Girls Camp

I think I mentioned earlier that I was planning a girls camp. It is now over and though there were many glitches, I think it was overall a success. Lots of Peace Corps Volunteers around the world and over the years have put on girls camps so I was excited about continueing the tradition. I had a meeting at the school to announce the camp to the girls a few weeks before school ended and was thrilled that over 80 girls attended. I thought this was a great sign that lots of girls would apply and I was worried that I would have a hard time choosing 20 girls to participate. I gave them a week to turn in a very easy application with info about themselves and why they wanted to participate. At the deadline I had only received 4 applications. I was extremely disappointed and felt like all the effort I had put into planning at the point wasn't worth it for such a small group. I extended the deadline for another week and by that time had 8 girls. I then found one other girl who had expressed interest so we had a total of 9 participants. I originally wanted to have camp every morning for two weeks. It didn't seem like there was enough to do with such a small group so I cut the program to one week.

The week before camp started I visited each of the girls' houses to give last minute details and get permission from their fathers to participate. It was important that I informed them about the topics we were covering including HIV/AIDS and family planning since some parents may have not agreed. Luckily all but one family was happy for their daughter to participate. The one family that wasn't sure said that she had a lot of work to do in the fields but eventually agreed to let her come. This girl ended up bringing her 2 year old brother every day so I guess they decided to let her baby-sit instead!

Karla, my PCV neighbor, spent the week with me helping during camp. Yoshi, the Japanese volunteer in Tenkodogo, also came for a few days to observe what we had planned. I also had help from Awa, my midwife, when we talked about reproductive health. We did a lot of hands-on activities, icebreakers, and games to get the girls interacting. This was very strange for their girls that are used to being lectured at in school and taking notes from the blackboard. We covered a lot of health topics during the week including: malaria, hygiene, nutrition, HIV/AIDS, male and female reproductive systems, and family planning. I also included topics not as closely related to physical health but that I felt were important such as role models, setting and achieving goals, and planning for the future.

I was surprised how much the girls opened up as the week went on and by Thursday when we talked about family planning, they even asked questions! They loved playing with condoms and each of the girls did a condom demonstration for the group. At first most were shy and embarrassed to touch a condom but they soon were having fun blowing them and tossing around like balloons!

After our nutrition activites I had the girls plan a nutritious meal that included all the food groups. I then had this prepared for a celebration on the last day. The girls were so excited to have rice with peanut sauce and vegetables and chicken. This is a huge treat since even rice is only eaten on special occassions let alone meat.

I talked to the girls about starting a club once school starts again and they were all very interested. I also encouraged them to come to my house any time they wanted to talk or had questions. It has been fun to see them around town and at the market since camp ended since I really didn't know any youth except from my family before camp started.