The use of science and technology to enhance the 
status of women for community
development in Gloucester Village in Sierra Leone 

by 
Aurelia Wright
Department of Chemistry
Fourah Bay College
University of Sierra Leone
Freetown  Sierra Leone

OBJECTIVES:
A.	(1)	To improve the management of their produce by processing and preservation to
reduce wastage.
	(2) To introduce alternative income generation activities.
	(3) To encourage the mothers to pay more attention to their girl-child's education and
overall welfare.
	(4)	To enhance women's science literacy and training.

SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES:
B.	(1)	Processing and preservation of :-
		(a)	Herbs 
		(b)	Fruits leading to the production of jam and marmalade,
		(c)	Vegetables leading to the production of condiments like tomato
			paste and ketchup and other sauces.
	(2)	Income generation
		(a) Bee keeping and honey collection
		(b)	Fish farming.
	(3)	With more time available through better management, the mothers can 		spend
more time at home with the girl child.


BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Sierra Leone is a West African country lying between latitudes 7o and 10o north and
longitudes 10o 30' and 13o 15' west along the west coast. Gloucester is a village
situated in the mountain Rural District of Sierra Leone, about 5 miles away from the
centre of the capital Freetown.  It was founded in 1816 by liberated Africans with the
expressed desire of the then colonial Governor that the inhabitants should grow fruits
and vegetables to feed the growing population of Freetown.  This, they have done
with the help of neighbouring villages like Leicester, Regent, Bathurst and Charlotte.

The original inhabitants of Gloucester were taught organic gardening and farming by
German Missionaries and today, nearly all tropical and sub-tropical vegetables, fruits
and herbs are grown by this mountain community. Being situated about 1300 feet
above sea level in well watered upper graded sections of tributaries of the Kissy Brook,
Gloucester is well suited for the production of fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs.

This village has a population of just over 1000 people, 50% of whom are women
whose economic mainstay has always been gardening and farming. Rising cost of
inputs: (seeds, manure, fertilizers, insectides etc.), unreliable and inadequate supply of
inputs: fierce competititon from neighbouring countries like Guinea: as well as a drop 
in the demand for vegetables, (largely due to a depression in the tourist industry and
as a result of the rebel war), have all combined to adversely affect the industry. Besides
this, the vegetable enterprise is a disorganised market.

The educational facility is limited to two primary schools which cater for 40% of 
children in the village, in addition to those in other mountain villages.  There is a
health centre which is shared by all the villages, this is not serviced by a medical
doctor which is closed most of the time.

JUSTIFICATION
From informal interveiws with the children of the target group, it was obvious that
they were missing out on their mother's care and supervision.  They are left
unsupervised most of the time and this in turn affects their performance in school
and in particular in science and technology.  The secondary school girls are left to do
housework and chores which their mothers should be doing, this leaves them tired
with no zeal for doing their school work.  The younger girls spend most of their time
fetching water and firewood whilst the boys are playing.

The villagers need help in organising the gardening and farming industry and in
improving their farming practices and management skills.  By using Science and
Technology, methods of processing and preservation can be utilised to reduce wastage.
 The traders complain that certain herbs do not thrive well throughout the whole
year.  It is hoped that the preserved products would be available for the low season.  At
the end of a market day, the produce not sold need not be wasted by being given away,
thrown away or used as manure. It could be processed, preserved and sold to make up
for income previously lost.

There is also a need for the introduction of alternative income generating activities to
improve their quality of life. By introducing bee-keeping and honey collection and
other activities like fish farming into their development programme, we will not only
be promoting appropriate technology but also helping to protect the Gloucester
mountains from environmental degradation.

There are indications of a project aimed at providing a dam from the tributaries of the
Kissy Brook with objectives that are somehow different from ours. In the light of this
development fish farming can be introduced for the women in this community.  
After harvesting, various techniques of preserving fish like smoking, salting and
sun-drying will be taught to the women.

It is hoped that through this project the women would organise themselves better,
improve their income and spend more time at home than they do now.  This will
reduce the burden on the children and leave them with more time to spend on school
work.  In addition, with more time spent at home, the mothers would supervise the
children and pay more attention to their general welfare.  It is also hoped that when
the women become aware of the science involved in their activities, they will be in a
better position to encourage their girls to take more interest in science and technology. 
This knowledge would be communicated through mother-child relationship and
hence reduce the mystery or fear of science and technology which already exist in the
young children.

ACTIVITIES OF THE PROJECT

A.	Planning meeting to identify interested villagers

B.	Bee Keeping project

	(i)	Meeting with the interested villagers and leaders for a 				general discussion about Bee
Keeping.
	(ii)Video Show on Bee Keeping as practised by a similar 				 group in Newton Village.
	(iii)12 Day training workshop which will lead to:
		(a)	construction and setting up of a number of hives in different 			locations in the
village,
		(b)	the introduction of methods of maintaining the hives,
		(c)	the collection of honey and beeswax

C.	Processing and Preservation Project
	
	(i)	Meeting with the interested villagers to show how better mangement can lead to
more time at home hence more time with girl child and to emphasise the use of
science and technology throughout the workshop.

