PhotoVoice Training - Day 1

Day 1 of training complete! John and I spent today getting to know the 10 lovely Zambian ladies that will be participating in the Let's Hear Your Voice project. After our awkward unplanned introductions yesterday where they pretty much just stared at me, I had quite a bit of trepidation.

The women really liked the initial icebreaker called Fire! Fire! (or Umulilo! Umulilo!). This required the women to get in different groups and answer questions about themselves (myself included). Some of the women know each other and others do not and they all seemed to enjoy and participate. Of course, none of this could be accomplished without translation from Delia. She is a charming and educated woman, probably about my age, but looks 10 years younger and she has 10 children. Her youngest child is the same age as one of her grandchildren. Her oldest daughter is also participating in the program. Translation is key as there are about a third of the women with very limited skills. Initially it was hard for me to ascertain this as they all give the impression that they speak the language well.

After introductions I gave an overview of PhotoVoice. I was uncertain if I could explain the idea in an articulate and culturally understandable way. Using a combination of resources from Rutgers, my coursework, and experience with culture of the Zambian people, I think that I was able to give a good basic overview. I did not present the information from a linear perspective, but tried to think more spherically (very unfamiliar to me!) and I think this was helpful. I revisited the same ideas several times from different aspects. I was pleased that I was able to generate engagement.

In the afternoon John went thorough photography basics using PowerPoints developed by Rutgers. This was a great resource to guide the discussion, however we were in a very hot room after lunch and I don't think that they relate to that style of learning. Although John did a great job, I think it was a little intimidating and somewhat hard for them to follow.

However all the women were very excited when we got to the hands on camera training. John went through all the functions of the camera and we provided individual instruction (it was a bit of chaos!). None of these women have ever used a camera before. Most of them have cell phone cameras, but were not familiar with zooming, setting up the focus, viewing the photos, etc.. About half of them caught on very quickly while the other half needed extra attention. Below are a few pictures of us during the camera training today. Sorry for the quality - the room we are in has terrible light.