For a week this July, I got to be a kid again. What is more iconic of summer than that of summer camp? In my eyes it is one of those things that defines being a kid in summer. This revisit to camp was not quite the same, seeing as my capacity was that of a counselor rather than a camper and it is a camp in Africa, but this camp was just as meaningful if not more.
The name of the camp is Camp Unité (United). It’s run and organized by Peace Corps Volunteers and its purpose is to gather young, motivated children from all over Togo, and bring them together for a week long camp that encourages leadership, healthy personal growth, and a united Togo. The camp stresses that these youth are the future and can develop and shape Togo in positive and important ways.
First off, the format of the camp is broken into four smaller camps. There are two camps for girls: one for students and one for apprentices, then there are also two of the same for boys. As a side note, many children here drop out of school early, either because they or their family can’t afford it, or they just are not interested in it anymore. So, many times these kids that drop out pay a local craftsman to learn a vocational trade and train as an apprentice. There are many different apprenticeships including carpenters, tailors, mechanics, and cooks. There are separate camps for these individuals because they are on different paths than the students and the programs of the camps are structured toward each groups needs. The girls and boys have different camps for obvious reasons.
All the campers that attend the camp are first nominated by Peace Corps Volunteers who know them and think they are exceptional kids in or around their communities. The kids are then selected by the Unité organizing committee and invited to attend. The camp itself is staffed by Peace Corps Volunteers and Togolese adults, who were also nominated to be counselors by PCVs.
The camp is funded by some local Togolese NGOs, as well as the United States Embassy in Togo and through the Unité Foundation (http://unitefoundation.org/), which was set up by returned volunteers. This funding goes to pay for the transport of all the campers and Togolese counselors to and from their place of residence, for all their meals, the camp staff that clean the cabins and brings water to them, and all materials needed for the program.
This July, I was chosen to be a counselor for the boy student camp. The camp is held in a village called Pagala, which is located in the center of the country. In Pagala, the Peace Corps owns and runs a large complex that has many cabins with rooms and beds, a large dining facility, a medical unit, many different buildings where discussions can be held, it has a basketball court, and even a pool (unfortunately it is empty). This center used to be where volunteers spent their few months training before going to post, so it can hold quite a few people. The complex is now used by Peace Corps for various conferences and other camps that Peace Corps has, and when it is not in use, it is rented out to organizations in Togo.
I made my way to Pagala five days before the start of the boy’s camp. There, I had three days of training on what is expected of a counselor, how camp was going to run and be formatted, and also had to prepare and plan sessions that we would be giving the campers. The two sessions that I was assigned to give during camp were on relationships, sex, and abstinence as well as self confidence. For the sessions we were paired up with a Togolese counselor who would also plan and present with us. This was an incredibly daunting task for me because I quickly realized after getting to Pagala, that my French was not as good as I thought it was, and the topics we were discussing were quite complicated. Not only that, the discussions were supposed to be discussion based, so I was supposed to ask questions and have a lot of participation; I couldn’t just memorize a script. Luckily I was paired with an awesome Togolese counterpart named Ulrich, who was really supportive and encouraging of me.
After training, I had the weekend to hangout before the campers arrived the following Monday. Everyone stayed in Pagala and that Sunday I was able to participate in another volunteer event that was taking place in Pagala. There is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Pagala and she and two other nearby volunteers had planned and received funding for a soccer tournament. The tournament consisted of the soccer teams of the three volunteers’ villages as well as one team composed of Peace Corps Volunteers. During the halftimes of each game, the volunteers and Togolese gave presentations on water sanitation and purification to the assembled crowds. I would like to say that the volunteers battled hard in the game they played. I believe that had we not been hung over from the night before, we could have won. The final score of the game was 8-4, but early in the second half it was as close as 4-3. I would also like to say that yours truly scored a goal, no big deal. After the big match, we all iced down and waited for Monday and the arrival of the kids.
The kids all finally started to trickle in on Monday. We kept them occupied with games and helped them settle into their new environment. Coming to Pagala was a huge change for many of them. A great thing about Camp Unité is that it allows these kids for the first time to travel outside of their villages and towns. Many of them have never been outside of a five mile radius of their home, let alone traveled for a few hours to a new place with a different culture, climate, and language, without their family or friends, so many of them were obviously overwhelmed and nervous when they got there. In the afternoon after all 36 of the campers had arrived, we held a welcome ceremony that was full of dancing and singing that created an atmosphere that allowed everyone to relax.
All the kids were placed at random into cabins to help facilitate one of the major goals of Camp Unité, which is cultural exchange. Togo is an incredibly small country, not only in area, but also in population, but has an incredible amount of diversity. Just looking at geography it has three distinct climate zones ranging from tropical forest in the south to savannahs and at times desert like conditions in the north, all in a range of a few hundred miles. They have three major religious categories that are spread throughout the country from muslim to Christian to those with indigenous beliefs. The people are comprised of 42 different ethnic groups, each with their own language, culture, beliefs, food, and customs. You can literally be in one village speaking one language and go not more than a mile away and the people there would not be able to understand you. Obviously one of the problems with this much diversity is it causes stereotyping and rumors about different groups or regions. Camp was created to bring young people from all walks of life be that cultural, socioeconomic, or by region, to show that that all had commonalities and each of their cultures are special and important. To further facilitate cultural exchange, one night we had a show that showcased traditional songs and dances from the campers in each cabin. An interesting thing that we had to do in each cabin was teach the kids how to use a toilet. I never thought about how weird it would be using one if all you had ever done before was do your business out in a field. We had to show them how to sit on it (one kid thought you stood on it) and flush it away. They were all blown away with this amenity and thought is was quite fun.
The program of camp was quite intense and was jam packed. Everyone would be eating breakfast by 6:30 and then we would have sessions in the morning, followed by lunch and sessions in the afternoon. Often we were completely busy up until about seven at night. As I said earlier, I did six hours worth of sessions on relationships, sex and abstinence as well as self confidence. Other sessions that we had with the kids were on child trafficking, gender equity, sexual harassment (huge problem here between men and women), HIV/AIDS, sexual reproduction, how to start small businesses, income generating projects, condom use, and time management to name a few. We also had team problem solving challenges, as well as a ropes course. We also had a bit of recreation time and played basketball, volleyball, Frisbee, and soccer. A great moment during one of my sessions is when a kid brought up the subject of masturbation, which is an extremely taboo subject here (they think if you do it you could turn gay, get sick, lose your “force”, become sterile, etc.). We then for the rest of our session had to explain it and how to do it because there was so much interest.
The culmination of the week at camp was a field trip to a nearby village where the kids would use all the skills and information they had learned to train that community on a couple of subjects. This was a good way for them to gain practice in leading a training, which could then give them confidence to promote change in their respective communities in the future.
Overall camp was a great success. I am very glad that I was a part of it and learned a lot about Togo, the people, and about myself. I will say it is one of the things I have enjoyed doing here the most and is one of the first times I have really felt like I have made an impact for positive change. I gained a lot of great skills from being a counselor and came away with better French, a good ability to hold a formal presentation, and a desire to work with more children in the future.
tamemeisce.wordpress.com 