Camp GRACE (7.22-7.28)

GRACE: Garçons Respectieux Apprenant a Creer l'Egalite

 

This was the first year we've done a boys' camp in southern Benin. We've had a southern girl's camp for years, and this year, realizing that we were missing an education opportunity for an important group of people, we decided to start an entire new gender-equality-focused camp...for boys. The logic is this: Benin is a male-run country. While the law is increasingly supportive, in day-to-day life women are still less than men: less powerful, less respected, usually less educated, and less financially stable. While we as volunteers spend a huge portion of our time teaching girls that they are smart, that they can and should assert their rights, and that they deserve respect and attention, that fact of the matter is that without men as allies, any move towards women's equality will be very, very slow. So we should continue to empower girls, but we should also put some effort into teaching boys and men why and how they should support their sisters, wives, mothers and children.

 

Thus, Camp GRACE. A week in Ouidah with 49 smart, engaged boys, 5 Beninese men ("tutors") as role models and team leaders, 15 soon-to-be-exhausted volunteers, and Samantha Speck, our fearless and feisty directrice. Lessons focused on health, education, financial planning, career planning, and above all women's rights and equality.

 

The boys, mostly under 13, were so sweet and polite, and you could tell that they were really excited to be away at camp. I found it harder to bond with them than with the girls at Camp GLOW, which was interesting, especially since the male volunteers had no such trouble. I wonder if that would be the same in America. Maybe. The boys were really enthusiastic about most of the sessions, and were particularly willing to discuss girl's equality in school. There were boys on both sides of the "Are boys and girls equal?" question, but I think the Beninese man who presented and the tutors made a lot of good points. Behavior change starts with new ideas, so if nothing else, we gave them that.

 

I brought five boys (Saturnin, Narcisse, Louis, Charle, and Martial) and two tutors (Epiphane and Gabriel), so our Daagbe representation was strong. I think everyone got a lot out of it. Favorite moments:

• We went to the voodoo temple of serpents, where they have sacred pythons that you can hold. Beninese people are almost universally terrified of snakes. We told the boys we'd give them competition points for each kid that held one, and all except one did. One of my boys, Saturnin, was so terrified that as the man put the snake on him he froze, wide-eyed, and started shaking like a leaf. He smiled and stood as still as he could for a whole 15 seconds, then ducked out and dashed off laughing and shaking as soon as the man took the snake from his neck. The entire camp clapped for him.
  
• Narcisse asks if maybe we could stay an extra week at camp? He'd call his parents right now to make sure it was okay.
  
• Gabriel (tutor) and I gave a lesson on the importance of education and study strategies. Afterward, he thanked me for bringing him, adding that the camp was a really great idea.
  
• Volunteers play the boys in soccer. Boys soundly beat the volunteers, but PCVs take the prize in style and best on-field impromptu dance parties.
  
• Overall, a wonderful, inspiring, and often hilarious week, and a camp that I hope will continue to make an impact in the coming years.