My Fair Ladies

At the opening ceremony for our girls' camp in Béléhédé I announced to everyone present - girls and parents - that at the end of the week, the girls would perform theater. I could hardly believe I managed to say it. I had worked with some of these girls before. I had had an idea of what was coming when David led the first session of the week - every question was met with silence.

Yet, this was expected. When we managed to coax them into speaking, they hid mouths and ducked heads under arms; they bent over double onto desks, twisted up towards the ceiling, and looked down at the floor. But this too, was expected.

When we did an artistic warm-up almost every girl drew the same three things. -Draw something to represent yourself... -I drew a fish, cow, or chicken because I like fish, meat, or eggs... We praised the few who were different. But this shortage of creativity was expected too.

When we had the girls make collages with magazines pictures and present their work, they repeated the same things, I chose this girl because she is pretty... I chose this girl because she is nice. Again we rewarded those who presented something new, I chose this woman because she has courage or because she is a fighter... I chose this baby because I want one too.

For our first theater session, however, I had no expectations. Uhh, I really wanted it to work.

I prepared an activity in which each girl would get a card with an emotion written on it that she would portray without speaking. We divided into two groups - David and Sara worked with one while my village friend Poitiba and I worked with another. As it turned out, the girls' level of French was so low that they needed one-on-one definitions of every word. After giving definitions, we organized the groups into two circles and had each girl step forward to express her emotion... joy, anger, surprise, depression, love, jealousy, boredom... There were no wrong answers or pantomimes, and after everyone had gone, the facilitators switched groups. Now Poitiba and I worked with new girls and the same emotions. At the end of the activity I brought everyone together and had the some of the best pantomime for us all. Yea, nice...

For the second theater session, once again, I did not have expectations. I planned to discuss, what is theater? and potential themes. This would not take 2 hours though, for sure. Finally I planned my warm-up activity at the last possible minute. I had been worrying, what the heck am I suppose to do with girls that won't look you in the eyes; that never speak above a whisper!? We divided into Ones and Twos and sat in pairs. Look into your partner's eyes and listen to my voice. I gave the Ones and Twos one line each: "je suis une fille intelligente" and "je suis une fille forte," respectively. They repeated their lines loudly, softly, quickly; with anger, with fatigue, with happiness. The Ones looked at the ceiling while the Twos tried to maintain eye contact. The Ones shouted while the Twos whispered. Ok...

Sara and I also did a short skit on what you shouldn't do when performing theater using the same lines as the Ones and the Twos. I spoke too quietly, she spoke too fast, I covered my mouth with my hand, she turned her back to the audience, I interrupted her, she body blocked me, I looked up at the ceiling, she looked into her shoulder and down at the floor, she forgot her line and I corrected her, I forgot mine and then told the audience that we should start over.

We then discussed what you should and shouldn't do in theater and finally brainstormed potential themes. At the end they divided into three groups to choose themes and begin working on the final theater pieces. By the end of the session each group had chosen a theme and some had even started picking characters. Whoa, sweet.

Day Three. Omigod. Today they would start fleshing out characters, plots, morals of the stories, lines... Should I have them write? Do they need to pick their characters first or create the storyline? What are they saying in local language!? Should I force them to speak in French? I don't know if we are making progress. Shouldn't we write something down? How are they gonna do this? Every time I ask a question they don't say anything! Do they even understand me!? What are they saying!!?

Let me tell you. Day three, day four, day five...then they requested a day six and a day seven to get in more practice. At the closing ceremony they performed two theater pieces on "Girls' Education" and one on "Burkina Faso, Our Native Country".

They. Did. It.

And they are funny! Our girls have comedic timing! The room was full by the time the presentations started; by the end it was overflowing with fathers, mothers, neighbors, and children. She remembered to speak loudly! Look, she's walking like a crab so as not to turn her back to the audience!! Aw.. They are not body-blocking each other! Finally this group has picked up their pace! I watched the old men in the room smile at their girls, laugh with them, and applaud. Elizabeth really looks like a teacher! Katherine really acts like a dad! Fatimata's gestures are so expressive and the audience loves it! I wished I had it on video, I wished I was taking pictures but the other volunteers were not there to help me with the closing and my backpack was buried (stupidly!) in the back corner of the room. Some part of me wanted to get to my bag but most of me was totally engrossed - squatting in front of the stage, gesturing to remind the girls of this and that, giggling alternatively at the actors and the audience, and well, smiling.

It went so well. I was full with happiness walking home afterwards. I could have cried for the relief of it all and the regret of not taking any pictures, but as I approached my courtyard door - ha - the students of my Friday evening English club were waiting for me. -Hello. -Hello. -How are you? -I'm fine thank you, and you? -I'm fine too. -And your family? -No problem! Teaching English to my friends kept me focused, wound me down, and helped me not cry.

The community saw a real transformation in these girls and talked a lot about it afterwards. I kinda knew what I was getting into organizing a camp for twenty-five painfully shy and sheltered village girls... I was expecting copied drawings, covered mouths, and silence after questions. But twenty-five Pygmalions exceeded ALL my expectations.