Did you ever go to summer camp? I BET YOU LOVED IT! If not, get a window into camp life here in Namibia with Camp GLOW!
Camp theme: Superheroes: Soaring to new heights!
Camp GLOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) Namibia is a holiday camp for learners from all over Namibia. It's a week-long camp for school children to develop their leadership, communication, empathy, and teamwork skills. The camp is completely free for learners, so that cost won't prevent them from gaining a life-changing experience. It's been going on for many years here in Namibia (run by Peace Corps Volunteers and Namibian facilitators) and it's also a global Peace Corps initiative.
I had the privilege of being selected as a member of Peace Corps Namibia's working group, GAIN (Gender Awareness in Namibia), which puts on Camp GLOW. As such, I was a facilitator for Camp! It was a tremendous experience and one of the highlights of my service thus far. We had 43 AMAZING kids from all over Namibia all come together in the same space for a week. Watching Namibia's future leaders grow and transform over the week was truly inspiring and uplifting.
There were six days of camp: Character Day, Teambuilding Day, Gender and Health Day, Field Trip Day, Leadership Day, and Future Day. Each day contributed uniquely to the development of the 12-18 year old learners that were present at camp.
On Character Day, the campers learned about positive character traits and took personality tests to learn about their own strengths and weaknesses. Later in the day, we got into a discussion on stereotypes. We passed around file boxes that each had a defined group of people... one box for each of the main tribes in Namibia, a box for women, a box for village people, a box for town people, a box for Chinese people, a box for Americans, a box for men, etc. Each team had two minutes to write down as many stereotypes about that particular group of people as they could think of and then proceeded to the next box. By the end of the activity, there were some pretty seriously hurtful (and let's be honest, a few funny) words on those boxes. This led to a lot of reflection and discussion and a few really powerful comments from campers. This activity was the first time (of many during camp) that I welled up from such an amazing comment from a camper. There was one camper who said something to the effect of "If we believe these stereotypes and we let them divide us as people, there's no way that we'll be able to stand together and become the united, strong Namibia that we want to be one day. We have to let these stereotypes go and stop believing these things about one another. It's time for us to stand together." Wow, wow, wow.
On Team Building Day, there were loads and loads of fun activities that challenged the campers to work together in their small teams of 7-8. It was so fun as a facilitator to see how the kids faced challenges as a team. We had two campers on our team that were constantly motivating the other campers and encouraging everyone. It was so sweet. And at the end of the day when we sat down for group discussion, we even had one of our team members say in front of the whole team that she wanted to publicly apologize to another team member for having expressed her frustration to her earlier in the day when the camper wasn't doing well with a game and was forcing the team to start over again. The apologizing camper expressed her sincere apology and that she thought that it couldn't have made the other camper feel good and no one should ever do that to a teammate. Wow, again.
The Yurt Circle trust game
Team buliding game by transporting a marble with metal tracks
Trust Walk
On Gender and Health Day, there were a lot of really intriguing discussions, based around the difference between gender and sex, the different gender roles in Namibia, how a husband and wife should problem solve, etc. In some areas, it was really sad to see how little exposure and knowledge a lot of the kids had on these topics. For example, there were kids saying that the only way to solve a problem with your spouse is with threats or violence or just leaving them. Needless to say, we had a nice discussion on that topic. It was really encouraging to see a lot of "lightbulbs" going off for so many kids. Furthermore, we had a lot of really great discussions on sexual health. We did a review game with facts and myths on HIV/AIDS and also did role-plays/skits where the campers had to practice negotiating with a sexual partner to practice safe sex. (Example: Your partner doesn't want to wear a condom and said that you wanting to wear one means that you don't trust or love them. What do you do then?) The campers had SO MANY questions relating to sexual health and a lot of misconceptions as well. ("If I kiss a boy while I'm on my period, I'll get pregnant, right?") It was great for the campers to have a safe space to ask any question they wanted. We even did an anonymous question box and had our wonderful Namibian facilitators sit on a panel and answer them one by one. I think the kids really learned a lot this day and it opened up and created a lot of safe space for the coming days.
