Almost every day I think about what food I miss.For those of you who don’t know, I’m considering extending a 3rd year in Togo.What does this mean? If things go according to plan, I will be on home leave in America for ONE WHOLE MONTH sometime around November or December 2012 (and then my service will extend until January 2014)
So here’s the things I want to eat during that month I will be home (or when I get home permanently if this 3rd year thing doesn’t work out)Start looking at who wants to take me out for what! J(I’m serious)
Also, don’t judge me.You come to Togo for over a year and then we can talk.
- TACO BELL!!!
Crunchwrap Supreme
Mountain Dew
Cheesy Fiesta Potatoes
Hard shell taco
Soft shell taco
Cheese rollup
Etc
- Olive Garden (salad & breadsticks & WINE!)
- Bagel & cream cheese & Doritos
- Sushi
- Chinese food… crab ragoon
- Jimmy John’s
- Baked potato with cheese and BACON
- BACON
- Portillo’s hot dog / cheese fries / chocolate cake shake
- McDonalds McChicken sandwich
- FlatTop stir-fry with a cranberry lemonade
- Portillos Caesar salad
- Panera broccoli/cheddar breadbowl
- Baja Fresh Chicken quesadilla
- Huck Finn Becky Thatcher
- Root beer
- Poptarts (Oreo and strawberry)
- Ego waffles
- Strawberries and whipped cream
- Vegetable platter (celery, carrots, broccoli and the dip in the middle)
- Baked Lays and French Onion Dip
- Long Island Iced Tea
- Vegas bomb
- Mozzarella sticks and marinara sauce
- Bosco sticks
- Belizean restaurant
- Puerto Rican restaurant on Pulaski next to J&R
- KFC mashed potatoes/cornbread/chicken
- Icecream
- Cornbeef sandwich and mustard
- Puppy chow
- The Patio – ribs/baked potato/coleslaw
- Diner on La Grange Ave (can’t think of the name! AH!)
Let me preface this by saying that I am not the first person to arrive at such an idea and there’s probably lots of well-written literature on the topic but I’ve gotten to a point in my Peace Corps service where I just want to share my thoughts on the topic from my personal perspective.
What topic?
Foreign aid / Development work / Giving out free shit
First of all – the intentions are no doubt good. Hungry people deserve to eat; children deserve to be educated… etc. etc.I don’t know anyone who disagrees there… but is there a way to guarantee people basic human rights without such negative consequences?
What negative consequences, you ask? (Here comes the rant part)
SELF-DETERMINATION DOESN’T EXIST! This is like the main belief behind the Code of Ethics for Social Work… the idea that everyone is capable of helping themselves and moreover, that everyone has the right to make decisions for themselves because each individual knows what is best for him or her. (This is my definition and if I had internet access I’d probably be able to formulate it in better words so feel free to Google it/dictionary.com it) It’s not just that we’re creating such dependence on this foreign aid but perpetuating the idea that (in my case) Togolese aren’t capable of helping themselves without the help of America. (This applies to other underdeveloped countries in conjunction with America/Europe/developed countries)
I’m going to sidestep and take it a step further that in Togo, there’s an idea that all Americans are white, all white people are rich, all rich people are white… etc.For many years, it has been “the white people” who have built churches, roads, water pumps, schools, etc.; therefore, Togolese must not be capable.If not this mentality, try this one on for size- Why should I pay for my child to go to school when last year some white person paid for it? “No, my daughter, I am not paying for you to go to school… you found a white person last year, find one this year.”Not to mention this leads to parents encouraging their daughters to find men with money which leads to disease, early pregnancy and ultimate dropout anyways. In a less harsh scenario, they might become somewhat successful merchants in order to pay their school fees but then eventually dropout or fail anyways because they don’t have enough time to study (and work and cook, wash clothes, dishes, go search water and do all the domestic work)
It also hurts the economy of Togo.Take this for example: there’s a couple from a developed country giving out notebooks, pens and other school supplies.Not only does this cause controversy between ethnic groups (those who get more than others brag and the others are jealous and problems ensue) but it hurts business.Instead of purchasing these supplies in that village, they brought them from home, therefore taking away the business that the woman (who sells school supplies in that village) should normally get.And with that money she’d spend it on food and that farmer could spend it on gas, and so-on and so-forth… circulating currency instead of doing the exact opposite of taking away business (ultimately for everyone)
Obviously it just creates this dependency, perceived incompetence, potential laziness and to top it off, it’s just not sustainable and can cause more harm than good.Why work when someone will do it for free?
