by Brawta

Created on: August 16, 2009

I registered at the University and got cracking on my books because it was time for me to seriously start planning for my homecoming to Ridge Hill, for all this time all the transformation of my village was in my head. It was now time to learn new strategies, to seek out new information. Mary Strong, one of my mother's friend, a woman of about 50 years old represented what I would like to be, well educated and with a face that showed no signs of uncertainty. If they were there, she hid them well. She was a woman ready to do battle for the underprivileged and greatly concerned about women issues.

She worked endlessly for the village people trying to bring them a higher standard of living but she always told me,"our journey has just began." When I was assigned to work with her I was in ecstasy but she told me not to get so excited and to ask my mother about her. My mama laughed because Professor Strong was known among the University cadre as the woman who made Dean Jonathan Mullins take cover in his office for days after she lashed out at him for under minding her. She was well respected among her peers, men and women. The younger ones wished they had her guts and were eager to learn from her even those who were not fond of her went to her for advice.

This curriculum wasted no time, classroom and field studies were done simultaneously. There I met people who had no idea what was going on in town, others who had formed grassroots effort to help themselves, craftsmen, some skilled, others just learning the ropes, almost all with no formal education. This that I just described seemed to paint the same picture of Ridge Hill. My mama did tell me that no matter which Continent you traveled to, you would find another Ridge Hill. Ms. Strong's job along with her assistant was to shed some light in this dismal part of the country. They had carefully mapped out the villages for many miles. In our classroom studies our job was to put these sparse villages on the map, bringing them up to par. What were they lacking? What would we have to do to call them progressive villages.?

We took a few trips to look at the deprivation so that we could get a true sense of our task ahead. On one of these visits Shakira, we had driven for more than four hours to get to this point but there was no complaints from us except that we would like to stretch our feet and use the bathroom. This is when we discovered the bush way of life. A flowering bougainvillea gave me privacy. Shakira followed us around, she particularly took set on me and informed me of her business plan to earn some money to help out her family. I smiled, this is the grass root woman I am looking for, ambitious and not afraid.At that moment, even though I knew my hands were tied, I promised I would help her in whatever way possible. That was all Shakira wanted to hear, for me it meant I would have to do all in my power to give the help she sought

I presented the idea of targeting women to Professor Strong. Certainly the whole village needed help but this route had never been taken before. Professor Strong liked the idea but was faced with the onerous job of presenting this to her boss. The boss was Dean Theo who it was rumored had no backbone, he wouldn't be able to face the other constituents, where favors were owed, everyone vying for a piece of the"rock." Targeting women was the last thing he wanted to hear about. Professor Strong, I had no doubt knew how to handle him but she had to be ready for battle. She asked me to prepare my presentation on how and why women should be targeted. I had began a new way of looking at things and feeling bold as I entered this new life.

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