Taking our Daughters to Work

I know that this post is it a little late but I wanted to talk about the “Take Our Daughters to Work Conference” that I organized with the help of three other Volunteers this past July. In Togo, especially the rural areas (there a lot of them), the number of girls who graduate from Middle School is extremely low. If 100 girls in a village start middle school by the time graduation role around a few years latter that number will have dwindled down to 10. It’s a sad reality in Togo, but many girls drop out of school for three reasons: pregnancy, lack of money, or lack of opportunities.
The goals of the conference was to show girls how to finance and continue their education, give them information about sexual health, and show them opportunities that exist with a high school and university degree. We invited 22 girls from 11 villages to come to Dapaong for the four day conference. The local community center or Affaires Social gave us the conference room and dorm rooms at a reduced price. During the first two days of the conference we talked about self-confidence and different ways that they could earn money and pay for their school fees. On the third day the girls were able to go around and shadow different model women in town. I took a group of 7 girls to see a female school director at one of a private school. She is charge of the day to day operations of the school and is the boss of several teachers. During the visit she talked about the obstacles she faced growing up as a woman in Togo. At the end of the day all of the model women went to the Affaires Social and took part in a panel discussion so that all of the girls could ask questions. We had a nurse, a secretary, a NGO director and businesswomen, come and talk about their experiences. I think that the girls were amazed to see so many powerful women together in one room and I think that the girls benefited from the one day they were able to spend with these women.
I defiantly feel like this was the biggest project that I have undertaken and it would not have been possible without the three other PCVs that I worked with . Peace Corps Togo, especially Team Savannes, is an awesome group and I have loved being here and working with them. Now the time has come to wind down my service and to start thinking about my life when I get back to AMERICA.