On Field Trip Day, we went into downtown Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, and took the campers to UNAM (the University of Namibia), a cultural museum of the tribes of Namibia, and the Grove Mall, Namibia's biggest shopping mall. For a few campers, this was their first time in Windhoek. For almost all campers, it was their first time at UNAM and at a museum. The kids enjoyed getting to see the University and ask lots of specific questions related to what they want to study and how to be admitted. At the museum, the kids were SO excited to see their own tribes represented there and also get to see real-life replicas of the other tribes. Many of them commented that they were so happy to see animals and types of huts that they had previously only ever seen in textbooks. Later on, we went to the mall, where each camper got N$30 (~US$2) to spend. They were so excited to be in a huge shopping mall and it was also most of their first times riding an escalator! It was pretty hilarious and fun trying to help three girls down the escalator while I was holding all of their bags. They were all champs and made it down :)
Our awesome team-- the GLOW Avengers-- outside of the tour bus
Some campers in front of a wildlife exhibit in the museum
A camper's first experience on an escalator!
Day 5 was Leadership Day! Steffi and I co-developed and co-facilitated the programming for the day. (Shout out to my dream team co-fac!) We talked a lot about the qualities that it takes to be a good leader (encouragement and communication were the main ones decided upon in our team) as well as how leadership can come in many different shapes and sizes. We also played a few games that were used to demonstrate how leaders can emerge in different situations. (See crocodile crossing photo below.) At the end of the day, we asked each camper to reflect on their own leadership strengths and write it on a paper. Each camper was photographed with their statement and we moved outside into a huge group circle. Every camper went into the middle of the circle, stood up on a chair, and announced (loud and proud!) to the whole group, "I am a leader because..." It was such a powerful activity.
Crocodile Crossing
A small group discussion
"I am..." Activity
Day 6, the final day of camp, was Future Day. On this day, we talked a lot about goal setting and what the kids wanted to be when they grow up. We had a career fair where lots of panelists came in (entrepreneurs, computer scientists, accountants, teachers, etc.) and talked to the kids all about what they do and why they do it. A lot of the kids were really excited and motivated by this event. Later on, we had a couple of really great activities, like a discussion about breaking down stereotypes (followed by the kids physically breaking down the "wall"-- see photo) and a spider web activity where everyone shared what they learned at camp and shared their gratitude. Overall, a very heartwarming day :)
Overall, it's hard to sum up six magical days of camp into a blog post and explain what it meant to me... what I can say is that it was a lot of fun, extremely exhausting, and extremely energizing. What a gift to be around 43 super stars for a week.
Camp theme: Superheroes: Soaring to new heights!
Camp GLOW (Girls and Guys Leading Our World) Namibia is a holiday camp for learners from all over Namibia. It's a week-long camp for school children to develop their leadership, communication, empathy, and teamwork skills. The camp is completely free for learners, so that cost won't prevent them from gaining a life-changing experience. It's been going on for many years here in Namibia (run by Peace Corps Volunteers and Namibian facilitators) and it's also a global Peace Corps initiative.
I had the privilege of being selected as a member of Peace Corps Namibia's working group, GAIN (Gender Awareness in Namibia), which puts on Camp GLOW. As such, I was a facilitator for Camp! It was a tremendous experience and one of the highlights of my service thus far. We had 43 AMAZING kids from all over Namibia all come together in the same space for a week. Watching Namibia's future leaders grow and transform over the week was truly inspiring and uplifting.
There were six days of camp: Character Day, Teambuilding Day, Gender and Health Day, Field Trip Day, Leadership Day, and Future Day. Each day contributed uniquely to the development of the 12-18 year old learners that were present at camp.
On Character Day, the campers learned about positive character traits and took personality tests to learn about their own strengths and weaknesses. Later in the day, we got into a discussion on stereotypes. We passed around file boxes that each had a defined group of people... one box for each of the main tribes in Namibia, a box for women, a box for village people, a box for town people, a box for Chinese people, a box for Americans, a box for men, etc. Each team had two minutes to write down as many stereotypes about that particular group of people as they could think of and then proceeded to the next box. By the end of the activity, there were some pretty seriously hurtful (and let's be honest, a few funny) words on those boxes. This led to a lot of reflection and discussion and a few really powerful comments from campers. This activity was the first time (of many during camp) that I welled up from such an amazing comment from a camper. There was one camper who said something to the effect of "If we believe these stereotypes and we let them divide us as people, there's no way that we'll be able to stand together and become the united, strong Namibia that we want to be one day. We have to let these stereotypes go and stop believing these things about one another. It's time for us to stand together." Wow, wow, wow.