From the perspective of a Peace Corps Volunteer, this is beyond frustrating.People see me and the color of my skin and automatically expect money. The 3 Peace Corps goals are to 1) share knowledge 2) learn their culture 3) share American culture.Nowhere does it speak of money.
This causes more problems than I can even articulate.Take this example: A volunteer did a large conference for 40 students in 7th grade- she planned for months. The day before the conference the presenters asked how much they will be paid for working with us.How much? ZERO. Nothing. We’re volunteers; we’re not paid, not only are we not rich but a lot of us are poor/in debt.They don’t believe this.They refused to work because in the past- some white person did a similar project and gave out money and gifts.
Yes, this is stereotyping foreigners and more precisely, white people but can you blame them? Children who don’t speak French, or even speak at all know how to say “White person, give me money” because there were white people who have done this for years and years.(Not to mention they also brought Christianity, bought and sold slaves and colonized the land/created arbitrary boundaries)
This is a rant.This isn’t necessarily coherent or sequential in thought… but if you took the time to read this I just hope you took one thing away from it – giving money to other countries might hurt them more than it helps them.(And “money can’t buy me love” which seems to be the common misconception)
/rant
Other than that, life is good. Some days are worse than others but I’m still having the experience of a lifetime and honestly, I’m scared to one day come back to America… more about this later
Internet connection is sketchy and takes a really long time to load a simple page so the fact that I am willing to go to these websites say that I enjoy them a lot.
02 December 2011. 8:20am. I’m sitting at school in the teachers’ lounge (a hut) during my free hour. School starts at 6:45 with the flag raising and morning announcements.The first class is 7-8, the second 8-9 and so on… At 9:45 there’s a 15-30 minute break called “recreation” when some women come and sell food (corn, rice, bouillie aka porridge, “spaghetti”, gateaux (cakes), etc.) that I can’t explain the tastes or substance.Anyway, I’m sitting in the teachers’ lounge trying not to poo my pants. I’ve been sick the Sunday before and I’m hoping it passes. My temperature has been only 97 degrees and I’ve had huge headaches. I continue to come to school because if you know me, I’m not content if I’m not working.
Yesterday was a hectic day but a day I’ll probably always remember as successful. It was World AIDS Day (La Journée Mondiale du SIDA). I had planned an hour of time with the seamstress apprentices but their patrons (bosses) were refusing to let them come to my session (only one hour!) because they said there’s a lot of work for them to get done. So I went to the middle school…
At flag raising, bright and early with the harmattan breeze the principal and I explained World AIDS Day.There are 34 million people infected with AIDS in the world and 70% (24.5 million) are in Africa. AND In Zimbabwe, girls are 5 times more likely to be infected than boys due to lack of rights, education, etc. So I took 50 students and said “you’re all infected”… 15 are from other countries but 35 are in Africa. Of those 35, 30 were girls. They all made a noise like “Owww” to show their disbelief. Afterwards, I took out my penis-made-of-wood (it looks so real) and they got a laugh out of it. I did a condom demonstration, showing them how to know if it’s expired and how to properly use a condom. Afterwards, I went to each class for their house until my counterpart for the apprentices showed up and said they’re waiting for me. Ha!
So I did my planned “self-confidence” session with the apprentices. I have had this lesson planned with my super-smiley counterpart, Parry, planned since October (We work together in order to improve his knowledge about Peace Corps teaching techniques because he I nominated him as a leader for a fellow PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteer’s) project- Camp Joie/Joy – a camp for children with physical disabilities. He was great but needs improvement. So I’ve been training him while he helps me set up meeting times and translates my French into the 2 popular vernacular African languages my apprentices speak.
