A couple weeks ago I was fortunate enough to work as a counselor at Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World), a PC camp run by health volunteers to promote girls' empowerment. Those of you who know me from home may know I'm a camp person - I've been lucky enough to attend and work at various summer camps and camp weekends for years. In some ways, working at GLOW reminded me a lot of those experiences, and in other ways, it was an entirely different meaningful and inspiring experience.
For instance, at (good) camps everywhere, campers come quietly and shyly, and leave outspoken, with dozens of new friends. There are the outspoken campers and the ones who are good at art or written activities. There are the ones who like to play sports and the ones who want to have deeper conversations, and there are even the ones you have to carefully herd from place to place, lest they get distracted on the way.
But at GLOW, these experiences were so much more. For many girls, this was the first time they'd traveled alone ever, much less to Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. One of the impacts of the severe lack of resources in the village and at schools is that children have extremely limited access to art supplies; upon arrival at GLOW, campers were immediately asked to create a nametag at the craft table, and they couldn't get enough. They continued to explore the mish-mash of glitter, glue, feathers, markers, and stickers throughout the week. If I ever was looking for a camper or two during mealtime, I knew to just look to the back table. During the week, I showed the girls how to use watercolors, and chuckled to myself when several girls TALULARed the paintbrushes into crochet hooks and knitting needles. The girls were continually captivated by the several professional Malawian women speakers who came to share their personal stories, from a bank manager to a chief justice to a fashion designer to a journalist, continuously commenting that their stories were inspiring and that they know they could achieve their dreams in life. Never have I seen campers so consistently engaged during what essentially was a series of lectures.
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| Milliam crocheting using a paintbrush |
Additionally, the Malawian speakers were mixed in with presentations by PCVs on subjects ranging from diet and nutrition to gender-based violence to cultural sex myths. Conversations during the day continued through to our evening reflections - I had a couple memorable group conversations with my campers about certain myths about sex and menstruation that they found difficult to disbelieve. One of the best cross-cultural experiences I got to witness was a trip to the American Embassy's library and resource center, where the girls got to go through tons of books, learn how to use computers, and create email addresses. Yes, a big part of the trip was the girls hearing about opportunities to study in American universities, but honestly, it was hilarious and amazing to see these girls, many of whom do not have electricity at home, much less a computer, learn how to navigate the internet. For over an hour, we counselors and the embassy staff were running around helping girls, and cheering with them as they navigated between screens.
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| Two of my favorite girls, Mervis and Anne, creating their emails |
GLOW was truly one of the best weeks in country for me. Especially after a year, it's easy to get frustrated not seeing the headway we're making at site, and GLOW was a really reaffirming week showing me - yes, this is why I came here; yes, people want me here; yes, they are grateful for the opportunities we can provide as PC; yes, I can help make a difference. Not a terrible way to spend a week of break between terms, and not a bad thing to do as I'm gearing up to work on Camp Sky, the education-run camp that preps students for their big end-of-school exam. Here's to taking the positive energy and motivation with me through the next year.
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| My girls got swag, and this is only half of them |