	(ii)5 Day training workshop which will lead to
		a.	collection of different herbs
		b.	processing of herbs
		c.	identifying peak periods for each herb and organising the 				timetable for
perservation
	
	(iii) Video recording of the whole process
	(iv)  5 Day training workshop - fruit collection and jam production
	(v)	  5 Day training workshop - vegetable collection and processing to 			produce pickles,
tomato paste, ketchup and other sauces.

D.	 Fish Farming Project
	(i)	Meeting with interested villagers
	(ii)14 Day training workshop

Report on activities done so far

A.	A meeting was held on 12 April 1995 to identify interested villagers. A register 	of
those interested in each project was compiled.

B.	Bee keeping Project.
At a meeting held in April, eleven (11) interested people volunteered to take part in
the bee-keeping project.  These people were invited to watch a video show on Bee
Keeping as practised by a similar group in another village called Newton. On
discussion of the project with an local expert in Bee Keeping and Management, the
interested villagers were asked to collect the materials needed and report for a planned
workshop.  A four day workshop was held in May where the construction of two mud
hives and one wooden hive was started in one compound. With the rains starting, a
bamboo covering was proposed to protect the hives.

A two-day workshop was held six weeks later, when the first layer of mud was dry
enough to apply the second layer of mud. Work on the wooden hive continued and
the bamboo covering was started.  Since then, the mud hives have been completed but
work on the wooden hive is still in progress. The project has been suspended since
the wet weather dictates that the villagers spend more time on their farm. A four day
workshop is scheduled for September, when the rains subside, inorder to complete the
wooden hive and set them up for honey collecting.

The villagers were a little discouraged when they realised that the whole process of
honey collecting could span between 6 months - 1 year depending on what the bees
were fed on and how soon they get to the hives.  It seemed that the long term
investment was quite a commitment for the poor villagers.  A two day workshop
would be held later to teach the villagers how to collect and package the honey and
also how to maintain the hives.  It is hoped that honey extractors could be obtained in
time to help in the production of the honey without having to break the hives to
collect the honey.

C.	Processing and Preservation Project (Herbs) 

At a meeting held in April, twelve (12) interested villagers were identified and the
workshop dates were arranged to suit the villagers and traders.  The five-day
workshop started on 1 May.
Day 1.	Registration of Participants took place and the type of herbs made 			available by
each participant was noted.

List of herbs

	English 		Local 		Biological
	Name			Name		Name/Family name	

1	Thyme			Tyme		Thymus 	Vulgaris, labiatae
2	mint			mint		mentha 	spicata, 	labiatae	
3	parsley			parsley		petroselimum crispum, crucifea	ce	
4	     -			partmeng	ocimum iamcricanum, labiatae	


Day 2. Participants brought herbs soon after harvesting when the wet weight was
recorded using kitchen scales.  Each participant gave their estimate of the cost of the
sample submitted for processing.  It was noted that the costings were done arbitrarily. 
Over the next few days participants were asked to bring in samples of herbs so that the
prices could be standardised by weight.  

	The herbs were plucked, washed with a solution of 2 tablespoonsfuls of vinegar
in a bucket (approx 10 litres) of water; left to drain on a sieve and then towel dried. 
Partmengi was found to lose its colour and smell on washing with dilute vinegar
solution; so a saline solution of 2 teaspoonfuls of salt in a bucket full of water was used
instead.  It was explained to them that there is a need for thorough washing of the
herbs to remove all dirt, germs and worms which could be got from the soil.  They
believed that washing the herbs with water led to the darkening of the colour of the
herbs.  They were taught that by using dilute vinegar or saline solutions, the germs
and worms could be killed and removed.  The participants were divided into groups
so such each herb could be dried by (i) sun drying (ii) oven drying [making use of the
charcoal  and wood oven used for bread baking in the village] and (iii) parching over
charcoal or wood fire.

Day 3. Unfortunately, this was not a sunny day and therefore the herbs set aside for
sun drying were not ready for packaging. Those participants who used oven drying
found that the thyme seemed to thrive well but the others lost fragrance and their
colour darkened.  Therefore except for the thyme, the oven dried samples were
discarded.  It is believed that the oven used was possibly too hot with temperatures
above 150oC and no means of temperature control.  Parching did not yield good
results for any of the herbs. The herbs lost colour and/or fragrance on parching.  The
samples were discarded.  Wet weight recordings were taken of samples brought in and
the costs standardised by weight.

Day 4. On assessment of some of the sundried products, the herbs were still not ready
for packaging.  An initial dry weight was recorded. The participants discussed the
yearly timetable arrangements for drying of the herbs inorder to avoid sun drying in
the wet season.

