Back to School and Girl's Camp
Trip Start
Jun 02, 2003
1
19
41
Trip End
Dec 31, 2006
Parakou,
Benin
Sunday, January 18, 2004
This past week has been nuts! I did manage, however, to celebrate the new year with my neighbors. I had bought some sparklers and a couple of Roman Candles in Ghana (actually the candles were thrown in for free), so I had all the neighbor kids over and their moms for a little show. Kelley and Jenny came down from Bemberecke to help me. It was great! The kids loved them! The sparklers were a little crazy - much scarier than ones in the U.S. They emitted more sparkle and fire and a loud screaming noise. We let kids do them one at a time so that it would last longer and be safer. They vigorously waved them in circles to the claps and oohs and aahs of the waiting crew. FUN! The Roman candles were a little pathetic but entertaining nonetheless.
Before vacation I wrote about the theatre group and the girls club. Well, guess what?! The theatre group ended up winning the regional competition and will go on to the national competition in Cotonou later this year. Horray! Hopefully, we will be able to find the money to get them down there. It will be much more expensive than a trip down to Parakou.
Cecile and I had our second girls club meetings this week, as well. It was not necessarily easy, but we are plugging on hoping that in time, the girls will open up more and gain more confidence. We have tons of ideas! We are hoping to hold a career day for girls at our school this Spring, maybe around International Woman's Day, if we can get ready in time. We want to bring a bunch of different professional women to N'Dali so that the girls will realize that they have more options available to them than becoming a marche mama or working in the fields.
This weekend we had a Volunteer Action Committee meeting (VAC). I am now going to be the VAC representative, which means I will travel down to Cotonou two or three times a year to participate in the national VAC meeting. VAC is sort of like student government, only within Peace Corps for the volunteers.
We also had a meeting to discuss Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), the Girl's Camp we are going to have this summer. There are Camp GLOWs all around the world, organized by Peace Corps Volunteers. Benin has never had a Camp GLOW before that I know of, though three volunteers did have a girl's camp in Natitingou last year. We have not yet had it officially approved as a Camp GLOW, yet, but we are working on it, in hopes of getting some funding and other aid (in the form of general information, organizing techniques, etc.). It is all very exciting. The camp will be for girls in 6eme and 5eme (about 6th and 7th grades) and will last for five days. This weekend some folks are going to come to N'Dali to discuss different sessions and activities we will have.
This weekend I developed a bunch of photos, so hopefully, I will get a chance to put them on the website soon. Stay tuned!
