Best wishes from Monrovia,
Edena, Wilhemina, Eve,. Princess, Carina
We are so exited to hear about the first message from you. As you will see by reading this e-mail - we (the women who meet here in Monrovia) do not have the Internet. But we know how the Website looks like, because when Brigitte was here in August she introduced us to the site.
As you can see the meetings in Liberia started - and the communication is not always that easy. I have a group in Monrovia and a group in Harper. With the group in Harper I meet in person and we are meeting once a month (on Saturday) and we had our first premeeting on October 13th, 2009. Our first meeting in Harper will be the comming sunday.
So the procedure will be as follow:
# whenever the group in Monrovia meets they will give me a call and tell me what to write on the blog. I also promised them to call Eve (she is my contact person to Monrovia) if there is an answer from Austria. When I met the group from Monrovia - I showed them some pictures about Austria and we were talking a little bit about the project. They showed interest - so I asked them to form a group and report about their regular meetings.
# for the group in Harper - we are starting with 5 women - but this group is not closed and it can be more in November. We are together in Harper and when we meet I can show them the blog - because I have Internet access and as a group we will try to formulate what we are going to write in the blog.
---------------------------------------------------
In this post I am answering your first post from the group in Monrovia. They were meeting on October 5th and I just got a call from them (or I just called them this weekend to inform me about their outcome in their meeting and what I should write on the blog).
This is the first answer from your post in September 2009. There is one group of women meeting in Monrovia (they meet about 3-4 times (that what they told me) - but don't have a fixed schedule). But the next time they will meet on November 4th, 2009).
Group Monrovia (Edena, Wilhemina, Eve,. Princess, Carina)
First meeting: Oct. 3rd, 2009
2nd meeting: Nov. 4th, 2009
3rd meeting: December 2009 (day is not scheduled)
Group Harper (Cora, Christiana, Philomena, Vivian, Lesole meetings with Brigitte)
Premeeting: October 13th, 2009
1st meeting in Harper: October 17th, 2009
after that we will meet once a month (always on Saturday)
----------------------------
(Group Monrovia)
This is our first meeting (no this is the summary of our first meeting from October 5th, 2009). We are a group of women from Monrovia (Brigitte told us about the Blog) and we want to answer some of the questions from Angelika, Birgit, Elke, Iris and Maria. We met private at Carinas place - we will meet 3 times and everytime we will meet at a different place.
We are not from an organization. We met Brigitte at the Women's Colloquium in March that we had in Monrovia and since that time we sometimes talk on the phone. We are Business Women (we sell food and other goods on the streets). Brigitte will provide you with some pictures where she pictured us doing business at the colloquium. We don't even have Internet access. We have some Internet Cafes here in Monrovia, but we are not able to use the Internet, since we don't even know about a computer. But we just discuss some issues here in our group and we will than talk to Brigitte on the phone and she promised to put it in the Internet - and also she will call us when we get an answer.
We are Edena, Wilhemina, Eve,. Princess, Carina. We are all age 27 - 35 years.
Edena, age 27, married, 2 children (age 12 and 8)
Wilhemina, age 30, married, 3 children (age 8, 4, 5)
Eve age 31, 1 child (age 12)
Princess, age 35, married, 4 children (age 15, 14, 12, 8)
Carina, age 32, married, 3 children (age 15, 12, 8)
We also talked about Austria and found out that actually we do not know anything about it, beside the facts that Brigitte told us (when we meet her at the Women's Colloquium and and in August 28, 2009 in Monrovia). She also showed us some pictures and we are greatful, so we got some insights from Austria. We even saw one picture from the Palava-Internetcafe where you wrote that you were meeting in (Brigitte showed us 2 pictures of that Palava - one inside and one outside). So now we have an idea where you are meeting at. Brigitte will send a picture to you so you can see one example where we are meeting in Monrovia. We - who sit in the group together - know each other, because we sell at the same street and talk during the time we work.
We also have something that is called a Palava-Hut (we asked Brigitte to put it on the Website). Our palava-hut is used, wen we have difficulties or problems or conflicts. Than we sit together and try to find a solution. But sometimes we as women are not included so much in the palava-hut meetings. It is more used by the elders in the community.
One of your questions is - you want to know what our city looks like. Monrovia has about 1 Million Inhabitants. (Liberia has about 3.5 Million people). Monrovia itself is quite a dirty city. It is a city with a lot of cars, a lot of traffick, very loud. People are poor here. Liberia had a 14 year civil war. This war ended in 2003. Liberia has a female president - her name is: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Her office is in Monrovia.
Those are things we discussed at our first meeting. We are looking forward to get a call from Brigitte - whenever there are some news from you.
Best wishes from Monrovia,
Edena, Wilhemina, Eve,. Princess, Carina
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