So, last time I left off we had finished up with the month long of weddings and now I do believe I’m backtracking to fill you in on GLOW camp.
A little background first. GLOW is a Peace Corps program to empower girls around the world. It stands for Girls Leading Our World. (There is a boys version, but no, we do not call it BLOW). Peace Corps Rwanda has been doing GLOW camps for the past 3 years. Last year, I did not participate due to various factors. My region (Muhanga) also did not participate at a whole, but we decided this year, we were going to put together a GLOW camp! And, lo, we did. With the power combined of Pamela and Gelsey (and the rest of our administration team; Jamie, Daniel, Michael and Meredith) we held the 1st regional Muhanga GLOW camp from August 27-31st at Mpanda Vocational Training Center (Jamie’s site). In total we had 30 teenage Rwandan girls from 6 different schools, including 5 from GS Munanira! We had a really fun week teaching the girls all sorts of important things having to do with life skills: HIV/AIDS awareness, goal setting, teamwork, etc. But we also decided our camp was going to be as “camp-like” as possible, so they learned what it’s like to go to an American camp…well, as American as we could make it! So, when they weren’t in sessions learning something, there was recreational time, a ropes course, movie night, dance night and all girls were organized into “teams” with cheers. At the end of the week, there were many tears as the girls headed back to their homes, leaving their new found friends and experiencing something that they will likely remember for the rest of their lives. At the end of the week, all us PCVs were…exhausted but happy I think. We pulled off GLOW camp with no major snafu’s and the girls clearly had a good time. And in the end, that’s what counted, the girls having a blast. And, just to give you an idea of GLOW camp, here’s a summary in photos:
Me and fellow PCV Susie with some of our Rwandan co-facilitators
Checking campers in!
Playing Basketball (Knock-out actually)
Happy PCVs! Kay, myself, Jamie and Nate
Learning good hygiene: hand washing!
Rec time: Volleyball
Rec time: Painting
Rec time: Yoga
Affirmation Wall time
Team Cheer: Go team Oprah-Obama!
Ropes Course: Team building
Ropes Course: Trust Sit
Kay teaching a session
Me and a bunch of the girls
Me and my girls from GS Munanira!! (so proud of them for smiling!)
Last day with their shirts
Loading them up onto the bus to go home
Group Shot with special guests Steve (our CD) and the US Embassy’s DCM (2nd in Command)
And that was GLOW…stay tuned for the next update!
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