Not what they want to hear

The most controversial project that I’ve started here so far has been my Girls Club. At eleven weeks in, the boys still ask me when I’m going to start my Boys Club when I show up at school at 17:00. The controversy only worsened this week when the t-shirts I ordered for the club arrived. The question changed from when the Boys Club would start to when I would be making them t-shirts. 

In the US, my usual response to questions such as those would be that the entire rest of the country is a Boys Club, every other month is White History Month and the Men’s Center is the entire rest of campus. Those responses don’t really translate here.

My general observation about men here, both my students and those older, is that they are not used to hearing the word, “No.” No you cannot join my club. No you cannot play with my iPod. No you cannot take my bicycle. Chauvinism is not just an underlying part of the culture. Chauvinism is the culture.

When I started the club, I was tentative. I could feel myself bending under the incessant questioning, by students and other teachers. But then the girls took hold of the club. It became their place. Their one place where they held dominion. The one place where they could say no boys allowed.

Summer project #1

Like all good teachers, I’m looking forward to three months of no lesson planning, no quizzes to grade and having my voice a majority of the time due to a significant decrease in the time it is raised.

I’ll be filling most of my time with my students at various camps. (two for female empowerment and one English spelling bee where my students will be competing against students of other Peace Corps volunteers.) The one that I’m most excited for, and the one that I feel can influence the most amount of change, and the one that I feel is most necessary in this community, is Camp GLOW Parakou, a weeklong camp for girls where we try to share as much knowledge as possible to help these girls live successfully. (Malaria, nutrition, relationship advice, sexual health and images of beauty are all things about which we will be talking.)

Camp GLOW, like all the projects in which I’ll be participating this summer, is volunteer run, which means we have come to the unfortunate part of my job where I have to solicit funds from my friends and family because the $3 I’m paid a day doesn’t really allow for big things to happen. (And unfortunately, I already know this is not the last time I will need to do this.)

And unfortunately, unless the project is fully funded from people like you, it will not happen. My sincerest gratitude for anything that you are able to give.

Link and official project description are below. 

Camp GLOW

Since 2004, Peace Corps Volunteers from Northeastern Benin have coordinated with local organizations to run a girls’ empowerment camp in the capital of the local region. This year Peace Corps and the University of Parakou, the prestigious local university, will invite 50 girls from villages in the regions to participate in this opportunity. In addition, 6 girls from Camp G.L.O.W. 2012 have been invited back as junior counselors to help with the camp this year. Six model women will be selected from the communities to accompany the girls. These women, called ‘tutrices’, will act as a role models, facilitators, and chaperones for the duration of the camp and ultimately as a more permanent resource for the community. Throughout the week, the participants will be led through sessions on how to bring their new skills and the ideals of Camp G.L.O.W. back to their villages, specifically to other girls of the same age group. Each day is filled with sessions on leading a healthy lifestyle, the rights of women and children, health education, nutritional gardening, goal setting, and effective study skills. All of the sessions are to be co-led by tutrices and their Peace Corps volunteer. By targeting girls of this age, the ultimate goal is to motivate them to continue their education and develop the skills necessary to grow into successful, confident, multi-talented women in a developing country.