Uganda Read This!: Things Have Been GLOWing Well: Part 2

After a fun filled, and exhausting week in Gulu, I decided to stay the night to get a hot shower, salad, pizza, and a mojito before heading back down home to the southwest for another camp.

Monday morning I boarded the post bus bright and early at 5:45a to arrive into Kampala right around lunchtime. I traveled with Jeremy, a PCV from my group who was one of the three co-directors for Northern BUILD, Boys of Uganda in Leadership Development. Jeremy is awesome and treated me to an early birthday Brood sandwich before I was to continue my 6-hour, one bus, and one taxi ride journey to Bushenyi.

I rolled into Mbarara at around 6:30p and stopped to get some very needed Red Bull, which would be my life saver as I went straight to another camp as a staff member. After an hour journey west to Nyakabarizi, I finally made it to the Primary Teacher’s College where South by Southwest camp was being held.

Now unlike the other camps, this one was testing new waters by having the boys and girls together at one vicinity. There was no BUILD or GLOW. Just camp. The co-directors had this idea of empowering both sexes together, as to show the girls the support that the boys give and to give the boys a sense of what the girls go through on a daily basis here in Uganda.

Two camps. One love.

Despite arriving a day late due to the camp overlap, I was welcomed with open arms. My role as a staff member was to keep the counselors happy, get provisions from town, and help in keeping the campers entertained with dances, games, and cheers.

I also was sought out to help teach a nutrition and malaria session. I had the campers play trivia, color, and work as a team to increase their knowledge in these areas. I thoroughly enjoy teaching and find it to be some of my most rewarding work. You witness the growth of your students and see the engagement they have in class. Furthermore teaching in a creative manner is so rewarding, as it is something that these students are not used to.

The co-directors sought out an awesome youth-centered organization based in Kampala called Breakdance Project Uganda, BPU, to come and join the camp fun. BPU believes that hip-hop can be used as a means to engage and empower disadvantaged youth in addition to build their leadership skills and promote social responsibility. Many of the campers and a majority of the Ugandan male co-counselors were from BPU and brought with them a positive energy and support to many of the campers, staff, and counselors.

It is with my best intentions that I will go and visit the BPU branch in Kampala when I am there next month for my VAC meeting. The founder of BPU exchanged some very inspiring and kind words with me when I met him in Gulu during Northern GLOW about my work with youth and I would love to continue to work with them in the future.

The week continued on with a field day where I led several activities on teamwork. We cheered each other on and by the end of that day my voice somehow resembled an 80-year old man who had been smoking three packs a day for the past 79 years. It was cute.

The nights were filled with fun and games and power outages, which meant I had to entertain them with my newfound beatboxing skills. We also danced the hours away with the Cupid Shuffle, Macarena, YMCA, and The Cha Cha Slide. America’s best dances being introduced to Ugandan youth… One camp at a time.

The final full day of camp happened to be on none other than May 17, my 26^th birthday.

I received an awesome birthday serenade from Stephanie and the campers, woke up to the staff room decked out in balloons and posters, and even got mashed potatoes and string beans smothered in George’s secret BBQ sauce for dinner. It was a great start to mark another year that gets me closer to thirty.

The next morning as the fog crept onto the school grounds and the buses and matatu’s gathered ready for the campers departure I realized that another camp had finished.

Another 150 youth were equipped with the knowledge and skills to continue to carry the message back home.

Another successful week.

Another highlight of my service.