The self-confidence sessions went well as an introduction. Girls here are taught that they’re not as capable as boys to accomplish things and are often told they’re stupid … so I was trying to surmount those obstacles. Since they don’t know how to write and are ashamed to speak in public groups, I gave them paper and markers and had them draw pictures to show how they have self-confidence. A lot of them drew pictures of chickens and houses, saying they will build houses one day and raise chickens to be able to feed their family well—they were saying they have confidence that they’ll succeed in their futures. I also showed them the wooden penis and how to correctly use a condom. My friend, one of their bosses, was also there and said this is the first time she’s ever seen a condom (She’s in her mid-40s, has 4 kids).
Sick or not, questioning if I have a parasite, malaria or just something that will pass, I walked back to school to finish going class to class, giving boys and girls opportunities to explain and show their fellow classmates how to put condoms on my wooden penis. I gave them the basic information of how to get AIDS…
1)Unprotected sex
2)Blood
3)Mother to child
…and stomped rumors that you can get AIDS by eating with someone who is infected. There’s a cute ABCDE thing to explain prevention methods too.
Abstinence
Bonne fidélité (being faithful to one partner)
Condoms
Dépistage (screening test to know your status)
Education
They asked super serious questions like “Can I wear 2 condoms for better protection?” to questions like “What’s the average penis size?” and “will an uncircumcised penis rip the condom?” Kids here are doing it young it’s scary… “If my penis isn’t big enough for a condom, what should I do?”
We even explained the female condom (FemiDome in their French). My official counterpart got one in the capital at a formation he did. He explained how to use it to all the students at the flag raising the following day. I continued going class to class and letting them practice and ask all their intense questions.I felt accomplished.
PS: Turns out it was a parasite. I’m all better now!
It's been a little while since an update... It's 1) hard to find a decent internet connection and 2) so hard to put into words everyday life here.Thinking back to the blogs I read, I had a different perspective on Togolese life and yeah... I guess my worry is that my explanations won't encompass the truth- I have some really awesome people in my life here and have had some awesome (and not so awesome) experiences and I don't want their value to be diminished because I can't find the words to show my gratitude.
Anyways, I will try. As the third goal of Peace Corps is the share my host country's culture with the American people :)
WWEC 2011 – The Women’s Wellness and Empowerment Conference
I know I’ve mentioned this on my blog before but again, I hope to really encompass how inspirational and life-changing this conference was (for everyone involved, Americans and Togolese) WWEC was a 5 day conference for the women of one of the five regions of Togo. The 27 women participants were all nominated by a PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) We rented out a fancy hotel in one of Togo’s “cities” and created an environment for these women that I’ve never experienced in my whole life.Men were not allowed at the conference, not even volunteers. This created an ambiance and a level of trust.
Rewind back to day one. The women all arrive. Myself and Lisa, another volunteer, are standing at the entrance of the hotel. All 16 women PCVs who are there are wearing the same matching pagne. Lisa and I greet each woman and take their bags to show to escort them into the hotel. We wait for them to receive their conference materials and their travel reimbursement and then I carried their bags on my hotel [how they carry things on their head] to escort them to their rooms. I had to show them how to use the showers because some of them have never seen running water like that before.
The conference was well underway. The women each got to do a one-on-one personal interview with one of our PCV “intake specialists” so we can understand our participants better. They were asked things such as number of children all the way to when they first learned about sex (and first had sex). We were surprised how open they were with us; none of us had ever had conversations like this here. But reflecting on it, I don’t think anyone’s ever taken an interest in these women like that before.
That night the conference began. Madame Rose (the woman in charge of my Girls’ Education and Empowerment program) started off the candlelight ceremony with an inspiring speech. We went directly into the ceremony where Rose lit her candle and then one-by-one passed on the “light” so the women weren’t in the “darkness” anymore.Fast forward to today, when I visited the women they tell me they’re sharing the light so they’re not in the dark anymore.
All throughout the conference we led sessions pertaining to the 4 domains of Peace Corps Togo (health, natural resource management, girls’ education and empowerment and small business development) Sessions included moringa, container gardens, self-confidence, women as leaders and mentors, social entrepreneurship, etc. I can’t tell you what was the most awesome because every session was great and each woman had great things to say about each one.This past week I spent hours travelling and then interviewing 14/27 women who participated 5 months ago.The information they retained and the life changes they have made are incredible. They also have started women’s groups and really are “sharing the light” All of them, 100% of the 14 women said their lives have changed and that their self-confidence has risen.
