Glowin', Mpika Style

I can't believe it's 2011 already!! Happy new year, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season! I certainly did. We kicked off the holidays with a training of trainers for our Camp GLOW in Kasama so I was able to spend Thanksgiving up in Kasama with the No-Pro family. It was lovely and I was so happy to be able to see my Northern buddies before officially relocating to Lusaka. Our training of trainers for camp glow went well and we all got excited for the camp! Which brings me to the camp....

So after 9 months of preparing, planning and organizing for this event, we had a wonderfully fanstastic camp glow! 7 Peace Corps volunteers were involved in the planning and implementing of this project and it was so good, we divided up the duties and everyone was responsible for certain aspects of the camp. It was great and all of our hard work really did pay off. 14 girls from seven different villages in Mpika district came together for a week to learn about girls' empowerment, life skills, HIV/AIDS, communication skills, and goal-setting. They also had morning sessions of arts and crafts where they made thank you cards, journals, picture frames and tons of drawings. In the afternoon, we would have sports sessions where they would play games like netball and soccer, jump rope and two days during the week, we went to Lwitikila waterfalls where the girls were able to swim and enjoy themselves. The first day we went, some girls had never been swimming so were to afraid to take the leap into the water. The second day we went, they were all so comfortable with each other and trusting that they went swimming. It was so exciting to see and they all had so much fun. It was a blast. In addition to the 14 girls, we had 7 teachers attended and they learned a lot during the week. Initially, we had a rocky start with the teachers because they expected to be paid for the week they were there (a common expectation among working Zambians-sitting fees-which makes the work of Peace Corps so difficult at times!). Luckily, we had a great PC staff member with us the entire week of the camp, and she was able to difuse the situation and convince them to stay, which was great. We ended up being the only Camp GLOW in PC Zambia this year who had all of our teachers stay the entire week...other camps had teachers leave or not show up which is really sad. Thankfully, all of ours stayed and actively participated in the activities during the week and I think they really did gain a lot.
During the week, we had many spontaneous dance parties which were so much fun. Zambians sure know how to dance-and really get a kick out of watching us muzungus-white people-dance because we have no rhythm. Oh well, fun times had by all! We also offered VCT after a session on rape/sexual abuse. Of the 29 camp participants, 26 got tested so definitely a success and no one tested positive which was a relief. We talked about ways to maintain their status, etc. It was a very good event and one we hope to continue in future camps. The final day, we had a formal certificate ceremony where the District Commissioner attended and gave a speech. The girls and teachers collaborated on a skit to show us what they learned during the week and it was so good! Everyone loved their certificates! Afterwards, we had a fun party where there was more dancing, arts and crafts and tons of food. After dinner, we had a candle-lighting ceremony that ended with smores making. It was such a memorable end to a wonderful camp. Really, this was the highlight of my time in Zambia. The week went off without a hitch and we could not have done this without the support of all of you back home who donated so thank you so much! We really really appreciate it.

Will update more on the new life in Lusaka...and my quaint little new cottage. Oh the high life, I live... :-)

Miss you all! 8 months and some days till I'm back in America-land...crazy.