GLOWing with Pride

Even though it was eleven years ago, I can still distinctly remember that first car ride up in the Santa Cruz Mountains searching for the “Camp Kennolyn” sign.  I was so anxious, excited and had no idea what to expect.  It was going to be my first time away from home for more than a weekend.  When we finally arrive, we pull up to a scene so crazy that I wasn’t sure I was in the right place.  There were kids running around everywhere, semi-adults singing and welcoming us, my mom telling me to have a good time and before I know it, my trunk had already been taken to the cabin and I was left in the care of some overly cheery 21 year-old.  What just happened?  My first camp experience is a complete blur, although I think all camp experiences are.  Within three hours, you’re plunged into to this new world of songs, cheers, chants, late night cabin talks, dining rules, camp gossip, new best friends and this bizarre role model called a camp counselor. 

Once I got too old to be a camper, I graduated to counseling when I was 16 years old.  Being a camp counselor is one of the most demanding and unique positions I’ve ever experienced.  It’s a 24 hour job that requires you always to be overflowing with energy, create positive relationships with campers while enforcing camp policies, endure near sun exhaustion, strain your voice, act like a fool for the enjoyment of others, and constantly panic about safety.  By the end, the only thing keeping you going is coffee and adrenaline.  Once all the campers go home, you nearly collapse from exhaustion and relief.  It usually takes my body a week to recover from caffeine withdrawals, a sore throat, a painful sunburn and general fatigue.  I’ve taken a week of hibernation and isolation to gain back my strength- sorry the post is a little late.

Two weeks ago, I participated in Peace Corps Uganda second annual Camp GLOW: Girls Leading Our World.  One hundred and fifty 13-17 year old girls from all over Uganda travelled to Entebbe on Sunday, December 4^th to attend a weeklong girls’ empowerment camp.  Camps do not exist in Uganda for children, so these girls were in for quite a surprise.

Each girl was placed in a group with one American counselor and one Ugandan counselor.  Upon registering, I picked up the list of my Cheetah girls.  Nine in total, plus a note to see the directors.  Sounded suspicious, but I was not prepared for what they told me.  Our Peace Corps Education Program Manager, Mary, wanted to participate in the camp as a camper.  Let me make this clear: Mary is my Peace Corps boss.  She was going to be my “big cheetah.”  For the first day, I was nervous that I was going to do something seriously wrong, but Mary turned out to be a very good Cheetah, except she tended to stray from the group.  Considering that she’s at least 50, married with six kids, I figured that I didn’t have to sound an alarm of “lost child” when she went missing.  She participated in all the activities, worked well with the other girls and was only concerned that she kept making the group late to activities!  It was actually a great opportunity to get to know her better, to hear her opinions on prevalent issues and to see how she supported the other Cheetah girls as a successful Ugandan woman.

As we were eating our first meal together, I tried to get to know the girls by memorizing their names as fast as possible and asking them to tell me something special about themselves.  Not only were the girls speaking so quietly that I couldn’t understand them, some girls refused to answer me at all!  I wasn’t exactly prepared for that, and I realized quickly that this camp was going to be a different.  It took me one whole day to figure out the mealtime problem: at boarding school, girls at not allowed to speak while eating.  At first I thought it a cultural difference concerning manners.  In reality, this rule is intended for time management.  The students are expected to eat as quickly as possible; therefore, talking would slow them down.  Once I explained to our girls that we are most definitely not in school, they gradually began to chitter chatter.  By Friday, the dining hall was so loud that we had a hard time making any announcements!

The camp’s schedule was jam packed with activities, which kept us all very busy. Each day, we had four sessions relating to Life Skills, Healthy Living, Teamwork and Arts & Crafts, which were taught by a two counselors or staff members.  I taught a session on HIV Myths and Truths.  To begin the session, each girl was given a piece of paper with different instructions.  Most of the papers said “Shake hands with five people.  Write their names below.”  One person’s card had a special star in the corner.  After the activity, I asked the person with the star to come forward.  Anyone that shook hands with this girl, would they please stand up?  Anyone that shook hands with the girls standing, would they stand up as well?  Anyone else?  At this point, basically the whole room is standing.  Now, you reveal that in this game, hand-shaking represents having sex, and the star represents HIV.  Anyone standing is now infected with HIV.  At this point, the girls usually wore a very startled look and tried to sit down as quickly as possible.  There were other instructions, so I ask the people that had remained sitting to stand.  One card said “Don’t shake hands with anyone” to represent abstinence, and the others said “Find the other person who has a heart and only shake hands with that person” to represent faithfulness.  Before the activity began, I asked a counselor to wear a kavera (plastic bag) over her hand as she went about her hand shaking business.  Of course, the kavera represented a condom.  Before we moved on, I made two points very clear.  “Can we get HIV from shaking hands?”  NO!  “Is a condom a kavera?”  NO! 

By now, I thought I had heard every HIV myth Uganda had to offer.  Sadly, I was mistaken.  Some examples:

“If I drink a soda before getting an HIV test, it will be negative, even if I’m positive.”

“Young children under 10 cannot transmit or contract HIV if they have sex.”

“If I’m HIV positive and pray hard enough, I may be cured.”

“Lesbians cannot get HIV.”

