Last September as Noxolo
and I were coming up with the goals for our Alexandria Girls Clubs one of them
was “to hold a Camp
GLOW”. That goal finally became a reality this
October 1st – 5th as six counselors and twenty learners
from Ukhanyo Secondary
School and Alexandria
High School joined us at
Bushbuck Adventure Camp for a week like nothing we had ever experienced!
Planning Stages
As soon as I heard of Camp GLOW (a
program that was started by PCVs in Romania in 1995) I knew it was
something I wanted to do with my time in the Peace Corps – and I knew it would
be my biggest project. I worked in the
Leadership and Service office at ISU – leadership development is kind of my
nerdy thing. After participating in a
life-changing week long leadership program myself (and then working as the
Student Coordinator of it for three years) I knew how immensely impactful, wonderful,
and fun a week long leadership camp could be – and my standards were set
high. Using my experiences in the
Leadership and Service office, including things from Alternative Spring Breaks
I began the task of putting together a week long leadership camp focusing on
four things: leadership (obviously), HIV/AIDS & wellness, personal
discovery and growth, and female empowerment.
These four overarching themes directed each and every lesson and
activity that we did.
The week was put together
to follow daily themes: community, the value of you, challenging the status
quo, leading with your values, and taking it home. Each day we had a goal which correlated to
the daily theme as we worked through our lessons and activities. The Camp GLOW
curriculum took me a looooooooong time to put together and in total was 144
pages. The counselor’s manuals were a
detailed, step by step guide for staff.
They included: facilitator training, the daily to do list, the daily
curriculum, inspirational materials, and ice breakers and energizers.
The Camp GLOW
[Rock Stars] Staff
Starting in June the
planning committee (aka the Camp
GLOW staff) started
meeting to prepare and plan. Putting
together our staff was something that came together amazingly easy. I needed a group of committed women, who were
already positive role models in their community that would be willing to not
only spend an entire week working for free, but also spend four full months
planning and meeting. I had my eyes open
for good counterparts and was able to find an AMAZING group of women for the
camp. Our lead facilitators would be
Noxolo (an employee of the local Department of Social Development, and
Alexandria Girls Club leader) and me. One
of my best friends in the Peace Corps Sam offered to come down and help out and
she served as our site coordinator. She
was my right hand woman throughout the whole week and helped to make sure it all
went smoothly (which it did thanks to her!).
Our Sister Leaders – the
women who would be interacting with the girls on a much more personal level as
their small group leaders (aka Sister Teams) were all made for this job! Phindiswa and Nelly both work for the
Department of Education as “learner support agents” comparable to social
workers at the local schools. Elgene
works as a monitor at the Alexandria
Christian Academy
and runs the youth programs at the church I attend. She got her sister Kaylynn to fill in as our
fourth Sister Leader – unfortunately Kaylynn was unable to actually come because
she got a new job that began on the same day as Camp; but she was an invaluable
asset to our planning committee in the months leading up to GLOW.
Something that makes me
really proud of our GLOW is that not only was it empowering the learners we had
from the schools, but also our staff.
This was such a unique opportunity for them to learn and grow
professionally and personally. These
women are passionately committed to seeing the people of their community
empowered – and it is truly inspiring to see all the hard work they put into
their roles as Camp
GLOW staff. I am so grateful, blessed, and inspired by
them continually! My expectations of
them were extremely high and they were there ready to rise to each and every
challenge I put in front of them. They
did an outstanding job and I’m so proud of all of them!
The Camp
After four months of
Saturday planning committee meetings, me stalking the participants and their
schools, three shopping trips to Port Elizabeth
for supplies, and endless hours of preparation the week finally arrived – Camp GLOW! All of our participants showed up (I was
worried that someone would forget despite my mass text messages of last minute
reminders) and the camp began!
At first the girls were
shy and quite, a little apprehensive and not quite sure what to expect. That quickly changed and by day two we could
see the girls coming out of their shells.
By day three we were astounded at some of the transformations we were
seeing. Girls that hadn’t said a single
word were suddenly speaking up in the big group discussions – it was so
encouraging. The following are some of
the highlights of the week…
Day Two:
A LOT of girls cited
learning about their values on day two as one of their favorite things about Camp GLOW. The focus was on learning about who you are,
what you value – your “core values” and then congruence between your values and
actions. I think this message really
impacted them!
The challenge course – was
not only hilarious but a great workout!
A lot of girls enjoyed this part of the day and working on their team
building – doing activities like the human knot. The key message of the day was that each of
us has our own value that we bring to the table but it’s also critical for
leaders to be able to work well on team!
