Bench Marks Foundation collaboration with communities
MENGE AGNES CHOLEDI
As a victim and an activist in the Bench Marks Foundation monitoring school, I have learned a lot and I am grateful to have met with the BenchMarks Foundation team. Today I can clearly understand between wrong and right, and I learnt that as an activist people would hate you for the good you are doing.
An activist is the same as a whistleblower, our lives are in danger and we need to be always prepared because we do not know what can happen and when. Since I joined the monitoring school, I became a threat to many people around me but anyway, we are not doing this for ourselves but we do it for our children and the whole community.
Since we attended the workshops from the organisation, at least I have gained a lot of knowledge and understanding on how to deal with people of different backgrounds. I learned also how to handle our issues, and the best part of what I learned is communication, mobilization, target, and action. But it is not enough because when we go back to our communities, we still face challenges and difficulties. After all, we need to teach and give them the knowledge that we have through the workshops.
Now I think it is also time for the Foundation to come to communities to teach them about all these issues of Tailings and mining, we are also doing it but it’s not easy for us. A simple thing that I can tell you is that people don’t have access to information and no one will come and open our eyes except the Bench Marks Foundation.
It is the only Foundation that is playing open cards when it comes to communities and we need to push harder to achieve our goals, and we need to lead the way for our communities.
I now think for the organisation to take us to workshops is a very successful and brilliant idea, and I’m happy about what you are doing for us. We appreciate it a lot and a million times and please keep up the good work.
Because of you, the masses of the people are grateful for the work you are doing and you are considered. One thing I would ask is for the Bench Marks Foundation to assist us by issuing us with certificates that will also help us advocate the work we are doing and please Together We Can.
