Camp BUILD & GLOW

"Everywhere we go! People want to know....!"

Welcome to Camp! (Photos by Jim Tanton)

It was back to camp this week for Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and BUILD (Boys of Uganda in Leadership Development), a Peace Corps-sponsored camp for Ugandan youth in empowerment and leadership development. I never thought I would see the day that American-style camp worked successfully in Africa, complete with camp songs, cheers, field day and teambuilders (the only thing we were missing was a lake and swimming lessons). In the past, the girls' and boys' camp would operate simultaneously but separately, giving the girls their own space to learn how to be more assertive. The directors of our camp, who are  fellow PCVs, decided to experiment and run the camps together.  At the beginning of the week, there was some awkwardness with the girls refusing to sit or talk with the boys, but by the end, they were all getting along great. During the morning and early afternoon, the campers would have sessions focusing on topics such as domestic violence, net repair, gender roles, family planning (we even had a condom race on wooden penises--some girls were horrified) and a whole day devoted to learning about HIV/AIDS. This day was the most insightful into rumours and widespread beliefs around HIV. The questions campers had about how HIV is spread ("I heard you can get it from someone sweating on you...!") was a revelation about what a large knowledge gap exists.

Teambuilding: The Spiders Web

That's why camps like these are so important: we are able to give the right information and stamp out any myths surrounding the disease in a controlled setting. There's no church behind our shoulder condemning condoms or telling us they cause cancer. On Thursday, we had a Ugandan organisation TASO (The AIDS Support Organization) come in to do a performance for our campers. All the performers are living positively, and shared a little of their experience. They also conducted HIV testing for anyone who wanted to know their status. I'm proud to say that my entire group was brave enough to get tested, which shows some real initiative.

I got tested!

In the evenings, we had teambuilders, endless games, frisbee on the pitch, bracelet-making or learning origami. It was amazing the see the transition in the girls, who went from being docile and quiet, to being more assertive and confident. The results were surprisingly positive.

A little teamwork goes a long way: The Human Knot!

There isn't really a culture here of people of the opposite sex being friends; platonic friendships between the two genders isn't a thing, especially not in the village. I was a counselor for the boys' side, along with my Ugandan co-counselor, and we had 8 happy campers. They ranged from mid-pubescent and voice-cracking teenage boys to older, more mature boys who could be eligible to be counselors next year. It was a blast and we got along great. I thought boys would naturally be more assertive and confident than girls, but I still had to get the boys to come out of their shells. Our animal group for the week was the Hyenas (we always had an excuse to laugh and cackle, which I really liked), including 8 girls from the GLOW side.

Breakin' it down, BPU shows us their moves

A big presence at the camp, including campers, counselors and staff, was BPU- Breakdance Project Uganda, a youth empowerment program in Kampala, Masaka and Gulu. I can't stress enough how awesome these guys are. Not only do they have major swagger but the kids who come out of these programs are determined, inclusive, polite and good leaders. I assumed that a lot of these kids came from well-to-do families in the big cities, but apparently a lot of them are orphans or come from poor families. They have great role models at the Project who help shape them into young leaders, and the best part-- to teach them how to dance! When the BPU campers arrived at camp, I figured they would be the troublemakers and we would need a disciplinarian on Day 1. Instead, I quickly found out what great kids and role models they were. I had two BPU boys in my group, one 18 and the other 19, and they were the natural leaders of the group, sometimes doing my job for me by encouraging others to speak up. Another great message from BPU was their living proof in gender equality; girls are encouraged as much as boys to dance. They all performed a skit for us where they showed that breakdancing isn't just for boys, but girls can be just as good. Take that for breaking gender roles!

Girls learning how to make their own reusable menstrual pad (RUMPS)

After three months at site preparing and eating muzungu food, I had a harsh re-awakening to eating Ugandan food three times a day for a week. I forgot how potent the beans are here and the profound effect they have not only on me, but all my fellow staff members. We could have powered a hot-air balloon with the amount of beans we were eating. I realized how rather spoiled I've been at site with my porcelain throne toilet and hot bucket baths, I missed those two things dearly after using stinky latrines and having cold bucket baths for the week. (In truth, this is how most PCVs live, but some of get lucky and are blessed with a toilet!)
By the end of the week, after spending so much time with our Ugandan co-counselors and campers, all the PCVs were fluently speaking some weird form of English we call Uganglish. For example, instead of saying "Come here," we'd all do that backward hand-wave thing they do and say "You first come!", or instead of saying "Me too", we'd all say "Even me!"