Sometimes the system was engineered to keep you small. They call it rebellion when you resist.

Every cultural name in Togo literally has V to it.

No way, it's V-I.

V is small.

No way.

Yes, we were engineered from childhood to know that you, you are small from family, then you start school, school tells you you are small, then you get into career, career tells you you are small. We were taught You were meant to be small. So anywhere you go, you need to be small. And if you try to be big, then you become a rebel. And for me, my family, for a long time I was a rebel because I wanted more. Every cultural name in Togo literally has V to it.

Give me examples of that.

If you are Kojovi, Ajo vi, Ablavi, Komlavi, Kokovi, Akovi, small.

You want to tell me the meaning of that?

Someone who is born on Wednesday, and the vi is what she's just referring to.

Yeah, because we've been engineered to be small. So if you look at the average kid in the West, they ask questions, they're curious. When you tell them something, they will ask you why. The average African parent will feel threatened and disrespected because the child has why. And that is because of the way we were raised. We were raised to be quiet. We were raised to say yes. So from the day you were born, your parents made sure that your new identity, not the identity you came with, is small. So everywhere you go, you remain small. Even when we tell people we are from Togo, the first thing, if they know, because most people don't know about Togo, they say, oh, that small place, you people are really small.

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