Proud to GLOW

Disclaimer: I don't think it's possible for me to write a blog about Camp GLOW without being mushy or overly sentimental.  Bear with me.


After spending an exciting, but exhausting week at Camp GLOW, we piled into the taxi to make the journey back to the Butaleja region.  Camp may have been over, but that taxi was packed with GLOW spirit as the girls and counselors annoyed the driver with songs and games the whole way back.  When we reached Busolwe, we all went our separate ways.  As my six girls waited to travel the 15 minutes back to Butaleja with me, I ran into a small supermarket to get us juice and cookies.  We hadn't eaten all day, and it was almost 3 pm.  I was worried that they would get home, but not find any lunch for them.  As I concentrated on my refreshing cold mango juice, I saw out of the corner of my eye that Proscovia was struggling with her juice box.  She was trying to tear it open on the side instead of just sticking the straw in the foil hole!  I stuck the straw in for her and watched her take her first sips from a juice box.  Checking up on the other girls, I realized they too were unsure of how to proceed.  I had just assumed that teenage girls knew how to drink from a juice box.  I can only imagine how many things at camp had been new for them.

This August was the first ever regional Camp GLOW for the eastern region of Uganda- that's where I live!  The camp hosted 80 young girls between the ages 12-17, 8 female Ugandan counselors and 8 female Peace Corps Volunteers.  Each girl became part of an animal family with a Ugandan and American counselor.  Every day, we had a different theme pertaining to pride: Proud of myself, to be a woman, to be Ugandan and of my future.  Additionally, every day, the girls would attend sessions about healthy living, life skills, team work and crafts.  The days were packed with games, singing, learning, dancing, questions, messages and relays.  Our camp song, which every girl could sing by the end of the week, is set to the tune of "Dynamite" by Taio Cruz.  Here's a sample of the lyrics:


We throw our hands up in the air this time,
Saying Ayyyy Ohhhh, Come on let's GLOW.
We want to celebrate, live healthy lives,
Saying Ayyy Ohhh, Come on let's GLOW.

We're going rock this world, show them how to live right.
We're gonna use life skills, 'cause they're DYNAMITE.
We will tell you once, now we've told you twice,
We're going to educate, 'cause we're leading our world.


At this camp GLOW, I was a Hippo mama, with my co-counselor Josephine.  We had ten girls in our group.  At first, I think they were blown away by how much energy Josephine and I had.  They couldn't understand why we were always cheering, talking during meals and asking them endless questions.  At our first group reflection, it was like pulling teeth to get the girls to tell us anything about themselves.  Thankfully, by the end, the girls not only voluntarily answered questions, but were eager to have their voices heard.  One of my girls told me: "At school, we count down how many days we have left before the end of term.  Some people calculate how many minutes.  But, we're not counting down for camp.  We don't want it to end."

The hippos also had a song, to the tune of "Where Them Girls At" by David Guetta.

So many girls in here
Where do I begin?
I'm all alone
Do I fit in?
Then she said,
Come be my friend.
I got to thinking,
And that's when I said:

Where my hippos at, hippos at?
Hip Hip Hip
Where my hippos at, hippos at?
Oh Oh Oh
Where my hippos at, hippos at?
Ah Ah Ah
So dance dance,
We can all be friends.

Then we would do the macerena, singing "1-Hippo, 2-Hippo, 3-Hippopotamus..."  We all got to perform our songs and dances at the closing ceremony, where every girl received a certificate for her participation.

I stayed busy during camp, teaching almost every day.  I taught about sessions female reproductive health, reusable menstrual pads, HIV/AIDS and kickboxing.  I've spent the last four months teaching about women's health and HIV, so it was a breeze.  But teaching kickboxing was new and interesting.  At first, the girls were very uncoordinated!  Arms and legs were flying everywhere.  But, when I finally told them to imagine they are uppercutting someone they didn't like, they got the hang of it.  They loved grunting for every punch they threw.  Of course, I told them not use their kickboxing knowledge for real fights.  We were doing kickboxing only for exercise, but maybe they'll feel a little safer knowing how to throw a right hook.

My only complaint about camp was sleeping, or lack thereof.  For whatever reason, my nights were always disrupted.  One night, my co-counselor was violently ill, so I sat up with her for an hour.  Another night, two of my girls had been locked out of the dorm when they went out to use the bathroom.  But the last night was by far the worst!  I woke up to fingers grabbing and poking at me starting with my feet and working up to my stomach.  "OH MY GOD!  What?! What?!  Who is it?!"  I ninja rolled out of bed onto the cement floor as I fumbled for my flashlight.  No one was there.  Anywhere.  No one was even out of bed.  I ran over to Audrey's bed, who had heard me screaming.  "Chelsea, did you just have a nightmare?"  I ventured back over to double check.  "OH S###!  IT'S A CAT!"  There was a stupid cat sitting on my bed.  How did it get into my mosquito net?  How long had it been sleeping with me?  Why was it jumping all over me?  I don't know, but I wasn't about to find out just how how cuddly it wanted to be with me.  I let the cat have my bed and made Audrey share with me.

Camp GLOW is an amazing tool to empower girls, but it also helps raise awareness about the importance of inclusion.  In Uganda, children with special needs are often ignored and unable to get a proper education.  There are very few institutions for blind or deaf students; however, there are a few Peace Corps Volunteers that live or work at special needs schools.  These Peace Corps Volunteers sent girls with special needs to camp.  In my group, we had two girls that were visually impaired.  Sammy was totally blind, but Betty was only partially blind.  It was amazing to watch how Betty and Sammy helped each other.  Even more inspiring was watching my other girls learn how to help Sammy and Betty feel included in all the activities.  They would make sure they knew what was written on the board, run with them during the relay races and help them learn dance moves.

Every counselor, maybe for the first time, became aware of how to modify lessons or games to help include the girls with special needs.  All of the lessons needed to have a visual and audio component to reach everyone.  For example, the hearing impaired girls couldn't play telephone, where you whisper messages from one girl to the next.  So, we would pass along messages of patterned hand squeezes.  For the visually impaired girls, we all learned to introduce ourselves when we greeted them:  "Good morning Gloria, it's Chelsea!"  By the end of camp, most of girls could recognize our voices.  The hearing impaired girls helped teach us all some signs.  One evening, I helped a girl get a cockroach out of her bed.  Unfortunately, I chose to flick her sheets, which launched the cockroach into my hair.  I sort of freaked out and stomped all over making sure it was out.  That night, we all learned how to say cockroach.  Those groups translated their animal songs into signs too, so those girls would feel like part of the group.  One of the saddest things I learned: most parents of hearing impaired children don't learn sign language, so at home, they can't communicate with anyone.  They love being at school because they can actually talk to someone!

On the last day of camp, Betty confided in me: "Chelsea, you know, we didn't want to come to camp.  Our head mistress made us come.  We went to a workshop a few months ago, and they didn't even treat us like people.  They didn't help us at all.  We thought it would be the same camp- hat you would let us fall down.  But you didn't.  You all cared so much for us, and made sure we had everything we needed.  We don't want to leave camp!"

Camp GLOW East only made me more excited for Camp GLOW National, taking place in December.  I'll be one of the co-directors!  We're still fundraising.  If you're interested, take a look at this post: