Hello everyone!! I realize it has been a while since I last updated you on my activities here in Togo, but I have actually been super busy the past couple of months! So as not to bore you all with a fifty page blog post, I will try to give you all the highlights of my life from where we left off.

First of all I would just like to say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who donated money to help fund Camp Informatique! I really cannot tell you how excited I was when I found out the project was completely funded, so thank you so so so much. You are all so wonderful. The other organizers and I have been busy getting everything organized before the students arrive next week. The group of Togolese people that I am working with on this camp is really on top of everything, so I actually haven’t been wearing myself out with the details. The boy students will be arriving on the 6th of June and leaving on the 10th, and the girls arrive on the 10th and leave on the 14th. I will be sure to let everyone know how the whole thing goes once we are finished.

So, speaking of summer camps, I just got back from Camp UNITE. This particular camp is for Togolese youth who show promise mostly in the way of leadership. We teach them about a variety of topics such as Puberty and Adolescence, Child Trafficking, and Income Generating Activities. There are four camps: one week for girl apprentices and one week for boy apprentices, and one week for girl students and one week for boy students. I was asked to be a counselor for the girl apprentices camp this year which I happily accepted!

First I went to a three day training to be a counselor. That was fun since I got to hang out with several of my other volunteer friends, and I got to know the Togolese counselors pretty well. Each American is paired with a Togolese to present a session to the campers when they arrive, so we got to prepare our sessions during the training. I was asked to present one session on Income Generating Activities and one session on Time Management and Goal Setting.

After the training, I had a couple days to rest before the campers arrived which turned out to be a blessing since camp was exhausting. So then the girls arrived and we had five days worth of singing, dancing (I had to do FOUR traditional Togolese dances with my cabin…), and learning. It was so great to see the transformation in the girls throughout the week. Girl apprentices in Togo are a group that is very rarely encouraged to be leaders and to continue learning. When they arrived, many of them were very shy and had a lack of self confidence. By the end of the week, I was beginning to see some of them come out of their shell which was just incredible. When I say that they were timid when they arrived, I mean they would not speak at all, even in small groups. They would turn and look down or hide their faces with their hands. By the end of the week, they were able to speak to a group and prepare skits about serious topics like sexual harassment. Camp this year was a very eye-opening and rewarding experience in many ways that I don’t know how to express.

That being said, there were some hilarious moments throughout camp; most of them having to do with myths about puberty or sexual relationships. For me they were pretty funny, but they were also a huge reflection on the lack of sexual education in Togo…for many of the girls, it was the first time anyone had ever spoken to them about menstruation, and they were mostly between the ages of 18 and 23. So, to entertain you and open your eyes a little, I’ll share with you some of the best things I heard or saw.

1. “Some women don’t bleed through their vagina. They bleed through their hands and feet. I have seen it.”
2. “If you wait five years after having sex, your vagina will shrink back and you will be a virgin.”
3. “Masturbation is something only white people do.”
4. “In our village, if you sit on the sacred rock (a rite of passage at the age of 16) and you are not a virgin, you will die.”
5. “If a woman has twins and one is a girl and one is a boy, that’s how you know she was unfaithful because each twin is from a different father.”

All in all, it was a great week. I felt like the girls really benefited not only from the sessions, but from being able to be around other motivated young apprentices like themselves. It was so great to see the bonds form between them and to see them encourage each other to be leaders in their communities.

Other than work, things in Sokode are going really well. I celebrated my birthday with three other volunteers whose birthdays were right in a row with mine. We went to Bassar to have a joint party which was so much fun. It is always a treat to be able to see so many volunteers at once as we are all so spread out. The ride home was pretty entertaining since the door to the taxi was not at all attached to the car and had to be tied on with a rope. Also, the mechanic was riding on the roof because he didn’t get in before the door got tied on and we needed him because the car kept breaking down.

To wrap this up, I thought I would share a funny story with everyone since my life is just one ridiculous occurrence after the other. So, one day I was talking with Jaclyn on the phone when the other woman who lives in my compound was looking for me. I tell Jaclyn to hold on so I can go see what she needs really quick. When I go out to the porch, she looks a little confused and tells me that some kids are here with the “singe” that I wanted. Now at that moment I couldn’t remember what the French word “singe” meant, so I told her I would go out and see what was going on. Well, I walk outside and there stands three kids I have never seen before with a MONKEY tied to a rope. So, “singe” means monkey. I just start laughing and tell them that I never asked for a monkey and to take it back where they found it (this was met with some protest since they were sure I had asked for a monkey). I told Jaclyn that I was so glad she was on the phone when this happened because I don’t feel like people believe half the stories I tell from here because they are so insane.

I hope everyone is doing well, and as always I miss you all so much. I eagerly await everyone’s arrival in Togo 