I can talk about this conference forever and I probably will talk about it forever…. So let me try to wrap it up: Each night we ate dinner together. The women ranged in age from 26-45.Most of them expressed that this was not only the first time that they got to eat a meal with another women but even another person.Not only that, some of them said it was the first time they ever got to eat a table.In Togo, women are expected to prepare all the families’ meals and take care of all the domestic responsibilities with the children.It is changing little by little but most of them eat quickly by themselves so they can finish their work and try to rest. Also, men and women don’t often eat together.Despite all the awesome things the women gained from this conference, if it was only to share a meal with their sisters that’s already a big enough accomplishment for me.
As I mentioned, I am in the process of visiting all the women. It is a big task but very rewarding. The next conference for 2012 is going to be three times as big; we’re doing it in three different regions throughout the month of March. I am the Monitoring, Evaluation and Programming chair at the national level. I won’t bore you with those details but this means I am lucky to get to attend all three conferences. The teams at each regional level are great; I’ve never worked in such a productive team before to efficiently and smoothly get a whole lot of work done… must be because it’s all women ;)(I’m kidding… but maybe not)
I will probably be writing more about this and sharing some really intense quotes from the women because this conference costs a lot of money and we will be raising it online through a PCPP (Peace Corps Partnership Program). It is tax deductible! I’ll probably post it on Facebook. I’d love to e-mail you all directly if the internet allows…. OK, I’ll really stop talking about WWEC now after one more quote from a woman:“Before the conference, I didn’t know that black women could be beautiful. We are taught that only white women are beautiful and that is why we bleach our skin and do dangerous things to be beautiful. But now today I know that black can be beautiful and that I myself am beautiful.”
[Photo with matching pagne]
Camp UNITE – Camp Unification of the Nation: Initiative, Travail (Work) and Education
I spent a week during the month of July in Pagala (a Peace Corps center) for a formation of girls’ students on topics such as self-confidence, HIV/AIDS, child trafficking, the reproductive system, adolescence/puberty, leadership… The list goes on. I nominated some students from my village and one girl got to be there with me.Projects like this are rewarding because it takes the best of the best and brings them all together.Oftentimes PCVs cannot find work or cannot find motivated work partners.Camp UNITE brings together the motivated and hard-working people we want to work with and it was a reminder of why I am here.I’ll save details for another time because I want to continue with other stuff but I’ll just say that I can’t wait to do Camp UNITE again next summer.
Pathways
Pathways is the name of the newly revamped scholarship program that RPCVs (Returned Peace Corps Volunteers) manage from the states.The money comes from donations and it goes to pay girls’ school fees and for their school supplies.
The process is rigorous but totally worth it because once they became a scholar it lasts for the rest of their academic life (unless they fail a class). So if the girl becomes a scholar in elementary school, she’s guaranteed education through Pathways all through university.
This year they had 260 something girls apply for 44 spots.Only 17 of those spots were for middle school girls.This is for the whole country of Togo.Of the 17, four of them were given to girls at my school.4 out of 17 for the whole country of Togo!My village tries to give me lots of credit for it, but I owe it to the school principal who encourages girls to continue their students every day.He even named a day in October “Pathways day” and we invited all the girls and their parents to come to school to celebrate.Here’s a picture of the 138 girls at my school (and the boys who wanted to show up too). Our girl to boy ratio is even one of the highest in our area (138 out of 460)
Newsletter
I started a village newsletter.I’ll post a copy on here one day. What I want to say about this is that it seems to be succeeding better than I thought it would.The reason I started it is because it is really hard to organize people together to have meetings.I also wanted to show the community that there are people here with lots of knowledge. So I solicited village people (lol) to write articles about whatever they wanted.I’ve gotten articles from “why girls’ education is important” to “how we can respect our tradition without spending money we don’t have” to “child trafficking”.A 20-year old boy came from about 20 kilometers away heard about my newsletter and he came to give me a long article he wrote about being trafficked to Nigeria.He wants to make sure that other children don’t fall into the same trap as him.I’ll leave the details out because I’ve already cried enough about his experience… yet he still has the courage to share it with others.My only worry with this newsletter is that it is in French and not everyone can read French… especially women.(My village’s language is called Akposso and people speak either that or Ewe in everyday life; French is only used at school…. Or when they’re speaking to me and I don’t understand their language)
Vacation Enterprise
Last blog article I shared my schedule for vacation enterprise.The sexual harassment session was my favorite part of the training we did for them. During the training I taught them how to keep books/balance their books with all their expenditures and gaining.This was a totally new concept and each week when they came to check-in with me and give me their profits, it was not correctly done (or not done at all).I got really frustrated…. Until I started realizing how they’re really doing well!
