Benedict's passion for all things Woven

Benedict Tokura is an astute man, small in stature but light on his feet. Although he looks 70 plus, his eyes are very bright and alert and his memory still serves him well. He waves and beckons us over to the meeting hut as we arrive in his village.

We spent 3 hours driving from the World Vision Area Program office located in Arawa. There are 5 wet crossings and the road is a mixture of tar and dirt. Just before reaching the village, there is an almost 50-degree angle drop that our vehicles maneuver, and the dirt beneath the wheels has become large smooth boulders. About 2 meters aware from the river’s edge, the car makes a sharp 90-degree left swing to a clearing nestled in the leafy foliage of greenery. The village seems to have carved some flat land out of the side of a mountain as there is an endless supply of fresh water fissures jutting out from the stones near the village homes.

Benedict explains that they are in the largest village with a population of almost 500 people. There is a small quaint elementary school and an early learning center as well as a nearby health center that the community accesses for services. 

Benedict and his family are whom we have traveled all the way to the Siwai constituency to meet. Benedict is not only the chairman of their Savings Group, but he eagerly tells us that he and his family have attended all the World Vision WOVEN Project training in the village. He is excited to tell us all about the pieces of training and so we sit under the shade of the village meeting hut.

Benedict's village is one of 10 communities in Kopi’s Constituency of Siwai district and was selected to be a part of the Wellbeing Outcomes to End Violence, Enable Livelihoods & Improve Nutrition (WOVEN) Project funded by the New Zealand Government. The WOVEN project aims to financially enable households through the Resilient & Inclusive Social Enterprises (RISE) Model, which has Savings for Transformation (S4T), financial literacy as its key actions coupled with the Positive Deviance/Hearth (PDH) model which promotes household nutrition.

The S4T module aims to address Financial Exclusion, Low Financial Literacy, and Poor household Food Budgeting. An assessment prior to project implementation found that most Bougainvillean households, especially female-headed households were struggling to meet their economic needs, as well as failing to purchase nutritious food for their children. As a result, the WOVEN project aims to financially enable households through the Resilient & Inclusive Social Enterprises (RISE) Model, which as Savings for Transformation (S4T), financial literacy as its key action coupled with the Positive Deviance/Hearth (PDH) model which promotes household nutrition.

The GESI training component comprises the Celebrating Families and Male Engagement modules. GESI is delivered in 7 modules and 16 sessions. Module 1 is mainly a welcome session with 4 activities. Gender relations are covered in module 2 delivered in 4 training sessions that include; the thing called Gender/Defining Gender, Understanding Gender Expectations Gender Relations at Home, and Power in Relationship. Module 3 talks about Violence in 3 training sessions. The sessions are; introduction/Defining Violence, Defining and Demystifying GBV, Alcohol, and Violence. Module 4 emphasises Healthy Relationships and Communication about Care Giving, sessions include; Preventing violence, Understanding Emotions, and Positive and Non-Violent Communication. Module 5 is Men and Caregiving and is delivered in 3 sessions; Qualities of Great Man, Fathers and Caregiving, and Parenting and Caregiving. Module 6 is about Planning and Future Commitments and Module 7 is about new Beginnings.

The Positive Deviant/HEARTH (PDH) training model is used to deliver pieces of training, targeting children 0-59 months of age. PDH training is delivered over 5 days. Sessions topics delivered; Defining PDH, what is good nutrition; what is Malnutrition; Weighing and Measuring Children, Positive Deviant Inquiry (PDI); feeding back to the communities and visiting families; using the information; preparing for Hearth sessions and reflection; follow-up on hearth sessions and keeping the community informed. It also involves the formation of a cooking group of caregivers who learn and prepare meals over 5 days.

WOVEN Project manager Charles Kopana has maintained his same outlook since I met him in 2020 about the WOVEN project which is Phase 2 of the project, “The project, after two and half years of implementation, has benefited households and families in project recipient communities by contributing to Bougainville’s aspiration and perspective. The project, directly sets a foundation for self-reliance, specifically for communities and households. Full participation by household (HH) members in four components training, enables these HHs to be resilient and independent. Thus, progress is based on individual, household or community capability, to earn, be able to save, based mutual understanding and respect, as an individual, who is member of a HH and the community at large.”

