3 Weeks, No Naps

Camp GLOW

I can honestly say that the past three weeks have been some of the busiest and most stressful of my Peace Corps experience.  They have also been among the best and most unique.  It all started the day after I arrived back in Ambo from my annual leave to America.  Nothing like hitting the ground running after a nice, leisurely vacation!  My site mates and I were planning a girls leadership camp for 9^th grade girls in Ambo.  We had originally planned the camp for the end of August, but due to my site mates’ award-winning blog, they won a trip back to the U.S. which conflicted with our camp schedule.   So, we bumped up camp by three weeks, which meant instead of relaxing and re-adjusting to life back in Ethiopia, I spent my first few days back running around town gathering supplies and making arrangements for camp.

Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is an event run by Peace Corps Volunteers for girls all around the world.  In Ethiopia, PCVs gather by region to hold week-long camps, where each volunteer brings girls from their local community.  My site mates and I interviewed about 100 female 9^th graders from Ambo High School, and chose just 8 girls to attend Camp GLOW in a town called Nekempte.  My site mates, along with an amazing local counterpart from the high school, took the girls to camp.  Since this camp in Nekempte was planned during my already scheduled trip home, I decided to hold a local camp just for girls in Ambo.  Luckily my site mates were completely game for holding our own camp.  Our plan was to have the 8 girls who attended camp in Nekempte to act as junior counselors, and to invite 17 additional girls from the high school, for a total of 25 girls.  

Junior counselor, Meskerem (in orange) leading hand washing demo

I spent the weeks leading up to my trip to the U.S. writing a grant to pay for our camp.  Camp GLOW is funded by PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief), so that means that half of the camp programming needs to relate to HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention.  Throughout the week, the girls learned about leadership, personal and sexual health, gender equality, confidence building, volunteerism, nutrition, and disabilities awareness.  The camp was fun and interactive, and it was so wonderful to see the girls learning and growing over the 5 days.  The 8 junior counselors all took active leadership roles during this camp by helping to lead sessions.  So many people worked hard to make this camp possible.  We had 2 other PCVs come to Ambo to help out, plus several local volunteers, which was really great.  My site mates and I plan to have a weekly GLOW Club at the high school once school starts to reach out to even more local girls. 

Volunteerism- making a craft to be donated to local health center

As busy and sometimes hectic as running this camp was, it was definitely the best thing I have done yet in Ambo.  For the first time in a year, I really felt like something I did made a positive impact on someone here.  In Ethiopia, it is considered a positive attribute for girls to be shy and reserved.  Females rarely hold leadership positions.  These girls who attended camp have such potential to break the social norms for women in this society.  They are creative and thoughtful young women who have dreams for their futures, and I hope they will push through whatever barriers may block their way to attaining those dreams.  Maybe, just maybe, something they learned during Camp GLOW will help them along the way.

Field Day- cabbage bowling

Finding direction

The day after Camp GLOW ended, it was time to start planning for a visit from 25 members of U.S. Congress.  My site mates and I were told about the possibility of this visit several months ago before anything was definite.  The plan was that the Congress members would be visiting Ethiopia for a few days.  Part of that visit would have a Peace Corps focus, and they would be visiting a Peace Corps site.  Since Ambo is close to Addis Ababa, and since my site mates and I are awesome (obviously) the powers that be chose to visit Ambo for a few hours.  My site mates and I were instructed to prepare a 40 minute presentation about our work.  The Congress members and guests would spend 40 minutes at my school and 40 minutes at my site mates’ workplace- the local health center.  Then we would go back to Addis with them, along with 9 other PCVs, for dinner.

Before school ended for summer break, I had gotten phone numbers for several of my students.  My counterpart and I arranged for them to come to school last Monday to start preparing for our VIPs who were coming on Friday.  I ended up with about 25 students, and they came every day for a couple hours to practice our program.  13 students recited a Shel Silverstein poem entitled “One Inch Tall”.  They also illustrated the poem, and each held up their drawing while they recited their line.  Then, 3 students read pieces that they had written.  One student read his essay, “Kings of Ethiopia, another read his poem, “Taste Ethiopian Dishes”, and the third student read her short story “The Eagle’s Mother”.  Then, the Camp GLOW girls led a game they learned during camp called Lions & Elephants which teaches about HIV/AIDS.  Finally the GLOW girls handed out friendship bracelets that they had made for our guests.  Everything went really great!   I was so proud of all the kids! They did such a fantastic job, and really wowed the crowd!

