National Girls Forum

Last week I had the privilege of attending Peace Corps Cameroon’s third annual National Girls Forum in Limbe.  This three-day forum promotes women’s empowerment the education of young girls.  Thirty volunteers were selected to attend, each bringing one Cameroonian counterpart from their post and one girl between the ages of 14 and 25. 

Being an agroforestry volunteer, I hadn’t originally even considered applying for National Girls Forum (girls do not grow on trees, in my experience).  However, during my first three months at post, one of the biggest concerns brought to my attention was the lack of education amongst the girls in Sanguéré-Paul. 

There is a significant trend for girls to become pregnant and/or married at a very young age (as early as 13 years old), and consequently drop out of school.  Because of this tendency for girls to get married at such a young age, parents see it as a loss of money to send their daughters to high school, preferring instead to prepare their daughter for a domestic life and waiting to collect her dowry.  This phenomenon can be clearly observed by looking in the classrooms at Sanguéré-Paul’s high school.  Of the 976 students, 815 are male, and only 161 are female.  That’s more than five male students for every one female student: a shocking statistic, especially in a village that has a high ratio of females to males.

In an effort to tackle this issue before the girls reach the typical age that they would become pregnant and leave school, my counterparts and I would like to create an afterschool girls club for girls ages 10 to 13.  National Girls Forum is a perfect way to gain ideas and knowledge of how to better plan and facilitate this girls group.

I invited my community host, Madame Tizi, to join me at the forum as my counterpart.  Madame Tizi is a strong, enthusiastic woman who has worked with girls groups in the past in Maroua.  She is also the voluntary regional president of the Red Cross, and very generously donates her time to helping the community in various ways.

I also invited one of my closest friends, Yvette – a kind and intelligent seventeen-year-old high school student who has dreams of continuing on to university and finding a job before getting married, despite her older sister dropping out and becoming pregnant at age 14.  Yvette joins me for dinner a couple times a week to teach me how to cook Cameroonian food, to learn how to bake various chocolate goodies, or even sometimes just to hang out and chitchat about life.  She will be more than willing to help Madame Tizi and I with our girls group, and will be an excellent role model for younger girls.

Yvette, happy to be at the beach!

The three of us left Sanguéré-Paul bright and early on April 7^th, took the bus from Garoua to Ngaoundéré, met up with the other NGF attendees from the Grand North, and almost immediately took the train down to Yaounde.  From the train station, 32 of us (volunteers, counterparts, and girls) loaded into a bus for Limbe. 

The journey was 36 hours of straight travel time, but it was spent in good company.  (I taught Madame Tizi and Yvette how to make friendship bracelets, which helped to pass time on the train!)  For some girls, it was the first time travelling out of their region.  For many girls, it was the first time travelling without their parents.  Some were a bit nervous and shy at first, but most of them were having a blast with this unfamiliar independence.

The forum itself was incredible.  Most sessions were split – counterparts in one room, girls in the other.  The counterparts' sessions dealt with subjects such as project ideas, project planning, and learning how to facilitate life skills lessons.  My counterpart came up to me afterwards and said, “Maria, do you see how much we’ve learned?  We’re going to have the best girls group ever!  The girls in Sanguéré-Paul are really going to benefit from this.”  She has already developed an action plan on how to start our girls group, how to create a women's literacy group, and how to help the women at the carrefour (the ladies who sell fish and beignets) with money management.

PCVs Aly Azhar and Caitlin Howe leading an ice breaker:  Demonstrate your village's/region's dance style.  How they represented America?  The Macarena!

As for the girls, I have never seen so many articulate and passionate young girls.  These girls were courageous and eager to stand up and tell their stories, voice their opinions, and share their dreams (which ranged from becoming a Spanish teacher to Peace Corps director to cardiac surgeon) while sitting in on sessions about how to become strong, independent Cameroonian women.

 

Role-playing how to be assertive in saying "no".

Yvette taking notes during a session.

At the end of each day, all the volunteers and girls would run straight to the beach.  It was Yvette’s first time swimming.  She was hesitant at first, but after seeing all the other girls prancing around in the waves, she quickly dismissed all fears (though in the end, she decided she preferred the pool).

Yvette having fun in the pool.

Hanging out at the pool after lunch.

And of course, it wouldn't be a girls week if not for random dance parties during lunch breaks!  While eating lunch a Cameroonian keyboardist was there for background music.  The first day, we simply sat back and enjoyed.  By the second day, girls, counterparts, and volunteers would be singing and dancing to jazzed up versions of Cameroonian top hits.  By the third day, girls were grabbing the microphone to sing their own solos. 

Seeing how enthusiastic Madame Tizi was about all that she learned and seeing how engaged the girls really demonstrates the effectiveness of the forum, and gives me so much hope for all the ways that Madame Tizi and I can help our community.  I can't wait to get back to Sanguéré-Paul and put some of these new project ideas into action!

Yvette, Bouba (Peace Corps' Regional Logistician in Garoua), Madame Tizi, and myself after the closing ceremony.