Wishlist!

As mentioned before, we are asking our friends and families in America to send us some items to help with camp.  All of the big things we need are available in Ethiopia and will be paid for from the grant that enables us to do this project, but we would like a some small gifts for the kids that are novelties here.  The camp is going to be FIFA World Cup themed, and we are doing projects about global citizenship, so we are requesting small flag and other things to help create an international flair.

We also want your personal involvement with the students.  You can post in our Facebook group or email us, but if you prefer to send cards or physical pictures, that would also be wonderful.

Mail to Mettu can take a long time!  Sometimes packages make it here in 3 weeks, sometimes it can be more than 3 months.  If you are sending something for camp, please think ahead so we can receive it in time.

Please send all packages and letters to our camp co-director in Mettu:

Ella Lehmann

P.O. Box 440

Ilubabor Zone, Oromia

Mettu, Ethiopia  

As so, without further ado, here is our wishlist:

American flag bananas

FIFA whistles

Water bottles, Nalgene

American flags

Brazil, Mexico, Japan, Germany, Cote de Ivorie -  flags, stickers (students will be split into groups representing one of these countries)

Marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey chocolate for S'mores (we might just eat these ourselves before camp starts...)

FIFA soccer balls

Magazines and newspapers (for making collages and piñatas)

Video messages/letters/pictures

Art supplies

Water balloons

Those little strappy backpacks you get at conferences

Anything else you think would make the camp special is great, but check with us first before you send it just in case....

Thank you!

A Look Back at Last Year's Camp GLOW

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.

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!

Welcome to Camp G2LOW!

Take a moment and remember the first time your arrived at summer camp.  You drive through the rustic gates of some compound named after an imaginary Indian tribe or a forest animal.  You see rows of log cabins and areas set aside for water sports, arts and crafts, and singing songs or performing skits.   Maybe this was the first time you were away from your parents and home.  Maybe you were excited.  Maybe you didn't really want to be there.  Maybe you plotted with your bunk mates on how exactly to sneak into the canteen or girls' dormitories after lights out.  Probably you learned something new, and made best friends that would last a lifetime - or at least a summer.  

Whatever your memories, it is clear that summer camps are an important part of the American experience.  So much of our literature and films use these settings to discuss growing up and finding your place in the world.  Children need a safe opportunity to leave their parents behind, step out of their comfort zones, and practice to become the future leaders of tomorrow.

That is why this summer, 11 Peace Corps volunteers from around the Oromia region of Ethiopia are organizing a summer camp in the town of Mettu.  We will partner with local teachers and institutions to re-create our favorite summer experience for thirty 8th and 9th grade girls and boys from across the region.

The name of our camp is Camp G²LOW, which stands for "Girls and Guys Leading Our World."  Using the theme of the FIFA World Cup, we will create a week of activities designed to teach the future leaders of Ethiopia about self-confidence, volunteerism, global citizenship, health and nutrition, and English as a world language.

We need your help to make this camp a success.  Over the next few months, we will be gathering supplies and support from our friends and families back in America.  Some of the items we want are hard to find in Ethiopia (S'mores anyone?).  We will be posting a wish list of items for activities and would appreciate your gifts and packages.

Even more important than the stuff, we want children at our camp to hear your voices.  Please join our camp event on Facebook and lend your words of encouragement to our campers.  Feel free to post written, audio, or voice messages for us to share around the campfire (and LCD projector).  Maybe as you help us to share the largeness of the world with our students, you will learn a little bit more about its depth yourself.

Check back here regularly as we post updates about our camp planning process, bios of camp staff, and also pictures and updates from the camp itself.  Mettu Camp G²LOW kicks off June 29^th and continues until July 5^th.  We hope to see you there!