support girls empowerment in Benin!

Dear Friends and Family,
As I’m sure you’re all aware, I’ve been living in Benin for over ayear serving with the Peace Corps. This next year I will bevolunteering with a camp called Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World).The camp started in Romania in the early 90’s and spread to Benin in2000. Since then, it’s been held every year in various parts of thecountry.To put it bluntly, Benin is a very male dominated society whereunfortunately, women are not granted many of the same opportunities.Antiquated cultural norms and traditional beliefs still permeate thecountry, especially in the remote villages where many volunteers work. Girls often quit school at a young age to help take care of theirmultiple younger siblings at home. Many of them become marketvendors, are forced into marriages, or even worse, become prostitutes. In extreme cases, those that do manage to stay in school but do nothave the proper marks can advance by sleeping with their professors.Polygamy, although outlawed in Benin, still occurs and the numerouswives, unfortunately, must tolerate their husband’s actions as theylack the power or the education to do anything about it. On thegrassroots level, many are still illiterate and do not even knowFrench, their national language.

In my own experiences, I have begun a girl's club at the middle/highschool in my village, discussing topics similar to what we cover atCamp GLOW. The males outnumber the females by about three to one, andas the levels progress, the disparity increases. When I selected agirl from this school last year the director told me he was in fullsupport of any seminars or support I had for his girls because out ofthe 200 girls who attend, 14 of them were carrying children and onlyfour of those pregnancies being with other students. After elementaryschool, in order to attend school, there is a fee that variesdepending on location and size. With multiple children in thefamily, it’s often only the boys that get to continue with theirstudies, leaving the girls behind with just the bare minimumeducation.

As you can see, there is a great need in this country to educate womenand young girls about the importance of staying in school. That’swhat Camp GLOW strives to do. It’s a week long girl's empowermentcamp where they can acquire the skills and knowledge necessary tobecome better students and more powerful leaders in their communities. Throughout the week, various topics are discussed including financialplanning, sexual health, computer and internet literacy, goal-setting,HIV/AIDS awareness, study and leaderships skills, and malariaprevention techniques. The girls also participate in arts and crafts,sports and games, and take excursions to national governmentinstitutions and museums. All sessions are held by respectedsuccessful Beninese women who serve as excellent role models for thegirls.

The budget for this year’s camp runs close to $6000, so I ask yoursupport in please providing as little or as much as you can. Even adollar in Benin will go a long way. The camp is not set to startuntil June, but the sooner we have the money, the quicker we can startplanning, organizing, and finalizing all the details.

Please consider donating here, you can utilize the link belowhttps://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=donate.contribute.donatenowand search for projects in Benin. The grant was just recently sent toPeace Corps Headquarters in Washington D.C. for final approval, andshould be online within the next week or two. Please continue tocheck periodically if you do not see anything.

The project is calledCamp GLOW – Porto Novo. Also, if this is a motivator, as weapproach the end of the year the donation is tax deductable.Thank you for your continued support and warm wishes. I hope all iswell back home, and continue to check my web posts atwww.laura2benin.blogspot.com for updates.