Nyaruguru District, Southern Province
In many Peace Corps countries, including Peace Corps
Rwanda, camps for students are held in various regions. Usually during school
breaks, these camps have many different focuses: technology, health,
leadership, science, and the arts among others. Recently in Rwanda, GLOW (Girls
Leading Our World) and BE (Boys Excelling) camps were held all over the country
during the beginning of August, with my region (the Southern Province) holding
both camps back to back. These camps are for girls and boys respectively, and
focus on healthy living, preparing for the future, and general leadership. They
are a great opportunity for campers to build friendships with students from
other schools, to hear inspiring guest speakers, and to develop valuable life
skills.
GLOW is
designed to help girls in secondary school develop confidence and leadership
skills they can take back to their communities. Since girls in Rwanda are often
shy and feel that they can’t speak up in class, confidence is an incredibly important
skill to build. At the Southern camp, lessons are taught by four Peace Corps
volunteers, who are helped by two Junior Facilitators each. These Junior
Facilitators are girls chosen from various Volunteer communities who have
showed a high level of English comprehension and leadership skill. While at
first the volunteer leads the lesson, the Junior facilitators gradually take a
more active role in the classroom, becoming student leaders by the end of camp.
Lessons at GLOW camp include self-esteem, gender awareness, nutrition, and how
HIV works.
But camp isn’t only lessons.
There is also a daily guest speaker; this year we had Gloriosa, who is a
stellar Peace Corps Rwanda staff member, talk about Gender Based Violence, as
well as a career panel, and a speaker from Kigali Hope talk about HIV stigma
and support. There are also crafts (like bead bracelets, paper mache, and
fabric pouches) and games in the afternoon. Each night after dinner we have a
special activity for all the girls in the main hall. This year the girls staged
a stellar debate, watched the film Dream
Girls, showed off how much they had learned during Trivia Night, and blew
us all away during a talent show that included excellent singing and a
fantastic fashion show.
Camp is a great experience for many young
Rwandans. While there are a lot of important lessons to be learned in the
classes, the most important part of camp, in my opinion, is what is learned
outside of the classes. Girls and boys learn how to work as a team during many
of the games and sports, they learn to put others ahead of themselves when they
help to serve food at meals, and they learn to put themselves out there when
they perform for each other, and show respect for everyone as they cheer each
other on. GLOW/BE Camps are a lot like Peace Corps in general: a lot of stuff
can and does go wrong, but how you deal with it defines your experience, you
get out of it what you put into it, and finally it’s more about building and
maintaining relationships outside of a formal setting. This is also my last post as a member of PC Rwanda GAD (since I will be finishing my service in the fall). It has been a pleasure working with all of my colleagues on GAD, and everyone in Peace Corps Rwanda, volunteers and staff. As a few parting words let me say this: the most I've been able to do to help promote gender equality here has been to live as an example. In many little ways, I've tried to show my Rwandan friends and co-workers what I think when I imagine gender equality. This, I hope, has shown them that "equality" is not a zero-sum game, there's enough room at the table for everyone to be there, you just have to give them the same and listen to what they have to say.
Thanks again for everything, and good luck!
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