A thank you to the village children

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.