Eat, Pray, Peace Corps

Tuesday, May 19, 2015

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 :)

Irene trying to carry me...Since ive put on a few pounds it wasnt so easy ;)

Zulah blocking the door so i couldnt leave. Didnt get much sleep that night!

Bonfire to end a beautiful, amazing week of camp.

And thats the end of photos! I hope you enjoyed them as much as i did :)

Thursday, April 16, 2015

Homeless

Going through a site change sucks. Period. You live out of a backpack again, just like training. Your whole life is in storage. You feel like a burden as you live in another volunteers house for an undetermined amount of time. You don't have the personal space you are used to. You eat out a lot and end up spending more money. You live in a new place where no one knows who you are, and once again you are just another "muzungu". Plain and simple, you just miss your own home you once had!

There have also been some positives to all of this though. I have been staying in the Eastern part of uganda, hopping around and staying with different PCV's. Since I lived in the Southwest for the last 8 months, I didn't really get to see people out here much, other than during trainings. It's been nice getting to hang out with people from my training group and get to see parts of Uganda I have never been to! All in all, it hasn't been too bad and in a way has been like a vacation. My fingers are crossed that I will be getting a new site very soon. There are a couple promising ones that could become my new home soon. In the mean time, tomorrow is my birthday and ill be surrounded by friends! And next week I leave for vacation with friends to Zanzibar, a beautiful island off the coast of Tanzania....google it...you'll be jealous ;) more to come about my trip and hopefully my new home!

Some kids at Stephanie's site

My new shades

I have been doing a lot of eating in my free time

View from behind Stephanie's house

Visiting my friend Josh's site in Mbale

Mt. Wanale in Mbale..I still need to hike this!

Mbale town (eastern uganda)

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Saying Goodbye and on to New Beginnings!

A few Saturdays ago we had a farewell party for all of our homestay families where we thanked them for welcoming us into their families as if we were their own children. I gave the speech in Runyankore that our group wrote thanking our families. Surprisingly they were all able to understand me perfectly and apparently I had no “American accent”?? That’s hard to believe. The day was filled with us singing the American national anthem (very poorly may I add) and at the end performing the Macarena in front of the families. This was by far the best part of the day. We had everyone stand up and do the dance with us- everyone seemed to love it, especially my host mother… Later that evening she was practicing the dance moves at the dinner table!

I had a family photo we took framed and gave to my family as a thank you gift along with postcards of Huntington Beach and Big Bear and some other printed photos of our time together. They loved it and were sad that I was leaving, but very hopeful I would return for Ruth’s giveaway ceremony in August. I was sad to say goodbye to them all Monday morning as they accompanied me out to the roadside. Although my homestay experience was tough- no electricity, water, toilet or indoor shower, I wouldn’t trade it for anything! They were so welcoming and accepting of me as being part of their family and I will always cherish the memories I had living with them! I wish homestay had been a bit longer, however, I know I will visit and keep in touch with them in the future.

So, I left my homestay in Kinoni and boarded a taxi with a few other trainees to head to my future site! I landed in Muhonga, a trading center nearby my site. As soon as I stepped out of the taxi I was swarmed by atleast 10 men wanting to drive me or take me on their boda boda to wherever I was going. It was very overwhelming, especially since I had so much of my things with me! Luckily they left me alone after I spoke a few words in the local language and then my supervisor arrived in a car to pick me up. I was very surprised when a nun exited the car…yes my supervisor is a nun, sister Kamukama! She is so sweet and was so excited to finally meet me. We made the trek to Kitanga (Chi-tanga), which is located about 20 mins off the main road down a dirt road. It is SOOO beautiful here- very green and mountainous. I was pleasantly surprised to find my house (which is part of a larger guest house with 5 houses) to have electricity, a living area/ cooking area, 2 bedrooms, a bathroom with a toilet, and running water with hot water…yes I said HOT!!!! It is absolutely amazing and so much better than I ever imagined. Now all I need is some visitors to come stay in that extra room of mine! The only negative so far is I may not have internet access in my village, the network connection is not so great- so my communication via internet may be limited for the next 2 years…but we will see!

Much of this area is Catholic and a lot of the buildings have been constructed through donations from the Italians. The community is small with a church, health center (where ill be working), 2 primary schools (public and private) and 2 secondary schools. The health center is a 5 min walk from my house and the church is directly opposite me. There are SO many children around and they were excited to see me…they already know me as Kyomugisha (the Ugandan name my family gave me), which seems to be the easiest to pronounce, as “Chelsea” is very difficult for Ugandans to say…Ive settled with being called Chels. Anyway, I don’t think my site could possibly be a better fit for me! I have all the comforts within my home, but get the village experience in a quiet community where everyone will know me.

Meals are provided for me if I do not want to cook, which is wonderful! I ate my meals with a seminarian and one of the fathers who is a 90 year old man with few words….each meal he spends a good 10 mins mashing up his food before eating it…and let me tell you he has got this down to a science. I will probably take some of my meals there and cook for myself some of the time, as the mealtime can be quite awkward. I spent two days at the health center and was received very warmly by all the staff. My counterpart is named Fausta, she is a nurse in her late 20s and very happy to be working with me! My site visit was short, 2 days, and I am now back near the capital where I will do 3 more weeks of training and then officially swear in as a volunteer on August 7. Wow time is really flying by!