Mile 19 Community
3rd Leadership Retreat Follow-up Meeting
Tuesday July 29 to Friday August 1, 2008
Visit the Exhibits
Visit the booth space displays of individuals, groups, other organizations and businesses, as you move from one programme event to another. The displays will be located strategically around the Community Centre and other syndicate meeting areas, throughout the Meeting period. The exhibits will include:
- Some of Our Major Crops - Challenges and Opportunities
- Our Health - Issues and Programmes
- Our Women - In Education, Employment, Health, Family Care and Community Mobilization
- Our Youth - In Education, Employment and Caring for the Elderly
- Other Groups, Individuals, Organizations and Businesses
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Some of Our Major Crops
Our major crops include cocoyams, plantains, bananas, pepper, maize, cassava, cocoa, cola nuts, beans, oranges, pears, mangoes, coffee, pineapples, sugarcane, oil palm, pawpaw, and plumbs. You will find some of these on display including some of the challenges and opportunities we face in producing them. The production obstacles we face include pests such as beetles, moths, other insects and fungi, and inadequate access to markets. These hold us back from producing to scale, as we would want, and processing our produce to any market standard. Even so, our mixed cropping systems of farming remain ethical and respectful of our environment. We take great care in tending our produce - which is consumed by humans like ourselves and other animals. We only use chemicals sparingly and rely mostly on natural organic fertilization and integrated pest management techniques. Come, visit our stands, see our issues and possibilities, buy some of the produce on display at very moderate prices.
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Our Health - Issues and Programmes
Caring for our health is central to our way of life. We are constantly on the lookout for threats to our health and devising strategies and programmes to eliminate the threats. We are aware, for example, that our own personal hygiene and sanitation can improve our health or endanger it. So we have set up a hygiene and sanitation sub-committee, within our community council health committee, to galvanize all in the community to work and ensure that our standards of hygiene and sanitation are improving continually. Our other special health threats include malaria, typhoid, filarisis and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) including HIV/AIDS. Voluntary civic groups have formed around each of these issue areas, and work in partnership with the community council health committee to combat the threats - by finding more information, sensitizing the community, mobilizing involvement in prevention or treatment programmes, monitoring and evaluating achievements. Come, visit their stands, see the tools they use, and exchange ideas.
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Women are the heart of life in our community. Our women are very dynamic, probably more than our men. For example, during preparations for our 1st Mile 19 Community Leadership Retreat Follow-up Meeting, they were the first to meet up with their financial contributions. All of them, both women and girls, paid their contributions in time. They even offered to help the Mile 19 Community Council speedup its collection of agreed financial contributions from the men in the community - especially those who appeared to be dragging their feet in the contribution process. The women have organized themselves into several voluntary civic groups that are registered and work in partnership with the community council. These include groups for women's training and education, employment, health, care for the family and community mobilization. Please come, visit their display, see what they do - the techniques they use, share with them.
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Our youth have their own ways and never want to be left behind. They make sure they are adequately represented in the community council and its various decision making processes that interest them. And they are always organizing, planning and executing events, and getting the sponsorship they need for their activities - which often include sports (football, handball, athletics, etc.), dancing, talent shows and debates. They have also been organizing, recently, into voluntary civic groups, following the good example of our women, on thematic issues that interest them - such as, youth training and education, employment, and care for the aging and elderly. Come, see and engage our youth in development.
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Other Groups, Individuals, Organizations and Businesses
Other groups, individuals, organizations and businesses such as those of families, tribes and associations would want to show their capacity, achievements and challenges. If you have or want other goods, products/services or programmes and services that respond to our needs, please come and display or look for them here, at the Mile 19 Community Leadership Retreat Follow-up Meeting booth/stand displays and exhibits.