Photos [some of them] Taken over The Last Two Months

Getting ready for Camp Glow!!

Camp Glow English games!

Talking about future life goals

Hike time!  Lets find a waterfall!

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Finished Bottle Brick Bench

Rice with avocado is surprisingly really good

*I have a ton more pictures, but was unable to get them all up due to slow internet and limited time.  I'll try to get more up when I can.

Shybunna Break Update

Hi All.

I have not received any responses for my shybunna break mini series.  So that means that I will not be able to continue these particular posts as of now!  Which is fine...

.... But really!  Don't be shy in asking me questions, etc.  For those of you who are not Peace Corps volunteers or may be future Peace Corps volunteers, feel free to ask me anything that you'd like to know about my experience, etc. or even if there is a particular topic that you would like me to potentially post on.

So in summary:  Don't be surprised if you don't see many more Shybunna Break posts.  But I really do want to encourage everyone to still help me out and send me any questions, topic requests, etc.  that they would like me to talk about in my blog.

Thanks!

Camp Glow 2015

GLOW stands for “Girls leading our world.”  The purpose of Camp Glow is to spend about a week focusing on girl empowerment, etc.  Camp Glow can be co-ed, but often is a girl’s only camp (meaning that all of the campers are girls).  In Ethiopia, there are two different camps, Camp Glow and Camp Grow.  Camp Glow has a greater focus on health related topics and Camp Grow has a greater focus on agriculture/environment related topics (I will be helping with a Camp Grow later in the summer; it is possible that a post will come up about it later on).

July 2015, I was able to help with Camp Glow in Debre Birhan.  We had a total of 18 girls come as campers, 3 Junior Counselors/translators, and 12 Peace Corps volunteers.  The girls who came are from various towns in which the Peace Corps volunteers serve.  The volunteers consisted of a few health, agriculture, and a whole bunch of education volunteers.  This camp was a four-day camp full of sessions relating to English related topics, health related topics, gender, etc.

The girls learned a lot about themselves, their goals, what healthy relationships are and their importance, gender roles and how these play into their lives, stigma, as well as various health related topics such as HIV/AIDS, nutrition, fistulas, the female reproductive system, etc.  The session I led was on nutrition.  I focused on the basics of nutrition, which of course included the different food groups and what a balanced diet looks like.

One session in particular that seemed to not only be a very good learning experience but an emotional one as well on both girls and camp leaders was the session in which we discussed fistulas.  During this session, we first watched a documentary called “A Walk to Beautiful.”  (I would highly recommend watching this documentary to anyone who is interested in learning more about fistulas and the effect it has on women in developing countries).  This documentary focused on a few different girls from Ethiopia that have gone through the experience of having fistulas and the process they went through because of having fistulas. 

Following the documentary, the female camp leaders had a discussion with the girls.  It was amazing to hear the stories, experiences, and other things that the girls had to share.  Fistulas are more prevalent in the more rural areas of Ethiopia, so it was very interesting to hear from some who in one way or another have been affected by fistulas.  It was very eye opening to experience so many girls learning about fistulas for the first time.  I think that this session in particular will be one that I will always remember.

Over the course of camp, all of the volunteers were able to get to know all of the girls and were able to see so much growth in every single one of them.  Even the growth in confidence that I saw in every girl was so encouraging to me.  During the last night of camp, we had a talent show that we encouraged the girls to participate in.  Many girls wrote poems, one girl presented her artwork, another sang, and there was even a group of girls that put on a fashion show.  It was so encouraging to see how excited the girls were to show off their talents.

All in all, camp GLOW was an amazing experience and I am so glad that I was able to participate and help out.  Not only was it so encouraging to not only see how much the girls learned but also to see how much growth happened in each of them by the end of camp.  Not only did this growth I observed encourage me, but it also helped me to grow positively as a person and help me realize that maybe I am doing something good and having a positive effect on some people as a Peace Corps volunteer.  Now that I have helped with a camp and have seen the positive outcomes that can come from it, I would highly recommend every Peace Corps volunteer try to participate in one camp during their Peace Corps service if possible.

*I will try to get more Camp pictures up via Facebook and/or via Blog as soon as possible (aka as soon as I am able to get good enough internet connection).