The participants noted that during the months of October to April, i.e. the dry season,
the herbs are grown on low land for easy access to the streams for watering purposes. 
When the rains become heavy between May and August, the low lands are flooded
and the farmers have to spend more time on their farms transfering the herbs to
higher ground.  It was therefore suggested that the sun drying process be scheduled for
December through March, the hottest and driest time of the year; when the samples
could be dried quickly and packaged within 24 hours of harvesting.
	
Day 5. The dry weight of the herbs was recorded. The slight change in weight was
observed between the initial and final dry weight to confirm that the herbs were not
completely dried.
Results obtained by one of the participants are listed below :

(i)	 17oz wet weight of thyme yeilded 3oz sundried product
(ii) 12 oz wet weight of mint yielded 3 oz sundried product.		
(iii) 7oz wet weight of partmengi yielded 3/4 oz sundried product
(iv)  Parsley did not thrive well on sundrying.
	  The colour changed and all its fragrance was lost.

				Thyme	Mint	Parsley	Partmangi
Sundrying	  	    *	  *		*		#
oven drying	 		*	  #		#		#
			
*	Good results of dry herbs with no loss of smell and minimal colour change 	properties
maintained.
#	Poor results on drying.
Samples which dried quickly were found to maintain better colour.  This was
confirmed by comparing results of participants with samples obtained from personal
experience of herbs dried during the drier months (Dec/Jan) when there was no loss in
colour.

The participants were taught how to rub and crumble the herbs using clean hands or
wearing rubber gloves.  The samples were then weighed and put into 0.5oz packets
and sealed off.  The villagers were not pleased initially on seeing the considerable loss
in weight of the dried products.  However after packaging, they realised that the dried
products could be sold readily for a lot of profit.  The packets were then labelled and
priced.

From the wet weight recordings and the estimated costings taken throughout the
workshop, it was realised that there was no scientific basis for the costings of the herbs.
 
Typical Profile of wet weight versus costings


			Day 1	  				Day 3	
			Wet Estimated 			Wet 	Estimated
				weight		Cost			weight		cost

Participant A	17oz 		Le2000			17oz 		Le21000
			thyme					thyme	
Participant B	13oz 		Le1500		13oz 		Le1200
			thyme				thyme	
Participant A	12oz 		Le 400		12oz 		Le 500
			mint					mint	
Participant B	30oz 		Le 200		3oz min		Le 100
			mint			

Results showed the discrepancies not only between participants but also between each
participant on different days.

The method of weighing was taught to the participants to help them assess equal
amounts for fixed costings.  It was suggested that even a scoop to estimate volumes 
could be used instead of weights when scales were not available.

At the end of the workshop, it was agreed that  there was a need for another workshop
so that the whole processing cycle could be repeated.  With poor weather conditions, it
was suggested that the sun drying process be suspended till the end of the rains in
October.  Although sundrying in hot weather is simple, effective and cheap, yet there
is limited control over the drying process resulting in variable product quality and a
greater risk of contamination.  A hot air drying equipment had been identified.  Test
showed that the equipment is temperature controlled and was found to dry the herbs
at around 60oC for 4 hours.  This dehydrator used charcoal to produce the heat
required.

Another workshop is scheduled for October when further trials will be done using sun
drying and oven drying methods. It is also planned that during this workshop the girl
child will be involved in the processing and preservation exercises inorder to create a
means of demonstrating the scientific element in these processes and provide scope
for better understanding of the scientific and technological fundamentals involved in
these processes. With this exposure greater relevance will be ensured of some of the
related topics covered in the more structured lessons in their various schools.

Problems and Constraints

*	Villagers who have been gardening and farming for generations were sceptical
initially to participate in alternative income generating activities.  It was also difficult
for them to make investments when they doubted the long term profits.  However,
we seem to have convinced a few and hope that when the others see the benefits, they
will join in the ongoing project.  

*	The traders do not want to spend any time away from the market for fear of losing
customers.  it was difficult to arrange times for the workshop as it meant leaving the
market early.  Considering the distance of the village from the market (5 miles) and
lack of regular transportation, the traders spend the better part of the day away from
home.  It is hoped that when they become aware of the benefits of preservation and
how it could increase their income they would become more organised and hence
spend more time away from the market.  This, in turn would lead to more time being
spent at home with the girl child.

*	At the end of a market day, the produce not sold need not be wasted by being given
away, thrown away or used as manure.  Since the villagers have no means of
preserving the herbs, the produce is wasted and income is lost.  With the knowledge
of processing and preserving, it is hoped that the traders would benefit by selling both
fresh and dried product and cut down on the wastage.

With the heavy rains, both projects have been suspended to give the farmers more
time to do transplanting from low land to high land.  They hope to grow as much
herbs as possible so that at the end of the rains they would realise a bumper harvest. 
They could then sell half of their harvest fresh and preserve the other half to be sold
as dried products.  It is believed that housewives are willing to pay for the dried
products.