This blog post about last years camp was originally published by Ashley Moulder under the title "Girls Girls Girls!!" on her blog. Click here to see the original post with pictures.
So today was the last day of Jimma Camp GLOW 2013. For those of you who don't know, camp GLOW is a summer camp style training Peace Corps does all over the world to help with youth development. It stands for Girls Leading Our World, and is aimed at high school aged girls. We cover a wide variety of topics, from leadership, to HIV/AIDS, to relationships, and everything in between. The goals is to give these girls focused individual attention that will improve their confidence and to help them learn some valuable skills that will help them to be leaders for the rest of their lives.
So we had a leadership session where we talked about how leadership works. We talked about why being a leader is important, and how you might be a leader. Then, they were split into 5 groups, and each group was asked to come up with a human machine. This machine could do anything, but each girl had to be part of it, and each part had to be explained. They were allowed to figure it out any way they saw fit. So, there were lots of great machines, but my two favorite were the group that did the boat (left), and the group that did the grass house (right). After they presented, we talked about who were the leaders in their groups. At first they named the most vocal, but as we talked about how being a leader might mean coming up with the idea or helping to make an idea happen, they started to talk about how each one of them played a role in leading the group.
We also had a volunteerism day where we discussed the importance of volunteering in your community, and why service is so important. We had 2 university students who were helping us out, so they did a lot of talking about why they saw volunteering as so important. Then, we took a tour of the Jimma University radio station. They interviewed 3 of the girls and one of the PCVs about camp and Peace Corps. The radio station is completely volunteer based, so they got to see and talk to others about volunteering.
We also had a lot of sessions about HIV/AIDS prevention and other types of disease prevention. We tried not to do too many lecture style sessions, so most of our sessions were active, involving lots of group participation. We always had some sort of sport or outside activity, but we also did something called Grass Roots Soccer, which uses soccer as a means to teach HIV/AIDS and Malaria.
We also had the girls competing each day to be 'Queens' for the day, and they got to wear these crowns during lunch and dinner. It was a lot of fun, and the girls were ecstatic. They loved all of the activities and getting to know each other. It was an amazing experience, and these girls are some of the most incredible people I have met. I have no doubt they will rule the world someday.
Anyways, here's our camp, along with their groups. Definitely a week to remember!
So today was the last day of Jimma Camp GLOW 2013. For those of you who don't know, camp GLOW is a summer camp style training Peace Corps does all over the world to help with youth development. It stands for Girls Leading Our World, and is aimed at high school aged girls. We cover a wide variety of topics, from leadership, to HIV/AIDS, to relationships, and everything in between. The goals is to give these girls focused individual attention that will improve their confidence and to help them learn some valuable skills that will help them to be leaders for the rest of their lives.
I was the director for the camp in Jimma this year, and let me tell you, it was exhausting. However, the week was great, and the girls loved it. Here are some pictures of what we did...
So we had a leadership session where we talked about how leadership works. We talked about why being a leader is important, and how you might be a leader. Then, they were split into 5 groups, and each group was asked to come up with a human machine. This machine could do anything, but each girl had to be part of it, and each part had to be explained. They were allowed to figure it out any way they saw fit. So, there were lots of great machines, but my two favorite were the group that did the boat (left), and the group that did the grass house (right). After they presented, we talked about who were the leaders in their groups. At first they named the most vocal, but as we talked about how being a leader might mean coming up with the idea or helping to make an idea happen, they started to talk about how each one of them played a role in leading the group.
We also had a volunteerism day where we discussed the importance of volunteering in your community, and why service is so important. We had 2 university students who were helping us out, so they did a lot of talking about why they saw volunteering as so important. Then, we took a tour of the Jimma University radio station. They interviewed 3 of the girls and one of the PCVs about camp and Peace Corps. The radio station is completely volunteer based, so they got to see and talk to others about volunteering.
We also had a lot of sessions about HIV/AIDS prevention and other types of disease prevention. We tried not to do too many lecture style sessions, so most of our sessions were active, involving lots of group participation. We always had some sort of sport or outside activity, but we also did something called Grass Roots Soccer, which uses soccer as a means to teach HIV/AIDS and Malaria. 
We also had the girls competing each day to be 'Queens' for the day, and they got to wear these crowns during lunch and dinner. It was a lot of fun, and the girls were ecstatic. They loved all of the activities and getting to know each other. It was an amazing experience, and these girls are some of the most incredible people I have met. I have no doubt they will rule the world someday.Anyways, here's our camp, along with their groups. Definitely a week to remember!
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