Know Your Epidemic – this
was one of the only times that we actually discussed HIV/AIDS at Camp GLOW. Part of the reason is – all of the youth in
my community know what behaviors are risky and put them in danger of
contracting HIV. They know what HIV is,
they understand how it can affect you, and that it can’t be cured. What they don’t know is exactly what HIV looks
like in South Africa
as a nation. It is not widely understood
that HIV is actually a pandemic in South Africa and exactly how
widespread it is here (and that it is not how it is in the rest of the
world). In my opinion – you cannot fight
something if you don’t really understand it.
If the youth of this country don’t understand that they have a unique
challenge to overcome in regards to HIV they will not be able to see an HIV
free generation. We showed the comparison
to statistics on HIV in the United States
and South Africa. The small group discussions that took place
as part of this session were amazing!
Day Three:
Why Gender Matters: we
talked about the difference between sex and gender, did an activity that
demonstrated how much influence gender stereotypes have on us, and discussed
why this is important for us to talk about and relevant to them.
Dream Big: Vision and
Goals Development: Each participant went through the process of developing a
vision and goals. A vision was something
that was “others focused” – an improvement that they wanted to see in their
community. The focus was not on
individual desires and goals – by going through this process they could apply
it to their own personal lives, but we wanted to encourage community involvement
and active citizenship. This was very
powerful to many of them, especially at their age (15-19) as they generally
aren’t used to thinking about how they can impact their community. The visions and goals that they developed
were so incredibly inspiring! These
ladies have big dreams and hopes for their community!
Challenging the Status
Quo: The main activity addressing this was group discussions on the following things:
women’s rights in South Africa,
caring for the environment, racism in South Africa, and HIV/AIDS. These discussions got them thinking about the
tough questions and the attitudes and circumstances that people generally just
accept as “how things are” here. The
conversations that ensued were extremely interesting.
Women Leaders in Our
Community: Guest Speaker Panel. Three
women from Alexandria
that are leaders in their community were invited to speak about what it’s been
like for them as women leaders in the community. The HIV/AIDS Coordinator of Ndlambe
Municipality, the Ward Counselor of Alexandria,
and the Project Manger of Ikhwezi Support Group all attended and shared their
knowledge with us. The girls engaged the
guest speakers by asking insightful questions.
Having living examples of women from their community that have become
leaders was so important for the girls – and I think made a lasting impression
on them.
Day Four:
Outdoor Adventure:
Hiking. Part of our day consisted of a
two hour hike through the bush. It was
along a stream and so much fun! Several
girls’ citied hiking as one of their favorite things about the Camp. Most of the girls don’t ever get to go hiking
so it’s a rare and fun opportunity for them!
Embracing Failure: in
their Sister Teams the girls talked about new ways to look at failure. We were encouraging them to dream really big
with their visions and goals - “great leaders have a healthy disregard for the
impossible” after all. In order to
prepare them for the challenges that lay before them we wanted to provide them
with a new outlook on failing. The
following quotes were just some of the inspiration we provided for the new
viewpoint:
“Only those who dare to
fail greatly can ever achieve greatly” – Robert F. Kennedy, former United
States Congressman
“The greatest glory in
living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.” –Nelson Mandela, former President of South
Africa
“Success consists of going
from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm” – Winston Churchill, former
Prime Minister of England
Juggling Life: Stress
Management. This was a session that a
large majority of girls cited as being something they had learned at Camp GLOW
– how to manage their stress in positive ways.
Seeing the Possibilities:
I Can’t Funeral. After their final
sister team reflections where participants got to meet one on one to share each
others positive qualities we held an I Can’t Funeral. Each of us wrote down things that others have
said to us, or that we say to ourselves that are negative. We each then read these things out loud to
the group (it was optional but everyone chose to participate) and then threw
the paper into the fire “burying” those negative messages. This turned out to be an extremely emotional
activity with a lot of girls letting out things that they had clearly been
holding in for a long time. Sharing
these deep things with each other allowed them to finally release that burden
and find the support that they needed to prove their own self worth to themselves. It was extremely touching and empowering.
Day Five:
Taking It Home: we
discussed the different ways they can apply what they have learned at Camp GLOW
at home, the potential challenges they thought they might face, and how they
could address each one of those challenges.
