Courage, Jeune Fille - Courage Girl!

Last year when I attended my first girls’ camp, CAMP GLOW, a regional camp that took place in Parakou, the major city close to where I live, I realized that these camps were a really important part of our work here. A really difficult part of living here is seeing the treatment of girls on a daily basis. The mama in my concession, the wife of the richest person in my village, sends her daughter out to sell frozen juices on her head. My teacher friend calls his daughter an imbecile for not greeting me when I entered the house. Sweeping, pulling water, cooking, taking care of babies, these things are the girls’ work. A week of camp not only gives them a chance to learn important information about their health and wellbeing, it also gives them a chance to see what life will be like when they’re in control – when they are on their own.

So with my chaperone from last year, I started planning Camp Courage, and over the past year it slowly came together. Money left in Kate Puzey’s name was donated to the cause of camps. At the same time a local success story who works in Cotonou wanted to help out. Slowly I went from a budget of $100 to $500. I bore most of the load in terms of work, as my chaperone became pregnant and had other things to worry about.

Finally last week, CAMP COURAGE happened. After hours of writing letters, requests for supplies, and planning sessions, it happened. It was a fantastic week! Here’s a run down of the five days of camp.

Day 1.
Too many girls showed up! I had given each invitee a form to fill out and told them to bring it back to me. 4 or 5 girls who did not give the form back to me showed up to the camp, form in hand. I had already replaced them. I didn’t have the heart to turn them down, and I had my fingers crossed that there would be money left in the budget. So, we began our week with 34 girls, 3 chaperones, and 3 volunteers.

We started the day off with typical get-to-know you activities. The girls really enjoyed these. Many of them already knew each other, but it was clear that there were names to be learned on all parts, including my own. Several of my favorite girl students where there, but there were also many I had never seen before I invited them. Their invitation was solely based on their hard work at school.

After, I led a session about clean water. This is a workshop I’ve done about 4 times over the past two years. We emphasize choosing clean sources of water (tap water vs. river water), and the use of purification methods, especially a product called Aquatabs, which is a very cheap pill you put in a 20 liter tank of water to chlorinate it.

In the afternoon my friends Claire and Sarah led sessions. Claire introduced them to the wild world of yoga while Sarah taught them a lesson on drawing using point of view and perspective.

Day 2.
The second day was dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDs. To start out, though, we took all the girls outside, gave them toothbrushes and gave them a tooth brushing presentation. We lined them all up on the veranda of the school building and they spat together in the dirt after singing the alphabet two times while brushing.

The local midwife led most of the sessions this day and she was excellent. She had the girls jumping, laughing, and crying. She started with a session on reproductive health. The girls were wide eyed, many of them having no idea what their cycle was, that it was coming, and why it happens. Directly after, the midwife talked about STIs and HIV/AIDS. She showed pictures and talked about how it really is possible to fight these diseases. At the end there was a condom demonstration.

In the afternoon, we worked with the girls to design large posters about HIV/AIDS to be posted at school next year. We used the back of empty grain sacks and permanent markers to display our messages. The girls chose messages such as “Let’s be faithful,” “No condom, no sex!” “My diploma will be my husband!’ and “AIDS won’t pass through us.” The idea of this part of the week was to give them a chance to put their knowledge into action, and I think the girls really got it. They’ll be proud next year to see the posters hung up at school.

Day 3.
Nothing went as scheduled on Day 3, but it was still a success. We started with “The Life of a Model Women,” and a university student, a woman who works for a literacy NGO, and another women who works for women’s rights, all took about 20 minutes to talk about their work, the difficulties of being a woman in the work place, and being a working woman at home. The girls were very interested, posing a lot of questions along the way.

After this there was a short session on sexual harassment. The women mentioned in the last paragraph gave this talk, and it was a bit dry. Fortunately we had a plan to rehash some of the ideas on the next day. We took our group photo and had our lunch. That afternoon the girls finished working on their posters and got a chance to play a little soccer.

Day 4
Today we had a variety of sessions which were all very useful. First, my friend Kendra did a presentation on Paludisme, Malaria. She told a story about a child who got Malaria, and along the way, the girls had to deduce what the person did wrong. This was a well planned session, since the girls already know a lot about preventing Malaria. It was a good way to get them thinking about it.

After, the midwife came back to tell her model woman story. She couldn’t come the day before because of work. Her story was deep and touching. She was the daughter of a military colonel who had 8 wives and about 30 known children. She was spoiled as a child and then as she grew, she was treated poorly as the result of jealousy between wives. Even though she was the daughter of a rich man, she often went hungry and suffered at school. She forced herself to stay in school, and eventually got some meager financial support from her father to go to midwife school after she had finished high school. The midwife was often in tears, as were some of the girls, I’m sure. This kind of story is all to common here for the girls, and I think hearing this story had to have given at least one or two of those girls the courage to keep going. That same morning, the midwife did free hiv/aids screening for all the girls. Fortunately, they were all negative for hiv/aids and herpes.

I also led a session this morning on “Strategies against Sexual Harassment at School.” As I’ve mentioned, teachers harassing girls is a real problem here in Benin. Every year there are cases of harassment, rape, and pregnancy at many schools, including my own. We talked about how to avoid teachers advances, for example keeping a distance, not greeting them, not wearing tight uniforms, etc and after we talked about what to do if you are approached by a teacher, or anyone else who makes unwanted advances. It was interesting to let the girls role play and to see that they know exactly what the teachers say, because they see it every day.

In the afternoon we did cultural “exposés.” Because I’m in such a unique spot in Benin, there were about 5 ethnic groups that were really well represented among the girls (Peuhl, Bariba, Nagot, Fon, Ditamari). Each group responded to questions about their culture and presented this information to the girls. Each group also did a dance and/or song. Kendra and I presented on “European-American” culture, which included a stunning rendition of “The Battle Hymn of The Republic.” To the girls’ disappointment, we didn’t dance.

Day 5
The cultural exposés prepared the girls well for a trip to the Museum of Plain Air in Parakou. We packed ourselves in to five taxis, and every girl got a chance to see the museum with a guide. The museum included a lot of things that we talked about the afternoon before – traditional clothing, foods, and ceremonies. The girls really liked it. Most of them had never been to a museum before.

That afternoon, we had our closing ceremony. It was well attended, with the girls there were about 75 people, including the assistant-mayor (chef d’arondissement), the headmaster, many teachers, the president of the PTA, and an assistant director of Peace Corps who is from Tchatchou.

I welcomed everyone and the girls sang their camp hymn. Each important person had a chance to talk. The director gave the girls a very encouraging speech, which is rare here. He congratulated them on their good work, and encouraged them not to let our work be in vain. We finished the ceremony with the girls dancing and singing after which they were given certificates, sodas, and sandwiches.

In a few weeks, I’ll leave Tchatchou, and a new volunteer will come to replace me. Honestly, after having such a successful week of camp, I have no problem saying that this, after teaching, is one of the best things I’ve done here. The most worthwhile. The most impact. My greatest hope for whoever replaces me is that, besides teaching, she manages to make Camp Courage 2011 happen.