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| 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 9th 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 9th 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Field Day- cabbage bowling |
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| 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.
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| 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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