October 15th, 2014 by Rachel | Tags: Peace Corps | 1 Comment »
Marissa, third from the left, helped found the restaurant.
Imagine meeting an educated woman who lost her husband and was looking for ways to make money to maintain her family and then also noticing that many people in the village were facing malnutrition. Can these two problems be solved at the same time?
On Saturday afternoon, two Peace Corps Trainees, a Peace Corps Volunteer host and I took a 30 minute ride from Ngoaundere to a village to visit Restaurant Saare Soja. This restaurant, located on the side of an interstate and surrounded by beautiful green rolling hills, was recently created with an assistant of a Peace Corps Volunteer, Marissa. She encountered these two issues, a widow woman needing money and malnutrition, in her village and came up with a very ambitious but simple solution, which was to create a restaurant with a well rounded menu. The location was just perfect as cars could easily see the restaurant as they passed by. The signs, which were painted on the building, were very big and visible. Marissa who is about to finish her service in a few weeks, joined us for lunch.
Because her goal was to ensure that the restaurant could continue to operate for many years to come without her presence once she leaves, she focused on facilitating the female widow and other women to create the restaurant instead of doing it on her own by teaching them how to start and maintain a business and also how to eat a well balanced diet.
The women who are working in the restaurant are uneducated but are now making ten times more than they would have made if they didn’t start the restaurant. The restaurant was clearly popular as it was crowded when we were there.
Inside the restaurant, there were posters explaining how to eat a well balanced meal. This was a great way to help educate people about how to be well fed.
Soy Milk
Tofu with Rice
As helping to end malnutrition was a goal, the menu focused on ensuring people would get a balanced diet. The choices included tofu, fish or beef and rice on the side. The dishes included sauce made with vegetables. One of the most popular menu items was soy milk. Soy milk is one of the most nutritious items as it contains proteins and minerals. As someone who usually never likes to drink soy milk, I was completely sold on the soy milk there. It was like drinking white hot chocolate. It was very thick and creamy. It was so good that I got a bottle to take back with me and drink on the train from Ngaoundere to Yaounde. I also got a tofu dish with rice, and it was incredibly delicious.
What is so extraordinary about this Peace Corps Volunteer is that she didn’t strictly follow the textbook which was to simply go to health clinics to speak with patients, visit schools to educate children about health or host community events. Instead, she chose to be creative and took a path that she felt that would create a sustainable outcome for people in the village where she lived. It was a great opportunity to learn about her work because it gave me the confidence knowing that I can think outside of the box and come up with simple and creative solutions to solve issues. I was also told that people had little faith in this Peace Corps Volunteer’s project but she stuck with her guts and continued to work on the project. I felt that I could so relate this situation because I’ve had occasions in my life where people doubted my abilities but still succeeded in doing what I desired to do.
1 Comment
Laurie Pullins
October 15, 2014 at 7:38 am
Rachel,
This is such a wonderful idea! The first thing that came to my mind as I read this is a well known proverb that goes something like this:
“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
And this restaurant is doing so much more than just giving these women an income while fighting malnutrition. Their self-esteem and self worth grows along with their health, they are feeding and serving others while building a community and network, etc.
Thank you for all you do! YOU and the other Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference!
Laurie