My biggest project so far in Togo has been coordinating this year's Camp ESPOIR for the Maritime region. Every year, PCVs throughout Togo collaborate with host-country NGOs on a week-long summer camp for children that are infected with HIV/AIDS or have lost family members to the disease. The primary purpose of camp is to provide children with a week of fun, as they rarely get the opportunity to spend time with other children who lead similar lives. During the week they get to play sports, have a talent show, attend a carnival and scavenger hunt. They also attend educational sessions on good communication, gender equity, sexual health, HIV/AIDS and learn how to conduct a feasibility study and participate in income-generating activities. This year's camp was themed "Marquons les buts dans le monde" (can be translated as "scoring goals in the world") to tie in with the world cup. Each cabin was assigned a country, and the kids had to give cultural presentations about the country they represented.
In addition to being coordinator, I also got to act as a counselour for the group of youngest boys with another PCV named Beckah and a Togolese trainer. Although they were a handful, the experience was absolutely amazing and incredibly heartwarming. The week passed just like an ordinary summer camp, and I never once thought to myself that these children were any different because of their health status. On the third night, we had a candlelight vigil where children were allowed to share testimonies of their experiences. It was one of the most emotionally difficult moments of my service, but it was such a great opportunity for the kids to relate to one another and understand that there are other people that lead lives like theirs. I think that they really appreciate the opportunity to come to camp and meet one another, and just forget the day to day challenges of living with HIV. Hopefully these children will take back all of the things they learned at camp and share them with their families, classmates, and other children they know from their organizations.
The whole experience was especially heartwarming for me because, as an only child from a relatively small family, I have always been intimidated of children. I've always found them hard to relate to. But here in Togo, I surprised myself in my ability to not only have real conversations with children, but to do so in another language without anything getting lost in translation. I was able to dance and sing and motivate them along with the rest of the PCV counselours and Togolese trainers and I am even still suffering from the post-camp hangover of songs, dances, and call and response games. Overall, camp was just a wonderful, life-changing experience for so many people involved and I'm glad to have participated in it this year.
In village, I have started two women's clubs for the purpose of promoting my work as a GEE volunteer. We have already started in my village with talking about women's rights and gender equity, and will later be leading sessions on family planning, moringa, and income generating activities. I have been attending the group's literacy classes three times a week, which has really gotten them motivated to both come to class and stay for my sessions afterwards. My homologue and I are in the process of starting similar groups in the neighboring villages, and are working on developing a training for peer educators that can lead the sessions in local language.
This is a time right now of many changes, as some of my closest friends are COSing (closing their service) and a new group is swearing-in this week. In September, a new group of GEE and NRM Volunteers will arrive, marking our one-year in country point. The school year is starting in mid-September and more, new work opportunities will be coming up.
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