Pokemon Women's Group

... Is actually called Kpobiman... but its pretty much pronounced as Pokemon, and that's vaguely entertaining.

I had an amazing morning this morning with this group. For the last two weeks we have been to provide bookeeping training but this coming Wednesday is their  10th anniversary celebration so they were too busy today. Instead we got an incredible insight into an exemplary group. I spent half an hour or so with their feisty leader, Julila chatting about the group. She told me that in the ten years they have existed each of the 42 members has increased their living standard so that they are now able to send their children to school, know their legal rights on marriage and divorce and are less dependent on men who are often less than dependable.

As a group these spectacular women ensure that teenage girls who get pregnant (often through bribery) are looked after and the parents given support and encouraged  not to disown their daughters. Where these pregnancies are as a result of rape they ensure this is reported to the appropriate authorities. They keep their eyes open for child labour, orphans and children suffering neglect. They have set up a group savings scheme which they use to help each other out in times of difficulty, they have set up 4 similar groups elsewhere and they make use of local NGOs to get regular training to further their own skills.

Many of the husbands of members disapprove of the group, preferring to keep their women reliant on them. Julila's response is to  invite them all to a group dinner to include them.

We joined them in learning a dance for the celebration, and I was invited to sit at the front with Hajia another powerful force who was offering information about the Rights of Spouses Bill that will hopefully provide some more protection for partners when a spousal relationship ends.

Its pretty amazing that these women want a pair of twenty-something girls to come and teach them... seems pretty backward to me.