I have learned that every Togolese child comes out of the
womb knowing the “Yovo” song. Yovo
translates to “whitey”. When I first
arrived to my village, most community members would exclaim, “Yovo!” when I
passed with other volunteers – we kind of stick out. This initial greeting has transformed to a
song that children in villages throughout Togo seem to know, “Yovo, Yovo, bon
soir, ca va bien, merci!” Interpret the
jingle as you may, I take it as a mockery of my French. All of us “Yovos” here in Togo have different
methods of coping with this jingle that we encounter at least ten times each
day. One volunteer cleverly realized
that “Togo” can easily replace “Yovo”.
Sometimes we respond to the greeting, “Togo, Togo, bon soir!” However, after having children ages 2 to 8
literally sprint – partially clothed,
mid-bath, mid-meal, mid-game and all – to greet me, I decided that their
enthusiasm demanded I step up my response.
I started to interrupt the greeting and explain that my name is Sarah
hoping that the kids would give “Yovo” a rest.
It worked. “Sarah!” I awarded the kids with high-5s, and to my
surprise this sent the youngest kids sprinting in the other direction. What? You were just so eager to greet me. Each day the same groups of kids greeted me,
“Sarah!” and I distributed a mix of high-5s and petite handshakes. After a few days, the youngest kids stopped
sprinting in the other direction.
There is something about this exchange that makes my village
feel like home. It may be because the
kids and I both worked a bit to build our new exchange, or it may be because
the genuine nature and excitement of children is universal – either way, I
would like to thank the village kids because now I too, am sprinting (inside)
to greet them.
