Our First Full Day of Camp GLOW!

Good morning Camp GLOW!!!  This is the view we woke up to looking out over Lake Victoria.

We are still in the middle of our first full day of Camp GLOW 2013, but when the day starts at 6:00 am, a lot can happen by mid-afternoon.  The theme for today has been Self Esteem, which was incorporated into each of the four sessions: Lifeskills, Business Development, Teamwork and Healthy Living.  The girls split up into different classrooms depending on their ‘bird group.’  By the end of the day, each session will have been taught four times.  To encourage active participation and so each camper will have opportunities to speak, we kept class sizes as small as possible. 

Today our healthy living sessions focused on Malaria awareness and net repairs.  The girls were able to practice repairing real nets and also have fun playing games and singing songs focusing on the awareness aspect. 

Our other sessions included Financial Literacy, Communication Skills and Self-Esteem.  Though some of these sessions had a more serious tone, all were mixed with games, discussion and interaction.  A goal of Camp GLOW is to help girls think beyond their current situation—to explore, to dream, and to understand that what they may have always considered impossible is actually possible.  Therefore our sessions, such as financial literacy and communication, along with all the other sessions, aim to show the girls that they have the skills, confidence and ability to be independent.  We are trying to show them that they have the power to choose who they want to be.   

Our guest speaker today was Abraham from Breakdance Project Uganda (BPU), an organization that uses hip hop to build leadership skills and promote social responsibility.  The project believes that everyone has the capacity to be a positive role model to others—an idea that Abraham conveyed to the girls.  He also spoke about how we are all teachers and students, that we each have something to teach and something to learn.  He told us, “where you are now doesn’t dictate the rest of your life.”

This is all pretty serious.  But let’s not forget…this is camp, and camp is supposed to be fun, right? Well, we have had plenty of that too.  From playing games within individual bird groups to camp-wide games where all 130 girls participate, today has been filled with laughs, smiles, hugs and team-bonding.  

This afternoon the girls ran through an obstacle course.  They passed water balloons between each other, hopped in potato sacks, jumped over hurdles, guided one another blindfolded, and strapped legs to each other for three-legged races. 

Though each team was technically competing with each other, it was amazing to see the camaraderie between all the girls—even those in different bird groups.  The girls would scream and cheer for whichever team was running the course.  The event felt like a massive celebration.  

There are few things that feel as good as seeing young girls smile and laugh unabashedly.   And that is what camp G.L.O.W. is all about: a place for Ugandan youths to be youths, a safe space where they can let go of all of life’s hardship and let each of their unique personalities GLOW.