Meeting and interacting with the members of Congress and their spouses, children, and other guests was such an unforgettable experience.  They seemed genuinely interested in our work here as volunteers, and asked interesting and thought provoking questions.  The experience was a bit surreal, sitting on a big, comfy bus with a bunch of Americans isn’t how I usually travel to Addis.  My typical travel experience is uncomfortable, sometimes painful, and I’m usually just praying nobody pukes near me.  Having an American fire questions at me so quickly that I can barely think straight, then interrupt me as I tried to answer is also something I don’t regularly experience.  Conversations are much slower here.  This Congressional visit was a once in a lifetime event, and I was so honored to be a part of it.

GLOW girls leading Congress in a game

I am so grateful for everything that has happed over the past 3 weeks.  Each event has exceeded my expectations.  Now it’s time to catch back up on my naps before the next thing comes along

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You Can't Go Home Again

They say that you can’t go home again, but let me tell you that you can, actually go home again, and when you do, it will be AMAZING!  Not all PCVs have the opportunity to go home during their 27 month service, perhaps due to the expense or maybe out of fear of not returning to their host country.  I was fortunate to save enough money prior to Peace Corps to pay for my flight home and to have some spending money while I was home.  While a little part of me knew that coming back to Ethiopia after a month at home would be rough, I was willing to take the gamble that my need for some of the comforts of home would outweigh the difficulty of leaving home for the second time.

In the days leading up to my trip back to America I worried that maybe I wouldn’t fit into my life there anymore.  I worried that maybe I had changed in ways yet unknown to me and that maybe these changes wouldn’t be accepted by people at home.  I worried that maybe the familiar things of home had changed, and that maybe I wouldn’t be able to accept those changes.  I worried that maybe after dreaming of everyone and everything that I had missed so much over the past year; I had build up unrealistic expectations that couldn’t possibly be met.   I actually lost sleep worrying over these issues that now seem so silly because I didn’t experience any of them while I was home.

I think that my “vacation” at home came at the perfect time in my Peace Corps experience.  I’ve now made it past the half-way point, and I have just about a year left in Ethiopia.  Hopefully that means that the hardest part is behind me.  I am invested enough in my work here to know that I would return after my trip home to finish what I have started.  I also think that going home helped to give me a fresh perspective over my past year.  It helped me to focus on what I have learned and gained from this experience, and what I hope to accomplish in my remaining year.

So what has changed for me in the last year?  Well, I’m so glad you asked.  Here are a few of my lessons learned from life in Ethiopia….

• ·         I now have great balance and can squat for unnatural amounts of time.  No more falling over in the shint bet while trying to pee!

• ·         Every culture thinks that they are unique, but really it’s all the same when you boil it down.  We’re all human beings, and we all need love.  That’s what it’s all about.

• ·         Every culture thinks that their culture is the best, but really we all know that AMERICA is the best!  (joking, sort of…)

• ·         Slow down!  Go with the flow! This is the biggest lesson for me, and one that I’m still working on.

• ·         Be open to trying new things and having new experiences.  Every time you are pushed out of your comfort zone is a chance to grow.

Here are a few observations of life in the U.S. after being in Ethiopia for a year….

• ·         Whoa, air conditioning is cold!

• ·         Dogs in America are huge!  And I’m not afraid that they’re going to give me rabies!

• ·         Reality TV is especially awful, but I can’t stop watching.  There’s something about those Kardashians that I can’t help but love.

• ·         We Americans are a wasteful people.  So much food going in the trash, water left running, and overuse.  I hope to live more consciously and respectfully when I return home.

• ·         Driving is so orderly.  You think you’ve seen bad driving in the U.S.? You ain’t seen nothin’!

• ·         My once a week showering habit is not acceptable behavior in the U.S.

• ·         All my family and friends at home, I knew I loved you before but now I really know I love you! Absence has made my heart grow fonder for sure!

I am so grateful to all my friends and family who made time for me while I was home.  It was so great to see everyone and catch up.  I really loved every minute of being at home thanks to all of you!  I know that there were people I missed too.  Unfortunately, I am just so popular that a month was not enough time to see everyone!  Saying goodbye again for another year was not easy.  I left the U.S. for the second time, the same way I left the first time- crying on the plane.  Adjusting to life back in Ethiopia has been a challenge.  I find that I’ve lost a bit of my patience, and I’m working to get it back.  I know that my time here in Ethiopia will be worth it, and hopefully the rewards will overshadow the struggles.  

Keep those emails, cards and letters, Skype calls and if you really love me- packages coming because I certainly couldn’t do this without the support of my amazing family and friends!