Vacation Enterprise is a project where I gave a small loan to girls to start a small business project during summer vacation in order to make money to pay for their school fees for the next year.
One girl sold manioc and quadrupled the money I gave her!This girl was already special to me because she had a baby 2 years ago but still continued her studies.This year she got her middle school diploma and is now going to high school in a village about 40 kilometers away!
Another girl sold bouillie (a thin type of oatmeal) and peanuts. She more than tripled the money I gave her even though she was out of village for 2 weeks during the summer.She got to participate in Camp Scientifille (see below for explanation) and also is now a Pathways scholar!So the money she made isn’t used for her school fees but for whatever she wants.Her name is SOSSA Sokponmi Akoua and I could talk about her forever so I’ll stop before I really bore you.
Camp Espoir
This was the weeklong camp over the summer for children who are infected/affected by HIV/AIDS.The main objective of this camp was just to have fun but we also had small sessions to teach them life skills.The reason I’m glad I did this camp is because I’m now connected to an NGO type group of children in my regional capital who meet every Saturday.The man in charge, Sylvain, is a counterpart that I already loved working with so that relationship has been strengthened.When I go to the regional capital to go to the bank or to buy food I always try to stop by there and hang out with the kids.
Camp ScientiFille (Science and Girl mixed into one word)
There is an initiative in our Girls’ Education program to increase the number of girls in science.If the girls get to high school, it is rare they will continue their studies in science (High school students are either on a “language” track or “science” track).To put it bluntly- people say that girls aren’t smart enough to be in the science field.A lot of them don’t even know there’s such an option yet they all dream of growing up to be doctors (like American kids do when they’re younger) but a lot of them realistically want to be midwives.
Thanks to Camp ScientiFille, 11 volunteers each got to bring a counterpart and 3 girls from their school to spend a week doing experiments and learning how to encourage girls to study science.We discussed all the barriers and all the possible solutions.We even got to watch Magic School Bus in French.If you guys know me, you know I hate science.When I think of science I think of getting a 35% of a test in the 5th grade and then getting a D in physics freshman year of high school.So I was really hesitant to do this camp but there’s a teacher at my school that seemed really interested.The problem with him is that I didn’t like him at first either…. But in the end it all paid off.Instead of students just memorizing words out of a book (about volcanoes, balancing weight, etc) they got to see it!We really take for granted our education.Here they just memorize words and don’t even know what they mean.But anyway, now we have a Girls’ Science Club at my middle school where I work every day.The teacher I worked with really impressed everyone and we’ve actually won some money to buy materials for our club.(We got a microscope too!)
Alright, I don’t want to seriously bore you too much.
Before I thought changing my skin to be like a white woman would make me a beautiful person, but after the conference I learned that I am beautiful how I am, inside and out. These words were spoken by a participant in last year’s Women’s Wellness and Empowerment Conference who left the event knowing her value and believing in herself.
A stagnant economy and political instability cripple Togo, which is ranked 31st in the world with the lowest human development by the United Nations.Peace Corp has been working in Togo for nearly 50 years, providing technical expertise and promoting a positive cross-cultural experience for both Togolese and Americans.Volunteers spend two years in the field to identify the needs of their communities and develop innovative solutions.
