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.

Two of my favorite BPU girls, Shamusa and Carolyne

My birthday buddy Winston on the left  :)

Things Have Been GLOWing Well: Part 1

Well the whistle’s been blown. 

Camp season 2013 has officially begun in Uganda. 

I spent the first week and a half of May up in Northern Uganda, specifically in Gulu, as a camp counselor for GLOW, Girl’s Leading Our World.  As I stepped off the Post Bus, I was instantly welcomed into this quaint, muzungu friendly town.  As I turned to head to the supermarket to stock up on fruit and water, I heard my name being called. 

Now mind you, I have never been to Gulu before. 

Who was it you ask?  Prossy, one of my campers from National GLOW in December.  After a hug that seemed to last a lifetime and some very happy tears, she continued to explain that she has been sharing what she learned at camp to others and that camp made her a better person.

Mission accomplished.

Fast forward to arriving at the school.  We spent two days in training and working with an incredible woman named Ife, who works in youth development and creative facilitation skills.  She helped us with icebreakers, how to gain trust with the campers, and gave us insight to our own selves.  It was very enlightening. 

I then discovered that I would be a counselor to the monkey group, which in turn lead to the 80 girls, 20 counselors, and 20 staff members to refer to me as none other than “Mama Monkey.”  I was responsible, along with my Ugandan Co-Counselor Anna, for the eight girls that made up our monkey family.  My experience as a counselor at this camp was a little different in that two of my campers were completely deaf and one was hard hearing.  I thought I was in for a crazy week but soon came to realize that these girls were so independent and inspirational.  They were patient with me as I communicated with awkward hand gestures, dance moves, and some sign language I picked up along the way.

The week started off with fun and games with the boys from BUILD and this energy lasted throughout the week.  We spent the first day learning about each other in addition to a basic how-to on sack gardening and meeting women who had started their own local business.  The week continued on with sessions on safe sex, HIV/AIDS, malaria prevention, and tae-kwon do.  The week wrapped up with a day spent with the boys focusing on gender roles and BUILDing GLOWing relationships.

The highlight of the week for me had to be the day focused on teamwork, which we spent at a ropes course.  This course could have been picked up right out of Shady Creek, where I spent many diversity and RA trainings.  Surrounded by trees the course included a zip line, rock climbing wall, leap of faith, the spider web activity, and much more.  The campers quickly learned how to trust, communicate, and have faith in one another.  Unfortunately I woke up this day with a terrible cough, a nose that was stuffed with who knows what, and a nasty stomach bug, which led to me crouched over the pit latrine.  This did not stop me from going to the ropes course to see my girls break out of their shells and into their smiles… And to get harnessed into the zip line to show my girls that anything is possible.

Side note.  Something that Peace Corps is very big on is monitoring and evaluation.  They want to know whether what we are doing has a lasting impact on the participants and their respective communities.  In order to prepare the campers to return to their villages we had each group prepare a small drama, song, or poem on a topic that was addressed at camp. 

The monkeys got safe sex and chose to perform a drama.  Part of the drama included a proper condom demonstration with a dildo, also known as a wooden penis model.  The best part was that one of my deaf campers decided to be the one to demonstrate.  She signed the whole thing and her facial expressions were priceless.  I can’t wait until she shares this knowledge with others.  She has it down.

Every night we reflected on the day by sitting under the setting African sun with a mosquito repellant candle.  We shared our breakthroughs, our challenges, our strengths and weaknesses.  We talked about the future and how we are it.  We laughed, got hyped up on pixie sticks (thanks Mrs. Parker!), and eventually made lifelong friendships. 

The week ended with a rice sack fashion show, where the girls were able to take what once were plain white rice sacks and transform them into dresses filled with pictures and words that resembled themselves.  It was a great opportunity to allow the creative minds flow… Something that is not quite encouraged in the schools.

After the oh so anticipated closing ceremony, where the campers received their certificates, and one of my deaf girls gave a speech in sign language showing her appreciation for the camp and everyone involved, we danced the night away. 

I left Gulu empowered and very appreciative for the opportunity given to me.  The girls and boys in attendance forever changed me and gave me insight to what it means to live a happy life… Smile, be yourself, and take each day as a new opportunity.  

May Madness!

I know March has come and gone and that college basketball season is over but I could not think of a better title for this blog post. 

May has been one crazy month and it has resulted with me only being at my site for a total of five days.  So what have I been doing you ask?  Let me tell ya…

Northern Camp GLOW in Gulu.

South by Southwest Camp in Bushenyi.

Gorilla Trekking in Bwindi.

Lake Bunyonyi for our 1 year in country celebration.

Put these together plus some crazy travel adventures, a hacking cough, and a serious stuffed nose and my month has been a whirlwind.

More posts to come that will divulge details about these once in a lifetime moments.

Never Forgotten and Forever Remembered

This past week Peace Corps Uganda has been filled with extreme emotions and situations. 

Last week a fellow Volunteer passed away due to injuries after being hit by a vehicle.  Out of respect for this individual and their family and friends, I am going to keep their name and sex anonymous.  Although I’m sure if you really wanted to find out details, the Internet has no restrictions. 

So let’s rewind a week.

I was at Kendra’s village planning and prepping for our World Malaria Day event.  That morning we heard our phones vibrating, clearly telling us that we were receiving text messages.  The numbers were identified as coming from the Peace Corps Staff.   We read them in shock.

The texts went on to explain that three Volunteer’s were walking in the early morning heading to the bus park to travel down towards Kampala for a conference when a vehicle struck them.  One of the PCV’s passed away from injuries, another broke their femur, and the last managed to escape with some scrapes and bruises, but I can only imagine that their emotional state is turned upside down.  

I anxiously started calling my fellow Volunteers, checking in and making sure that they were okay.  As we got to talking it came out that this apparently occurred around 6a and the driver of the vehicle did not have their lights on and was possibly intoxicated.  I have not heard whether or not this is true so I don’t want to be responsible for spreading misinformation.  Nonetheless, this is a tragedy and the service of us Volunteers in Uganda is forever changed. 

As Kendra and I sat, speechless, watching the sunrise, my mind went to the deceased’s family.  To that phone call that must have woken them up notifying them that their child and sibling would never return back from their service. 

This event could have happened anywhere and it just highlights that even though I am in a country across the world from my home, some of the same problems exist.  I ask for you to send your prayers and thoughts to this Volunteer’s family.

May this PCV know that they will never be forgotten and forever remembered.

R.I.P.