Yesterday was a wonderful day, the when the first Kit Yamoyos actually made it into the hands of mothers (and fathers) of young children in a remote village – Siachitema – in rural Zambia. This was the end of my week-long trip to the field, following the Kit Yamoyos through the distribution chain looking for the glitches in the systems before we go live next month.
Yesterday’s story is best told with pictures (and one video clip) so here we go.
08:15am
Hans Hesse from Zoona (aka Mobile Transactions Zambia Limited) meets with Keepers Zambia Foundation staff in Kalomo: Charlotte (Field Facilitator, Kalomo); Elias (Project Officer, Katete); Hans (Zoona) and Boyd Hakubeja (Project Officer, Kalomo). Training in voucher activation begins.
We arrive in Siachitema and meet up with the shop keepers, mothers and their children. Field facilitator Charlotte explains how the voucher works.
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10:00am
Mothers are given vouchers, whilst our first Kit Yamoyos, bought by the shop keepers on Friday at the Choma Wholesaler, are lined up with all the other commodities in the shops. Note our Product Training Manual on the bottom RHS of picture 4!
10:30am
In the meantime a father passes with his daughter, hears the commotion around the Kit Yamoyo and buys one to keep at home for the next time his daughter gets diarrhoea (result!). Meanwhile, village life goes on around us.
Mothers come forward to exchange their voucher for a Kit Yamoyo. There is lots of good hearted banter about who should be first and queue jumping!
11:00am
Voucher PIN numbers are revealed as the voucher redemption training concludes. That’s the shop owner (Joy) in the red shirt watching her daughter get the hang of the Zoona system in no time at all. For those interested in the process, here’s video of Albert (Keepers Zambia Foundation) running through the process for the camera . . . . listen out for the buzz about Kit Yamoyo in the background!
Noon
We are done and as I’m leaving I catch this woman reading the instructions written in Tonga on the Kit Yamoyo leaflet.
What a great day. I’ve been dreaming of this day for more than 20 years!
I am now confident that the distribution system works and is ready for the start of the trial next month. We came across a few glitches but nothing major. Most of these were sorted out ‘on the fly’ and the others can be fixed over the next two weeks.
Onwards and upwards.
For those of you still reading, here are a few more miscellaneous pictures from the day . . .
Hi Jane, Hi Simon,
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Just a quick email to say that I saw your latest post (https://www.colalife.org/2012/08/14/the-end-of-the-line/) and I’m thrilled to hear that the first kits have been distributed – it seems only yesterday that you were in our offices and starting out. I look forward to following how it progresses once you ‘go live’.
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Good luck and best wishes,
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E
Hi Simon & Jane, and team!
What a wonderfui moment in the ColaLife story so far. Two years ago Simon was pitching to TEDx Berlin asking people to spread the word, now it’s all action. I’m so pleased for you, as Dawn says gold to you all
Well done!!
That really is a milestone for you and the team!
All the best
N
Amazing and a big congratulations to you, Jane and your entire team. It’s so surreal to see the product now in the hands of consumers!
Thank you for your creativity and perseverance in making this happen, and we look forward to watching this idea scale to other regions and countries!
Please let us know if we can help in any way.
Warmly
Y
Fantastic news and what a great journey you’ve taken us all on. All your hard work and dedication has paid off.
Thanks for the update and fab pics
Jude
This is just so so good to read. Quite a journey from early interviews on PM and carrying the HUGE aidpod across London from Euston! So admire you both and all the team for the determination to continue and the difference it will clearly now make to save lives.
Keep on believing!
Paul