The Mandetkene Boutique: Chapter 1

We have some very exciting news to share: the village of Mandetkene now has its first official shop! Considering that this village is located over forty minutes by car (and much further by foot) from the nearest town, this is a big deal. This shop was conceptualized two summers ago, and we have been working on it since our grant application this winter.

Ribbon cutting of the Mandetkene Boutique by Monsieur le Maire (mayor of the region)- quite possibly the most rewarding moment I've ever had

Since we have been caught up in our camp activities and the opening, we haven't posted about the store process yet. We are going to do a short series of posts over the next few days to catch you up! To begin, here is a little background on the idea of the store:

When Amirah and Jenna Biegel did a project here two summers ago, they talked with people and learned the village of Mandetkene had a problem. Many kids were ready to go to middle school but couldn't. There is no middle school in the village, so students have to go to Foumban. This means paying for transport and room and board for the student, and this is too expensive for many people.

Middle school is something we take for granted in the US, but it's not an automatic next step in Mandetkene. Inspired to do something, Amirah and Jenna thought about a sustainable way to get income for the town's school. If the school had a means of generating revenue, it could give students scholarships and pay for other school expenses, like adding another teacher. At the end of the brainstorming process, they came up with the idea to create a school-run store from which all profits would go to these school needs. The local Parents' Council would run the store.

Yoko and I were then recruited to help Amirah execute this idea. 

Washington and Lee's General Development Initiative (GenDev) gave the grant for the physical building (to be supplemented by some local money), and Yoko and I received money from a Center for International Education grant and Johnson funds to take care of other store needs.

To summarize, this is the ten-step process that we, along with the local Parents' Council, used to build this store:

1. Watched the construction process

2. Built community trust with a summer camp for local kids

3. Went door to door in the village to survey local needs (to decide on inventory) and to raise awareness about the store

4. Visited many other shops in the next town over (Foumban)

5. Worked with a supplier in Foumban to stock the store

6. Created a record-keeping system for inventory and finances

7. Wrote a manual for store operations

8. Hired a shopkeeper and guard

9. Divided volunteer duties among the Parents' Council members

10. Trained many Council members and the employees in the daily, monthly, etc. operations to have both efficiency and transparency

After all of this, the store began selling. It has been open one week today, and it has the potential to exceed our profit goals. We are so excited about the possibility of making education beyond 5th grade a reality for more students.

We won't bore you with too many more mundane details. We will be sharing some funny stories and observations we made from throughout the process. This just gives you the basic outline of our work and hopefully gives you an idea of why this opening was such a joyful moment-- not only for me, but for the townspeople as well.

Stay tuned for the next post to learn all about our construction surprises.