'Twas the night before Camp G.L.O.W. (Girls Leading Our World), and all through the Mansa PC House, not a creature was stirring- except for that darn mouse...
Tomorrow begins the event many of us PCVs here in Luapula Province have been waiting for and working toward: Camp G.L.O.W! This week, we- along with our local partners from the District Health Department, Ministry of Education, Network of Zambian People Living with HIV/AIDS and many others- will be teaching girls from our rural communities about life skills needed to become leaders and role models in their communities. Sessions include:
- Assertiveness and Confidence-Building;
- The Importance of Education and Staying in School;
- Goal-setting and Planning for the Future;
- Women's Health, Puberty and Reproduction;
- Making Sanitary Pads;
- Gender-based Violence, Sexual Assault and Rape Counseling;
- Sugar Daddies and Peer Pressure;
- HIV Education and Positive Living;
- Voluntary Counseling and HIV Testing (VCT);
- And of course fun things like a bonfire, movie night, crafts and a talent show.
We PCVs have spent the last few months bringing this camp together applying for funding, pinning down venues and community contributions. We have all been working hard within our communities to select girl campers, as well as find adult women in the community who are willing to mentor the girls through camp and after camp ends. After camp, the girls and their mentors are expected to share what they have learned with other girls and women in the community. We have also been busy networking with potential partners and co-facilitators who are willing to volunteer their time to educate the girls. And no event planning would be complete without devising Plans B, C and D for when arrangements fall through or partners suddenly disappear. (We literally had one of our signed partners, a local NGO, disappear from Mansa- without a word- just days before Camp. The office had been emptied, phones disconnected and people vanished.)
It has been a fantastic experience- if not stress-free- working with fellow PCVs, as well as discovering and building network of female professionals in Mansa who are like-minded, independent, intelligent women and enthusiastic and committed to teaching girls an empowered way of life. The women who have agreed to help us facilitate this week's sessions possess an inspiring enthusiasm to help their younger sisters, the girls from our poor and rural communities. Our co-facilitators are taking time out voluntarily (without payment) from their busy, professional lives as nurses, educators, counselors- even policewomen- to attend camp sessions and teach the girls things they simply need to know if they are to navigate the risks they face and accomplish their goals.
Just like in The States, girls here are told- and perpetuate- all kinds of myths about sex, pregnancy (and how to avoid it), their bodies and HIV. These myths, when followed, can shatter a girl's dream of finishing school and striving for the next rung of the economic ladder and a better life. Several of the co-facilitators have confided that they are interested in Camp G.L.O.W. because they see the fall-out of this every day: early and underage pregnancy, school drop-outs, girls becoming pregnant or infected with HIV because they turn to a sugar daddy to provide them school fees, food or clothing.
The excitement here has been building for months, weeks and days. This past week, the whole team of PCVs have come into the provincial capital and campsite to attend to all the last-minute heavy-lifting and details for Camp. Despite the Easter holiday, we have been a'buzz with activity. We are making last-minute confirmations of partners, the venue, participants and their mentors; receiving our grant funding just in the nick of time (phew! a whole other story); creating flipcharts and diagrams; practicing our sessions and testing out games and activities; gathering and organizing all our supplies; cutting out over a hundred sanitary pad patterns for the girls. Transport here is a constant juggling act, so we are making and quadruple-checking transport arrangements to get the campers from their villages to Camp, to get the co-facilitators from their homes to Camp and to get us PCVs to Camp.
My smarter colleagues have turned in early tonight to get the extra rest we'll need next week. So, right now, the only ones up are me, the house cat and the mouse the cat is stalking. I had better sign off now and try to get some rest, too. This week is going to be a full one! But before I go, let me thank all of you who have been generous in your donations and your encouragement. This Camp could not have come together without your support.
And if this post has left you with an appetite to learn more about girls' empowerment initiatives in this region, check out this article from NYT about Camfed's Girl Power project:
Happy Camping to All and To All a Good Night!
- Megan
- Megan
No comments:
Post a Comment