Hopefully, we got it all straightened out.

Examples of some of the other sessions:

-Money Making Jars.  After learning about the importance of saving with a specific goal in mind, the girls decorated jars to serve as piggie banks.

-Islands.  The girls had to move from one “island” to another by crossing the “ocean” only using the materials available to them, such as basins, banana leaves and cardboard.  The team had to work together to get the girls across the ocean.  If someone “fell” into the ocean, the whole team was sent back to starting point.

-Picture Yourself in 10 Years.  The girls were asked to imagine where they would like to be in ten years.  They were given a card folded in half.  On one side, there were asked to draw where they would be, what they would be doing, what they would look like, etc.  On the other side, they were to write the steps they would need to take in order to achieve their dreams.

-Malaria Prevention.  We learned an awesome parody of a popular Ugandan song that described how to prevent malaria.  The girls sung it all week!

-Self-defense.  Although I gave an exercise session on kickboxing, Andrew gave a more formal lesson on self-defense.  The girls thought it was hilarious that an actual survivor tacit was to knee a guy… well you know where.

-Blind Obstacle Course: By only verbally directing your partner, you had to help her move from one end to another by avoiding hippos and alligators (which were drawn on the ground of course.  We didn’t ask Entebbe zoo for any loaners, I swear).

We didn’t spend all of our time in sessions!  We received four successful female guest speakers to inspire and motivate the girls.  We played camp-like games, such as kick-ball and relay races.  Each day, we had a theme, such as “GLOWing with Self-esteem” or “GLOWing with Leadership.  At the end of the day, we met as a group to discuss the meaning and importance of the theme. 

Each evening, we had a different activity to keep the girls busy before bed.  One evening, we projected an episode of “Planet Earth” onto a screen and we all sat in the grass under the stars.  The girls couldn’t stop asking questions!  They had never heard of a penguin, a shark, a caribou… the list goes on.  At one point, a wolf is chasing a baby caribou.  The girls started cheering, urging the wolf to run faster, would boo when the wolf charged and missed.  Let me tell you- that would never happen at a girls’ camp in America.  The girls would be crying to save the baby caribou!  I may or may not cringed a little when the wolf finally catches the caribou.  I guess Ugandan girls are more exposed to the harsh reality of the natural world: the fuzzy, cute ones are usually eaten.  At another part of the episode, a male bird was shown preparing to court a female bird; therefore he was cleaning the area by removing leaves and twigs.  Another surprise: the girls could not believe that a male bird was cleaning.  They were convinced that we were mistaken!

By the end of the week, I felt like I had reached every girl in the group in some way, except one.  No matter how hard I tried, how many questions I threw her way, how many opportunities I gave her to shine, how much encouragement I gave her, I could not get Irene to open up.  I was beginning to wonder if she was even enjoying herself!  As we were finalizing our Cheetah Cheer, the girls wanted to add yet another section.  We chanted “Cheetah-Cheetah-Cheeti-yah”- it’s the to the tune of “Sawa-Sawa”-while clapping.  The girls wanted to use this chanting time to free-style.  Who wants to dance during this chant?  You can imagine my shock when Irene raised her hand in interest.  This is the girl who wouldn’t look me in the eye when answering a question, but she wants to dance, alone, in front of the whole camp?  And wow, that girl can shake her hips that you wouldn’t believe!  All of the other Cheetahs were just as shocked as me!  After everyone congratulated her, I finally saw Irene break into a full smile.  When the American ambassador came to visit the camp on Friday, we were asked to perform our cheer!  Although Ugandan girls are taught to be quiet and humble in the presence of a visitor, yet all the Cheetah girls were so energetic and yelled with such intense and self-confidence.  Even Irene.

On the final day, we merged with the boys camp- Camp BUILD - to have a Field Day.  It was not boys versus girls!  Each girl’s group was paired with a boy’s group as a team to play other boys and girls.  When we first met our brother group, things were a little awkward.  Even as we prepared for our first event, Tug-of-War, they weren’t quite a team yet.  Once the referee yelled “GO!” the kids really dug their heels in, while I was jumping around screaming "GOOOOOO CHEETAHS" (it's no mystery why lost my voice).  When our team emerged victorious, it was amazing.  Less than a minute before, these kids wouldn’t even look each other in the face, and suddenly they are high-fiving, cheering, running circles to celebrate- boys and girls.  It was an awesome way to show that we can all work together and help each other.

In only one week, we witnessed a distinct transformation in the girls.  In the last ten months, I’ve accepted that development is extremely slow, but it was so rewarding to see such a positive change in such a short amount of time.  Although by Saturday morning, I was nearly hallucinating from exhaustion and wishing to be back in my own bed, not in a dorm of 90 girls trying to get ready for early buses at 4 am, I was sad to leave the camp atmosphere and my Cheetah girls.  I sincerely hope that when they returned on Saturday, the girls returned with happy stories to tell and knowledge to share.  Mostly, I hope they learned that they are beautiful, unique, intelligent, talented and strong girls who are in charge of their lives and bodies.  If they believe that they were every bit as good as the boys, I know they will change Uganda.

 

For a few pictures and more information, you can check out the camp website!
http://glowuganda2011.drupalgardens.com