Who Run the World?

The dogdays of summer have arrived in Benin. Classes are out, and exams finished. “Knee-high by the Fourth of July” corn in the US is more like “Reach for the Sky Come July” in Benin, even if the rains have been weak. Summer as a Peace Corps Volunteer means summer camps. At least 10 camps fill the weeks of July and early August across the country, inviting hundreds of middle and high-school age students to learn about public health, food security, leadership, English, and to meet new friends. For months I had been a part of a small team organizing Camp UNITE/GLOW in the historic city of Ouidah, which I’m proud to say made it through its scheduled program last week.

Camp GLOW is an annual tradition for not only Peace Corps Benin but many other missions across the world. GLOW stands for Girls Leading Our World and targets motivated and accomplished young women for instruction in malaria prevention, nutrition, sexual and menstrual health, and leadership. In Benin, we have a Camp GLOW in both the north and south, though my southern camp is now called Camp UNITE due to a new partnership with the UNITE Foundation (started by Togo RPCVs). Our camp brought together 46 girls from seven different Peace Corps villages found throughout the south. These girls were chosen by their PCVs and school administrations for their outstanding academic and leadership achievements. For most girls, camp was their first time leaving their county (commune, in French) and seeing a different part of the country.

Regardless of preparations, these girls knew little of what they were getting into. Once everyone arrived Sunday, our team of 7 Volunteers and 7 Beninese camp counselors burst into camp songs and divided the villages into six color teams (ROYGBV) to mix things up. We assigned teams chores for each day, crowdsourced camp rules, and set up a point system not unlike that of Hogwarts. Monday was our first full day of action and included lessons on malaria, nutrition, and the moringa tree. We also played a sharks and minnows game where half of the girls were mosquitos preying on humans who failed to make it under mosquito nets. The usual “prison” in the game was replaced with a health center. Later that day the girls made friendship bracelets to match their color team and watched “The Lion King.”

Tuesday brought us to lessons on sexual and menstrual health with our facilitation partners from Amour et Vie, a public health promotion organization geared towards youth. In the afternoon, the girls enjoyed a field trip to an African art museum and the Vodoun Python Temple, where they courageously wore pythons with only a little bit of jitters and trepidation. We closed the day off with a game of Jeopardy to recap lessons from the first two days. It was about this time that the village cliques partially dissolved and girls hung out in color teams. Score one for social engineering!

The program Wednesday and Thursday shifted to leadership and personal development. We were lucky to have local women professionals facilitate lessons on public speaking, the importance of education, and leadership. They also conducted a round-robin panel for the girls, discussing personal narratives, aspirations, and overcoming barriers. Using their backgrounds in teaching, management, service, and accounting, they offered advice on staying in school, taking French and math seriously, and when and when not to trust men and boys. Other activities these days included yoga, dancing, an egg drop engineering competition, drawing lessons, and watching “Black Panther.” 

I led a session on study skills. Only a few girls slept through it.

The most meaningful activity, however, was our Thursday field trip to the Historic Ouidah Slave Route. For many girls, this was their first time really unpacking the definition and implications of slavery since it’s often glossed over in history classes. The old slave port of Ouidah supplied upwards of one quarter of all slaves committed to the Transatlantic Slave Trade, resulting in millions of local cases of kidnapping, bondage, torn families, death, and destruction. They learned that this population drain from Benin sapped resources from the economies of their ancestors while simultaneously building the wealth of western nations. The Slave Route itself has several sites of symbolism along its 4-kilometer journey. One is the Tree of Forgetting, which slaves were required to circle several times in order to forget their past. Another is the Tree of Remembering, which is several hundred years old and is said to house the spirits of those taken from Benin. There’s also a mass grave and a seaside UNESCO monument called the Door of No Return dedicated to the loss and grief of millions. However somber of a trip, spirits brightened at the beach where the girls saw the ocean for the first time and played in its shallow tides.

The amazons of Dekanmey loved the beach and the camp lessons.

The last day or so wound down the program. The girls learned about self-esteem and the consequences of skin bleaching in a session called “Black is Beautiful.” They also conducted a relay race that ran through several of the weeks lessons on mosquito net installation, sex ed, and handwashing as well as daintier portions like a three-legged race. The Volunteers also led the girls in planning training activities back at their schools so that they can share their new knowledge on malaria, nutrition, and safe sex. At the end of the week, the Volunteers set up a special dinner and a dance party to celebrate the girls. Each participant received a certificate and a goody bag including a French dictionary, a protractor, a mosquito net, and khaki fabric for school uniforms.

It’s safe to say these girls loved camp: They rejoiced in the song and dance and were thrilled to venture out on field trips and watch movies; they made friends from across the south of the country; and they feverishly took in lessons that will lead to both personal and their communities’ development. As the grant coordinator, accountant, and occasional facilitator for the camp, it was an exhausting week of teaching, singing, running errands, organizing, and maintaining discipline. No matter the stress, the work and pain were worth it each time a girl enthusiastically reviewed a lesson, talked about her future career, or smiled in the ocean breeze. Beninese society doesn’t always respect women’s rights and freedoms, but I know that these girls are and will be Benin’s leaders regardless of their chosen profession based on their love for knowledge, leading, and one another. Many of my friends and family donated to this project, and for that I say thank you. And on behalf of the leaders you helped develop, thank you. Who run the world? Girls!