On Team Building Day, there were loads and loads of fun activities that challenged the campers to work together in their small teams of 7-8. It was so fun as a facilitator to see how the kids faced challenges as a team. We had two campers on our team that were constantly motivating the other campers and encouraging everyone. It was so sweet. And at the end of the day when we sat down for group discussion, we even had one of our team members say in front of the whole team that she wanted to publicly apologize to another team member for having expressed her frustration to her earlier in the day when the camper wasn't doing well with a game and was forcing the team to start over again. The apologizing camper expressed her sincere apology and that she thought that it couldn't have made the other camper feel good and no one should ever do that to a teammate. Wow, again.
On Gender and Health Day, there were a lot of really intriguing discussions, based around the difference between gender and sex, the different gender roles in Namibia, how a husband and wife should problem solve, etc. In some areas, it was really sad to see how little exposure and knowledge a lot of the kids had on these topics. For example, there were kids saying that the only way to solve a problem with your spouse is with threats or violence or just leaving them. Needless to say, we had a nice discussion on that topic. It was really encouraging to see a lot of "lightbulbs" going off for so many kids. Furthermore, we had a lot of really great discussions on sexual health. We did a review game with facts and myths on HIV/AIDS and also did role-plays/skits where the campers had to practice negotiating with a sexual partner to practice safe sex. (Example: Your partner doesn't want to wear a condom and said that you wanting to wear one means that you don't trust or love them. What do you do then?) The campers had SO MANY questions relating to sexual health and a lot of misconceptions as well. ("If I kiss a boy while I'm on my period, I'll get pregnant, right?") It was great for the campers to have a safe space to ask any question they wanted. We even did an anonymous question box and had our wonderful Namibian facilitators sit on a panel and answer them one by one. I think the kids really learned a lot this day and it opened up and created a lot of safe space for the coming days.
On Field Trip Day, we went into downtown Windhoek, the capital city of Namibia, and took the campers to UNAM (the University of Namibia), a cultural museum of the tribes of Namibia, and the Grove Mall, Namibia's biggest shopping mall. For a few campers, this was their first time in Windhoek. For almost all campers, it was their first time at UNAM and at a museum. The kids enjoyed getting to see the University and ask lots of specific questions related to what they want to study and how to be admitted. At the museum, the kids were SO excited to see their own tribes represented there and also get to see real-life replicas of the other tribes. Many of them commented that they were so happy to see animals and types of huts that they had previously only ever seen in textbooks. Later on, we went to the mall, where each camper got N$30 (~US$2) to spend. They were so excited to be in a huge shopping mall and it was also most of their first times riding an escalator! It was pretty hilarious and fun trying to help three girls down the escalator while I was holding all of their bags. They were all champs and made it down :)
Day 5 was Leadership Day! Steffi and I co-developed and co-facilitated the programming for the day. (Shout out to my dream team co-fac!) We talked a lot about the qualities that it takes to be a good leader (encouragement and communication were the main ones decided upon in our team) as well as how leadership can come in many different shapes and sizes. We also played a few games that were used to demonstrate how leaders can emerge in different situations. (See crocodile crossing photo below.) At the end of the day, we asked each camper to reflect on their own leadership strengths and write it on a paper. Each camper was photographed with their statement and we moved outside into a huge group circle. Every camper went into the middle of the circle, stood up on a chair, and announced (loud and proud!) to the whole group, "I am a leader because..." It was such a powerful activity.
Day 6, the final day of camp, was Future Day. On this day, we talked a lot about goal setting and what the kids wanted to be when they grow up. We had a career fair where lots of panelists came in (entrepreneurs, computer scientists, accountants, teachers, etc.) and talked to the kids all about what they do and why they do it. A lot of the kids were really excited and motivated by this event. Later on, we had a couple of really great activities, like a discussion about breaking down stereotypes (followed by the kids physically breaking down the "wall"-- see photo) and a spider web activity where everyone shared what they learned at camp and shared their gratitude. Overall, a very heartwarming day :)
Overall, it's hard to sum up six magical days of camp into a blog post and explain what it meant to me... what I can say is that it was a lot of fun, extremely exhausting, and extremely energizing. What a gift to be around 43 super stars for a week.
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