One of the most innovative and creative programs in Peace Corps Togo is the Women’s Wellness and Empowerment Conference.The original concept of a women’s conference was created by a group of strong, independent Togolese women who started a small women’s group in their village that acted as a forum to discuss various health and financial issues.The women even began practicing yoga and meditation techniques.Over time, with the encouragement of their local Peace Corps volunteer, the idea for expanding the group evolved into the first Women’s Wellness and Empowerment Conference (WWEC).
With diligent work from three Peace Corps Volunteers and financial support from USAID, 27 motivated women participated in the first WWEC in May of 2011.The primary goal of the conference was to empower and celebrate women through educative sessions that highlighted the importance of physical and mental health, economic independence, and self-esteem. Follow-up evaluations showed that 100% of the women felt more empowered after their participation in the event and 90% of the participants returned to their village and discussed what they learned at the conference.One Peace Corps Volunteer noted that after her nominee returned from the conference, it was like having a second Peace Corps Volunteer in her community.The participant hosted informational sessions, presented new ideas, and was a champion of healthy living to her community.
Due to the success of the event, the volunteers have decided to take the Women’s Wellness and Empowerment Conference national in 2012! Through the expansion of this project 80 motivated female leaders from across Togo will be reached. A team of 30 Peace Corps volunteers and 15 Togolese women will be spending the next 5 months planning and preparing for three WWEC conferences that will take place in March 2012.
Studies have proven that by empowering one strong motivated woman an entire community is affected.Americans are citizens of a country whose foundation is based on equality and democracy, allowing us to realize our dreams and challenge injustices.Unfortunately, that is not the case for the women in Togo.WWEC is enabling Togolese women to realize their potential and giving them the tools to make the best lifestyle choices possible while offering the support and network to continue to empower others.
Be part of this change.Your contribution will help bring this project to fruition. Community partners in Togo have already covered 30% of this cost and USAID has continued their support.Only $8,000 remains to make this project a reality.$125 will send one woman to the conference and change her life forever.100% of your contribution will go to supporting the expenses of this conference and is tax-deductible through our website.
Hey everyone.Hope all is well in everyone’s lives.I'm constantly looking forward to checking my mail (once or twice a month) for letters and I'm constantly let down. Shame on you.Just kidding, I know you’re all busy, but seriously, in comparison you can write a letter and get to a post office 50x before I have the opportunity to do it once…
Enough of that guilt trip (but seriously, how am I supposed to know what’s going on without the ability to creep on FB?)…
I got finished in Kpalimé for the first annual Women’s Conference at the end of May.After leaving there and being back in village for two days, I can confidently say that it was one of the most powerful experiences of my life.It ranks right up there with Belize.
CampEspoir
Today, I just got back from Pagala.What’s Pagala? There’s a center that is run by Peace Corps in this village in the middle of the country.It’s where we have trainings, but also host camps for kids.I did a 3.5 day training for CampEspoir.CampEspoir, c’est quoi ca? (CampHope, what’s that?) It is a week long summer camp for children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.There are 4 camps that happen in total. I’m involved in the one for the regions of Plateaux and Centrale.I will be staying in the bâtiment (building) with a Togolese woman who is my work partner and 6 or 7 of the older girls (12-15ish).I am also responsible for some games during the carnival, leading sessions of being a good role model (for little kids and big kids) and just generally being a camp counselor.The camp is July 4-8!
Camp UNITE
Camp UNITE is another weeklong camp that happens 4 times during the grand vacance (long/summer vacation) The weeks are separated by 1) girl apprentices 2) boy apprentices 3) girl students 4) boy students.The campers/participants are all nominated by volunteers or our NGO/association partners.I have training for this July 13-16 and the camp for me (Girls Students) is the last week of July.During this camp we teach life skills: being a good role model, gender equity, health, sanitation, hygiene, income generating activities, etc. etc.I’ll have more to say about this (and CampEspoir) after the actual camp takes place.
I’d like to say about these camps- these budgets are huge and volunteers (and their families) struggle for funding.I'm stuck on a line of hoping that the Togolese will start to give more financially to aide their own country (read: create sustainability), but as with any development work (and in life!)… money- you know.