Similar to the surrounding communities in Siwai, Benedict's village is comprised of many smaller hamlets which are made of 2-3 or more homes clustered together. Benedict patiently explains that during the Bougainville crisis that lasted almost 10 years in the 1980s to 1990s many Bougainvilleans were forced to move away from the main cluster village as their homes and gardens were regularly destroyed and the people were isolated from the main village. Years later, the village has grown with many surrounding hamlets but are sparsely spread out.

“I am grateful to World Vision for bringing all the training in our village. They have trained us in many good things on how we can help our homes, community, families, and selves,” Benedict tells us.

Benedict points to his daughter Anastacia, mother of 5 children who is seated nearby with her two children, Carolyne and Peter. “Anastacia went through the PDH training and cooking training as her daughter Carolyne was identified as being a non-positive deviant child (mild to moderately underweight-2 SD of her normal weight for age) 15kg at 56 months old. At the time Anastacia underwent the PDH training, she was pregnant with her son Peter, now 2 years old. After the hearth sessions (6 days of active feeding) were conducted, Caroline progressively increased her weight and at the end of her 59th month, she regained her weight up to 16.4 kg (weight records and assessment by the WOVEN Nutrition Field Officer). Caroline can also be reported as a child with a healthy younger sibling.

“My son Peter is very well nourished and always tops the birth weight chart during checkups. He was fortunate that when I received the training for Carolyne, I knew exactly how to prepare a nutritious meal for him after he was born. He did not have any issues like his sister, and now, neither does any of my children. “Thank you to World Vision for the cooking demonstration which taught us mothers how to cook a balanced nutrition meal from our local garden produce,” Anastacia explained and further commented. “Like sometimes, if I don’t have meat, I can use our local nuts like peanuts and beans here as a supplement in the meals. And I cook with garden produce, and I know what to cook for infants and older toddlers. They also encouraged us during the training to continue exclusive breastfeeding which is very good for the child’s growth. Now see my Peter, he is a healthy baby, and so are Carolyne and her siblings,” Anastacia beams of her two children.

Here Benedict politely interjects, “Our village is one of the villages in the constituency that has received all four (4) components of the WOVEN training. We are very grateful and feel blessed because of this,” says Benedict with a smile. 

“We have received the market training, health and cooking training, and GESI training,” he says. “But the best training of all that I think, for me, is the savings for transformation (S4T) training. Before the training, I found it so difficult to find money to pay for school fees. I am father of 7 and grandfather of 12 grandchildren. Some of my grandchildren live with me, and I am obligated to pay their school fees. One of my grandsons has made it to high school which is a big achievement, and my family all need to contribute towards his school fees,” Benedict articulates.

“My wife Veronica and I used to be very troubled when the beginning of the school year came around, as it meant we had to look for money to pay school fees. I am so happy that we do not have this problem anymore. We are able to save some of the money we make, and I am now able to comfortably pay for all my grandchildren’s school fees,” Benedict declares.

With this insight, Benedict encouraged 7 of his immediate family members to join their S4T group to ease the financial burden on the family.

Benedict then walks us over to meet Isaac, his grandson. “I encouraged Isaac, his mother (my daughter) and his father and younger sister to join the S4T group. I want Isaac to learn to be financially independent and pay for his own school fees. Isaac paid for his own school fees for Grade 2 this year. K120 it cost him. And I am so proud that he did it himself and has also helped to pay the school fees of his cousin (not an S4T member) in high school,” Benedict tells us.

“His cousin's fees were K1,500. That’s a lot of money, but together my 7 family members from the S4T group contributed to paying this fee,” he clarifies.

“I am so thankful to World Vision for helping us to establish the S4T savings groups in our village. In the short time since the establishment, I have witnessed a lot of transformation in my village. Before we never had a savings mentality, as farmers, we were wasteful. Once we harvested our cocoa or market goods and sold it, we used to spend money unwisely and we never had any savings so when it came time to pay school fees, we found it very difficult,” recalls Benedict.

“Now we are more financially stable and able to pay school fees and do other things with our savings like build chicken houses or buy materials for our gardens or cocoa farming practices. We are very blessed,” he says with relief.

As the rain clouds start to gather, we start packing to leave. As we walk back to the vehicles, Benedict walks with us to bid us farewell.

He extends his hand, and as he shakes my hand he says, “I know that such training cost money, and I would like to say thank you to the people who funded the project as without the money to support World Vision, the project officers would not be able to come here and the other villages in Siwai to do the training.”

As Joe our driver starts the engine, we wave to him and his family, and the rest of the community, mainly members from the savings group and start the 3-hour journey back to Arawa.