OK. Hello. Bonjour. Hola. Guten morgan. Jambo. Здрасти.
I will catch you up with everything in a week or two. I am going to only post stuff on the Camp GLOW that we just finished, as that is fresh on my mind. But so you know, I am well and busy, and hope you are too.
Camp GLOW is done by Peace Corps volunteers all over the world and stands for Girls Leading Our World. About 20 volunteers brought a few girls from their communities to the week long conference held nearby in the capital Porto Novo. I had an essay contest a while back to select my two girls, Delphine and Florence. They answered well a couple questions on the importance of community development. I had about 60 girls turn in essays. These two turned out to be perfect. And after talking to their school directors, I knew that they were not only bright and dedicated students in the classroom, but also were pretty outgoing and involved with a lot of after school activities. These are exactly the kind of people we seek in our villages as Peace Corps volunteers. They are the future of this county, and will carry on our efforts and ideas after we leave. My two girls have already agreed to help me organize some different educational programs at their schools after summer break, which just started.
So about the camp. Like I said, there were a lot of volunteers, so there was a lot of sitting around doing nothing. I did sit in on a number of sessions that were interesting. Most were given by an invited Beninese speaker. We had sessions on AIDS awareness, financial planning, goal setting, study skills, arts and crafts, internet, sports, environmental protection and others. They were really motivated and gained a lot from the camp. These girls are now even better equipped to make a difference in their country, from this point forward.
I will catch you up with everything in a week or two. I am going to only post stuff on the Camp GLOW that we just finished, as that is fresh on my mind. But so you know, I am well and busy, and hope you are too.
Camp GLOW is done by Peace Corps volunteers all over the world and stands for Girls Leading Our World. About 20 volunteers brought a few girls from their communities to the week long conference held nearby in the capital Porto Novo. I had an essay contest a while back to select my two girls, Delphine and Florence. They answered well a couple questions on the importance of community development. I had about 60 girls turn in essays. These two turned out to be perfect. And after talking to their school directors, I knew that they were not only bright and dedicated students in the classroom, but also were pretty outgoing and involved with a lot of after school activities. These are exactly the kind of people we seek in our villages as Peace Corps volunteers. They are the future of this county, and will carry on our efforts and ideas after we leave. My two girls have already agreed to help me organize some different educational programs at their schools after summer break, which just started.
So about the camp. Like I said, there were a lot of volunteers, so there was a lot of sitting around doing nothing. I did sit in on a number of sessions that were interesting. Most were given by an invited Beninese speaker. We had sessions on AIDS awareness, financial planning, goal setting, study skills, arts and crafts, internet, sports, environmental protection and others. They were really motivated and gained a lot from the camp. These girls are now even better equipped to make a difference in their country, from this point forward.
posted by Sara Birkenholz at 6:31 AM
2 Comments:
Wow sara - that seems awesome. you go girl! feminist empowerment in all countries. right now at work i'm working on a project in saudi arabia - where the treatment of women is attrocious - the thing that keeps me going is knowing that, on this one site, women will be treated fairly, and that, maybe, i have a chance to make a difference to that country and influence their perception of women. you're doing that, dude - you're making a difference.
keep it up.
how you holding up, by the way?
glad it went well... what a great topic for an essay contest, and a good turn out too! glad to hear you're doing well & keeping busy! love ya & miss ya melanie
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