Feeling good! This past Friday 4 other PCVs and I finished
up a GLOW camp (Girls Leading Our World) that we had been planning for the past
6 months. My friend, Brynna, and I did most of the planning, but there were
three other PCVs involved too. We each brought four girls from our sites and
one Malagasy woman to chaperone and help lead sessions throughout the week.
 |
| Girls' room at Rovan'ny Tovovavy |
Last Sunday, the first day of the camp, I planned to leave
my site around 8:30 with my girls and chaperone. Contrary to the normal
“fotoana gasy” (Malagasy time, which means being late), my girls showed up at
my house two hours early. I didn’t need to worry about missing our ride! None
of my girls had ever been to Tana, the capital, so this was a big adventure!
Aside from most of the girls getting carsick and puking out the window, the
ride went pretty fast and arrived in Tana around 3.
 |
| Each girl had to bring 12 kapoaka of rice...it adds up quick! |
We settled into the Rovan’ny Tovovavy, a church dormitory, with
all 25 campers and chaperones in one room, and the PCVs in another. Twenty-five
girls in one room…it’s like a sleepover parents would never allow! But they
loved it! The first night we had ice breakers, introductions, explained the schedule
for the week, introduced journaling, and set out some ground rules. Of course,
the power went out during our session, and we had to finish deciding on ground
rules with multiple headlamps providing our light.
Monday, our first day, focused on goal setting. The group went
to the US Embassy to talk to three panels of women employees. They talked about
their education, their jobs, and gave advice for staying in school and finding
a job they like. During a break, the girls played with ipads, got to look at
the embassy library, and marveled at the automatic soap dispensers and hand
driers in the bathrooms. We ate lunch at the Embassy café in a beautiful atrium
with table cloths, meals delivered by rolling cart, and a TV playing CNN coverage of Hurricane
Sandy. Everyone was in awe, including the PCVs! In the afternoon we met with
another panel of women before heading off to the Federation Malagasy de
Football. On our second visit, the girls got to learn about the national soccer
team, meet two women working for FIFA and visit the national stadium. By the
time we got back to the Rovan’ny Tovovavy the PCVs were exhausted and the girls
wanted to go out exploring. It was a really great first day though.
 |
| The girls from Tsarasambo and my chaperone at the National Football Stadium, Mahamasina |
Tuesday morning we had a later start, although the girls
woke up around 4:30 and therefore it was impossible to sleep past 5. We had
breakfast and played games outside while we waited for our visitors. Tuesday’s
theme was health, and we worked with peer educators from the NGO Population
Services International. We had three sessions led by Malagasy University
students, the first about STIs, the second about HIV/AIDS and the third about
family planning. The peer educators were amazing and the sessions were fun,
interactive, and informative. By the end, the girls were laughing and asking
tons of questions, which was great to see. The girls all learned and practiced
how to use condoms, learned about different kinds of birth control, and talked
about the consequences of early pregnancy. The girls even did condom demos with
their eyes closed (since the majority of the girls don’t have electricity). While
this is all information that should be covered in schools, most of the girls
were hearing some of this information for the first time. Even our adult
chaperones were learning new things…
 |
| Health day with peer educators from PSI |
Wednesday was education day. We took our girls to the
EducationUSA Advising Center, an office run by the US Embassy. They learned
about resources available to girls wanting to go to University in the United
States, and they got to look at books about applying to college, taking the
SAT, and finding scholarships. We spent over an hour looking at the books, and
when it was time to go, the girls asked if they could stay longer!
Unfortunately, we had another meeting to get to. So we went back to the
Rovan’ny Tovovavy where we were going to talk to University students studying
in Tana. Eleven students came to talk to us, and they started out by showing
some videos to the group. We quickly found out that they were religious propaganda,
and had to abruptly end that presentation since we can’t (nor do we want to) promote
any religion. We eventually got the University students talking about student
life and their experiences at the University, and were back on track!
 |
| Girls at EducationUSA Advising Center |
In the afternoon we were supposed to visit the University of
Tana, but midway through the student session we received a message that there
were strikes at the University, students throwing rocks at cars, and the police
using tear gas. So, we had to cancel that visit and come up with plan B...the
ZOO! It was so much fun and I finally understand what parents mean when they say
that a perk to having kids is being able to experience childhood again. Seeing
our girls run around the zoo and look at animals they’ve never seen before was
pretty cool. I even found someone selling cotton candy, so I got to watch my girls
eat that weird fluffy stuff on the end of a piece of bamboo.
 |
| Tsarasambo group at Tsimbazaza (the zoo) |
That evening, we decided to have a Halloween “party” to teach
the girls a little about American holidays! Brynna’s parents sent us a box full
of Halloween decorations and candy (THANKS!) so we were able to set up trick or
treating in the dorms. The volunteers wore fake vampire teeth, which I thought
would be really funny for everyone. However, once all the PCVs were running
around in vampire teeth, some of the girls got really scared and hid behind a
door. One girl even fell down. Woops. This might have to do with the myth that white
people take Malagasy children and steal their organs….Anyway, the trick or
treating went well and the girls (and adults) got really into it. Although
there were no pumpkins or costumes, it was still a successful Halloween.
 |
| Halloween at Girls Camp! |
Thursday was our final day! All our girls came to breakfast
in their matching camp shirts, which was perfect since we spent the morning on
a city tour of Tana. It’s hard to lose a girl in Tana when you’re in a group of
30 people wearing violet shirts. We drove around Tana, visited the Queen’s
Palace that burned down, and got to visit some markets for the girls to buy souvenirs,
and drove through a tunnel (which was a terrifying first for some of our
girls!). By the time we got back from
our city tour, it was time for lunch and final activities. We had our Malagasy
chaperones lead two sessions with the girls, the first about their life goals,
and the second about responding to peer pressure. Seeing the girls present
their goals of going to the University, working at the US Embassy, and even
becoming the chef de region (equivalent of a governor) or a doctor, was a
rewarding end to the camp!
 |
| Campers on a Tana city tour. |
 |
| Tsarasambo group at the Queen's Palace. |
 |
| East Coast Girls Camp 2012. |
 |
| Certificate Ceremony! |
The camp was exhausting, but definitely worth all the work
we put in. We’re hoping to do more camps like these in the future, so we will
see…