CampScientifille
This is the first week of August.So I’ll be in Pagala for 2 weeks straight.Long story short, girls don’t get to be interested in things like science.It’s hard and it’s for boys. When kids start high school, they get to choose a “series”: language, science and 2 others that I can’t think of right now.Almost no girls choose science because they’re made to think they’re not smart enough and that it’s men’s work- when actually a lot of them wish to be sage femmes (mid-wives).This week-long camp is for Peace Corps Volunteers with one teacher from their village and 3 girls to participate in science experiments, learn the scientific method and gain the tools to start science clubs in their respective villages.
Nominations for CampJoie
CampJoie is happening the first time this summer in August.It’s a camp for children with physical handicaps.I'm not participating but I've been working with an awesome, motivated and super smiley handicapped man in village to be chosen as a trainer for this. In my village, he helped create a handicapped association and is constantly discouraged by lack of mobilization of people fighting the same problem.I hope this work will give him encouragement and tools to share with our village.
Vacation Enterprise
I wrote about how I'm giving money to five different girls to do small business activities during the summer.This week is our training.Here’s our schedule:
L’entreprise de la grande vacance
CEG Kpategan 2011
Lundi, 20 juin
08h00: Arrivée et chanter «Bonjour les amis»
08h30: Brise glace: «si tu m’aime…»
08h45: Ecrire un résume de son projet
09h15: Partager les résumes des projets
09h45: Choisir les buts du projet
10h15: Discuter le contrat
11h00: Ecrire une liste des matériaux avec les prix approximatives et discuter «le grocery list»
11h15: Donner les reçus exemplaires et commencer la pratique de caisse exemplaire
11h50: Questions
12h00: Le départ pour manger et reposer
14h30: Une séance sur la confiance en soi
Mardi, 21 juin
08h00: Arrivée et chanter
08h30: Brise glace: Dapaong, Atakpamé, Lomé
08h45: Poser les questions d’hier
9h00: Faire la pratique des caisses exemplaires
9h30: Faire l’étude de faisabilité avec l’exemple du savon liquide
10h15: Faire l’étude de faisabilité avec son projet même
11h00: Comment protéger l’argent contre les voleurs (au marché et à la maison)
11h15: Une séance de l’harcèlement sexuel
12h00: Le départ
14h30: La séance de Camilla/Aidi avec son homologue
Mercredi, 22 juin
07h00: Arrivée et chanter
07h30: Manger les biscuits et boire le jus d’Amérique
07h45: Expliquer les buts du projet
08h15: Lire le contrat et poser des questions
09h15: Discuter comment soutenir nos filles
09h45: Créer une liste des choses qu’on achète souvent mais qui ne sont pas nécessaires
10h00: Choisir 2 ou 3 jours pendant juillet/août pour réunir et échanger les réussites et les échecs
10h15: Facultatif: Faire l’étude de faisabilité pour le crème de citronnelle et créer le crème
I bet you want to see that in English, eh?
Enterprise for summer vacation
Junior High of Kpategan 2011
Monday, June 20
arrive and sing a song called “welcome my friends”
we’re going do an icebreaker called “if you love me”. We stand in a circle and I’ll start by going up to someone and saying “if you love me, you must smile” and I’ll try to do things to get them to smile/laugh.If they do, they enter the middle and try on someone else; if they don’t, I have to try again with someone else.My objective of this is to teach the girls that it’s important that even during work/school, laughing and having fun is important (nobody really stresses anything but cooking/washing clothes and dishes to girls)
they’re going to write a summary of what they hope their individual projects will include (they had to write a letter of interest to me already and then further explain in detail during interviews before I chose them)
the girls will share their goals in the big group
we will define the goals of the project (examples: make money, see that girls are strong, learn how to manage money, ultimately use all the profits to pay for school)
we will discuss the contract I created that says things like the money made must be used to pay for school, what happens if they don’t pay me back the money I lent them, etc.
we’re going to make lists of all the materials they each need to buy and estimated prices.I'm also going to explain the idea of creating a grocery list before going to the market in order to avoid wasting money on things we don’t need.
