And this is why we have Camp GLOW

The taxi driver pulled the car to the right side of highway right after the checkpoint in the road, marked by a car with a police helmet on top of it and several men standing around in uniforms that make them look more important than they actually are.

The police walked to the car with the swagger of law enforcement officials. His was more accentuated than in the US, but he also carries an AK-47 as part of job.

He covertly took the 500 CFA coin out of the driver’s left hand and bent over to peer inside the open window. The volunteer sitting next to me and I directed our eyes elsewhere.

We shouldn’t have worried. It wasn’t us he was interested in. Doing a remarkable portrayal of a man in front of a meat counter choosing a cut of steak he regarded the five middle school girls we were taking back to our villages after a weeklong girls camps.

“Those are some pretty girls you have there,” he said before pivoting on his back foot and signaling to the gate operator to let us pass.