Earlier this month I had the opportunity to join some of my fellow PCVs in leading Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) for students in our area. I was able to bring four students (two girls and two boys) from the secondary school in my village. The school was really helpful with identifying the best students to join me. Other things that one might expect to be easy, like getting permission slips signed, proved to be nearly impossible, sigh! Of course there had to be a few hiccups along the way but all five us managed to be ready to catch the early bus out of our village for the start of camp, miraculous! It's an hour long bus ride to the next big town and then another short bus ride to the next town over. Then finally a major hike through town, across a river and up a hill to get to the school where camp was held. In our village the secondary school is on the far end of town and through the mud so the kids seemed to be unfazed by this adventure. The camp was focused on leadership skills, gender equality, goal setting, and confidence building. Sometimes the camp is held exclusively for girls but I appreciated that we also included boys - it takes all of us to create change. There were about 45 students and 7 of us volunteers. Some of the PCVs were able to bring teachers from their schools, they were super helpful, we couldn't have done it without them. In between lessons there were games and songs, we were always busy. The days were full and exhausting and of course the nights were short on sleep but I think everyone had fun. Camp was supposed to be a week long but had to end after just three days due to circumstances out of our control. But even in a short time I think the students learned a lot and made new friends, and I am thankful for the chance to get to know the students from my community better. They made me proud and I look forward to hopefully working with them on projects in our community.
The early morning walk back to town with our mats at the end of camp!
Love from Ethiopia!