11:15am- I’m going to give them copies of blank receipts they use here and also practice how to keep track in a notebook (it’s essentially a spreadsheet) of their costs and profits.
questions
Noon- they will go home to eat and rest (this time is typically always to )
2:30- a meeting about self confidence
Tuesday, June 21
arrive and sing
icebreaker about how to listen to instructions (they line up horizontally and I will draw 3 horizontal lines in the sand. Each is called a certain village; the top is a village up north, the middle is in the middle and the bottom is the capital in the south.When I say Dapaong they have to jump to the northern line.When I say Atakpamé it is the middle and Lomé is the southern line.It starts off slow and gets faster and faster and if they jump to the wrong line, they’re eliminated.
here is a chance for them to ask questions from things they didn’t understand from yesterday.
I'm going to give scenarios and examples of expenses and profits and have them practice using their handmade spreadsheet to keep track of their money.
9:30am- I’m going to teach them about feasibility studies using the example of making liquid soap and selling it in the market (it costs 2,500 francs for the materials, 1,000 francs to travel and get the materials and 500 francs to buy the bottles to put it in… which equals 4,000.This typically sells for 500 francs per bottle and makes 10 bottles which means we’ll make 5,000 francs.Let’s subtract the cost of 4,000… we only make 1,000 francs for a whole lot of work. Feasible aka worth a ton of work?Vous voyez? (You see?)This is a difficult concept for lots of people here to grasp because not many people plan like this. In reality, according to my observations, a lot of women actually lose money in their markets because they don’t understand the concept of keeping track of things or that traveling to “the city” to buy materials is expensive and we should keep track of that too.
they’re each going to a feasibility study for their own projects.
they’re going to talk about how to keep their money safe from robbers (in the market and at their houses)
11:00am- I'm going to take advantage of having girls who are listening to me to talk about sexual harassment, explaining zero tolerance and how to speak up for themselves and not have to sleep with men who ask them (girls here generally can’t refuse someone like a teacher because they’re taught to obey and respect… and also don’t want to be given bad grades in revenge)
Noon- break for lunch and rest
another volunteer (Camilla) is going to come and do a session with her counterpart. I'm so excited for this, I love when volunteers do work together because I get so many new ideas from them and it makes everything so much easier (problem-solving, finding words in French, everything!)
Wednesday, June 22
arrive and sing with the parents/guardians that each girl will bring this day
eat cookies and drink juice that I'm going to make with some drink packets my mom sent me
8:00am- I’m going to have the girls explain the overall goals of this project to their parents. This gives them an opportunity to practice speaking in public and I can also verify that they really understand.
I'm scared for this because it’s really complicated… we’re going to ready the contracts together and they can ask all their questions
we will have a discussion about how to support girls (essentially we’re going to talk about treating girls like they treat boys)
we’re going to create a list of things they buy often when they go to the market but it’s not necessary (alcohol, etc.) in order to learn to save money and all that good stuff… like spending it on education instead!
we’re going to choose 2 or 3 days during July and August that we’re all free to come together and discuss our successes and failures and brainstorm/troubleshoot together
its optional if the parents want to learn how to do a feasibility study and citronella lotion and also learn how to make it. It is a lotion that is made with boiled leaves from a certain tree that keeps mosquitoes away.All you do is grate a bar of soap, add a liter of oil, a liter of water and a spoonful of the citronella liquid. So easy and it’s cheap to make and sells well… big profit here but not one person in my village knows it.
Other work:
1) Peer Support Network & Diversity Committee: Applied for these.Will find out if I got them.One is to be a phone contact and peer supporter for volunteers with problems/struggles.Diversity Committee does trainings for Peace Corps staff, trainees and volunteers about diversity issues here.
2) Rewriting GEE Objectives: I was in Lomé to help form new objectives for trainings and for my program.It’s kind of esoteric so I’ll leave this at that.
3) Workstation/House manager: We have a transit house/workstation in our regional capital that requires management of funds, facilities, etc. The 2 volunteers in charge are leaving so I'm taking charge with another newer volunteer.
This is long and I'm tired…I hope I explained things well and that it wasn’t too boring… even though I doubt anyone actually read all my blabbering. Ok, I'm shutting up now.
