Eat, Pray, Peace Corps: Girls Leading Our World!!

“If you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation”

I spent last week in Kampala (the capital) at a Peace Corps camp called camp GLOW – Girls Leading our World, and really realized how true this quote is. As you can tell from the name, it was an all girls youth camp with girls coming from all over the country to participate. Words cant even describe how amazing this week was. It isn't easy to capture how truly amazing the week was, but i will sure try to summarize it here for you!

The girls arrived on Sunday afternoon and were divided up into their family groups.

These groups consisted of 2 parents- a PCV and a ugandan facilitator from a partner organization, Restless Development. I had 5 girls in my group- Winnie, Phiona, Sharon, Cathy and Christine. As the girls continued to arrive throughout the afternoon and evening, the excitement was high as they all interacted, some reuniting with each other from previous Peace Corps camps. A requirement for this camp was that the girls attended at least 1 prior PC camp in order for this camp to go into greater depth on prior topics and stress the importance of leadership and taking what they have learned back to their communities. The goal of the camp is to monitor the girls down the road 6 months later and see how they have taken their leadership skills and knowledge from camp to impact their communities. The fun filled week began with the girls tie-dying their camp shirts, making creative name tags and playing outdoor games.

The week was jam- packed full, every day going from 7AM-10PM. Each morning began with "morning movement", a fun way to get your blood flowing and get your body moving to start the day. It was facilitated by 2 Ugandan staff from an awesome organization that works to empower youth through creative means- music, dance, drama, etc. The mornings consisted of fun dances, yoga and singing. Each day the girls attended sessions such as HIV, family planning, sex and gender, money management, leadership, girl-child education, income generating activities, life skills, menstrual cycle (including how to make their own RUMPs- Reusable Menstrual Pads), career development and agribusiness. The days were packed with sessions, fun energizers to keep the girls motivated, fun games in between sessions, lots of music and dancing throughout the day, family time to discuss the topics of the day, personal reflection time and then some sort of fun late night activity. Each night we ended the day with a different late night activity, the first night being a Human Planet documentary, which ended with most of the girls snoozing in their seats, exhausted from a fun first day! The night activities throughout the rest of the week included theatre improv, late nite art, an impromtu talent show, and finally to end an amazing week of camp, a bonfire and dance party outside with lots of glow sticks!

Watching these girls continue to grow throughout the week, becoming more confident in themselves and their abilities, was truly an inspiring thing to witness. These girls are filled with SO much love, talent, creativity and strength. Every day they inspired me and continued to remind me why I joined Peace Corps and came to Uganda. This experience was by far the most rewarding and as cliche as it may sound, life changing experience i have had during my 1 year here. These girls are the true future leaders of this country and our world and I feel so blessed to have spent a week getting to know them. By the end of the camp, emotions were running high as everyone knew the inevitable was going to happen - saying goodbye to amazing friends and people who became family during such a short time. Its safe to say i teared up a bit knowing that some of these girls i'd probably not get the chance to see again. I did however look forward to the fact that many of these girls stay quite near my new site which makes it much easier to continue seeing them and maintaining those relationships! One of them is already planning her weekend trip to come stay with me! :) I connected with many of the girls, but 2 of them i truly became close with, they stole a piece of my heart - Zulaikah (aka Zulah) and Irene. Both of these girls were so outgoing, energetic, creative, silly, kind, caring and also filled with emotions that they weren't afraid to cover up. The impact i made on them was evidenced through their words and also their sweet cards to me at the end of the week, but the impact they had on me was much greater and i will never forget them. Below are photos from the week!

Heres the link to the Camp GLOW Facebook page- https://www.facebook.com/CampGLOWUganda2013?fref=ts

OH also, I finally got a new site!! More to come about that later....

Irene! One of my favorite campers :)

Friends reunited after other PC camps

Family Names--ours was Zukuka

Decorating their journals

Mercy debating during the girl child education debate

rinsing out the tie dye

on their way to sessions...always with a smile on their faces!

There was always dancing if the music was on!

Leaving nice comments for others on the GLOW wall

A ugandan organization that works with girls and menstrual hygiene throughout UG. Girls missing
school during their menstrual period is a very common occurrence here in Uganda. Without
the proper sanitary pads (Always pads), which are very expensive, girls sometimes dont go to school during their MP
for fear of bleeding onto their uniforms. This results in a large amount of missed school days in a year,
girls falling behind in classes and sometimes dropping out of school. RUMPs (reusable menstrual pads) are a
wonderful idea! They are cheap, can be reused for a minimum of 1 year by just washing the liner and allow girls to successfully stay in school during their MP

The girls had the chance to create their own Income generating activity (IGA) idea and present to others during the IGA session

Learning how to make RUMPs using a RUMPs kit donated to each girl by Days for Girls Uganda

Zulah was a PRO at sewing the liners!

Some of the little kids from the facility that joined in on the fun activities :)

Practicing saying NO! to sex

One of my girls, Winnie, demonstrating how to properly use a condom

Practicing correct condom use!

Tie dying round 2...first time most of the colors washed out

Late Nite Art! Such a fun experience. There was music and we all moved around the table until the music stopped. Then the facilitators would give us something to draw...for ex: draw the person across from you with your eyes closed, write in 2 sentences how this camp has impacted you

"we are the special girls to brighten the world. I have to work it out"

"hmm! Now i know i can make a difference! I have been
given the knowledge. Now the power is in my hands!"

I would take the knowledge, skills, happiness and friends. I would feel sad for leaving my friends because they have been my family all this while"

Making friendship bracelets!

Impromptu talent show...these girls rocked it!

"lets talk about sex baby"... Taken during a session about sex..Its a sensitive topic, especially
here in Uganda, but a very important one to discuss if this country is going to move forward. Knowledge is power
and in this culture, many girls and women dont have any power when it comes to sex. It
starts with these girls, the youth, to change this, to learn to say NO and have control
over their own bodies! Everyone should have the right to say NO regardless of where they come from.

My girls practicing a condom demo for their practice presentation on family planning

Eve, Zulah and Hanifah waiting to play the game "flour, water and air". 3 people carrying buckets
of either flour, water or nothing (air) dance behind the chairs. When the music stops, they dump their
bucket on the head of whoever is in front of them. Fun game with a lot of laughter as you can see!

Sharon got flour!

One of my daughters, Cathy! What a true leader, great public speaker and amazing young lady.

My girls

Morning movement to get the blood flowing!

"If i were a man i could respect women giving them a chance to make a change in their communities". I just love these girls SO much!! They are so bright and have the power to make a real difference in Uganda. They have already made such an impact on my life :)

Rock paper scissors match...it got intense!

Meet the future leaders of this country :)

Morning dancing

"I am strong, courageous and hardworking. I am inspired by Peace Corps camps. I believe in myself. I am passionate in what i do. I fight for my goals to come true" - Betty

Sweet Mercy...i dumped water on her....after the game, it turned into a water war!

Zulah and I...Love this girl!

Playing the game "drip, drip drop"....same as duck duck goose except with a cup of water. Goose is drop......as you can see from this i got water dropped on me!

My girls performing their skit on family planning in front of the rest of the camp. This was practice for the girls to prepare for going out into their own communities and being facilitators.

Zulah

Irene

Two of my favorites!

My girls

She wasnt one of the campers...but i hope one day this little girl can do a camp like this one and become empowered to make a difference. The children and youth of this country are the future and can make a positive impact.

Last night of camp. Late night shenanigans in this room! None of these girls wanted to sleep and i dont blame them. They werent ready to leave and say goodbyes! We had a lot of laughs together :)