Celebration: Silent Thanks
– as one of our last activities we all got a chance to anonymously thank one
another. With our eyes shut and back
facing the inside of the circle five girls came into the middle at a time and
touched the shoulders of people for statements like “someone that always makes
you laugh”, “someone you liked getting to know better”, and “someone you want
to thank but haven’t”. It’s a very feel
good activity!
Acknowledgements and
Certificate Ceremony: I surprised the staff with gifts – picture frames, water
bottles, and bracelets for all of their hard work. To our huge surprise the Sister Leaders and
the girls had organized gifts for Sam and me – also pictures with an African
scene and really cute necklaces! It was
such a surprise I couldn’t believe it!
We all got our certificates and then it was time for the final activity
before Camp was over.
Touchstones: everyone got
a small glass pebble to remind them of their time at Camp GLOW. I gave a final speech which ended with the
quotation by Robert Kennedy: “It is from numberless acts of courage and belief
that human history is shaped. Each time
a person stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or
strikes out against injustice, he sends out a tiny ripple of home, and those
ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression
and resistance.”
Feedback
One of the great things
about such a long program is you can see the transformation in many of the
participants. Yet it can be very
difficult to actually assess how successful a program was besides qualitative
stories. As part of our monitoring and
evaluation of Camp
GLOW each participant
filled out a pre and post camp survey to assess their knowledge and skills
gained. We also had feedback forms which
asked: what did you learn about yourself this week at Camp
GLOW, and what was your favorite part
of Camp GLOW.
I’m proud to report that
there were great improvements on the post Camp surveys which showed that after
the Camp all of our objectives were successfully met. Yay!
Feedback Forms:
The following are a few
examples of what the participants of Camp
GLOW had to say…
What did you learn about
yourself at Camp GLOW?
I learned how to make
healthy decisions for my self. I learned
how to resolve conflict, about leadership, and my values. I also learned about how HIV/AIDS affects my
country and the youth.
I learned that I can
achieve my goals and visions and I can be what I want to be in life. I learned how to make important decisions and
that I can be a leader in my community and I shouldn’t let anyone discourage
me. I should have faith in myself if I
want to change the way my community is.
I can work with people and everyone should be respected no matter what
our age group is.
I have learned how to:
communicate with people and teammates, my values as a person, how to look at
failure, and how to manage my stress. I
have the ability to be a role model for my peers, and finally I have learned
that I can be a leader and I will be a leader.
In this week I learned
everything about community. I learned
how to manage stress and how to live with my values. Mostly I learned about how to behave as a
girl, how to make good choices, and how to handle peer pressure. As a young teenager you must follow your
dreams.
What was your favorite
part of Camp GLOW?
My favorite part was the
challenge course because there I faced my fear of failing and heights. So I enjoyed it a lot and it has taught me to
not fear failure because it is how you learn and it makes you stronger.
My favorite part was when
the Sister Teams were together. We
learned that everyone is special in different ways, and we laughed
together.
My favorite part of Camp GLOW
was the making and understanding of new friends. The best part of Camp GLOW
was the learning part because I was asking the Lord, let this Camp give me
something to live for and instead of something you guys gave me a lot to take
home and apply in my own life.
My favorite part of Camp GLOW
is when we were talking about our values because I never thought our values are
so important and that they make you who you are. You should respect others values and you have
to lead with your values as a person so that you can succeed.
The following are notes I
wanted to share that I got in my Happy Bag.
Two of them make my life and two of them are just hilarious:
“I want you to know you
are the best thing that ever happened to me I LOVE YOU!!!”
“You have a lot of energy
you don’t get tired, you always teach and talk but I like you……..”
“You’ve showed me what
humanity means in so many ways. I have
changed as a young person: Thank u”
“Thankz to you &
Noxolo this camp is very nyc [nice] I thought it would be boring love u a lot”
: )
I want to say a HUGE thank
you, dankie, and enkosi to the following people and organizations for making Camp GLOW
possible:
Noxolo, Phindiswa, Nelly,
Elgene, Sam, Kaylynn, Almare, the Bushbuck staff, Ukhanyo Secondary School,
Alexandria High School (special shout out to Mr. Meyer and Mr. Wentzel),
Ikhwezi Support Group, Life Christian Center, Sunshine Coast Charity Trust, SA
Chicory (thanks Henry!), all the local businesses who donated (there were
lots!), all of my lovely friends and family in the States who after countless
times of me harassing them for money for this or that - they STILL donated, and
last but absolutely not least the participants!
I’m so grateful to all of you – a thank you will never really express
exactly how much I appreciate a community coming together to try and make a
positive change in the world!
After all…
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world..." - Gandhi
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