Girls Camp

Every year the volunteers in my region host a camp for girls who show ambition, intelligence, and motivation to progress in the world in a way that their gender may have previously inhibited them. I only stayed two of the five days but, I could tell the girls were getting a lot out of it. 6 teachers also attended. We had sessions ranging from education on topics such as environment, health, and gender, as well as leadership sessions. Fun sessions included sports and my specialty spa night. There were about 35-40 girls and they all now know how to apply a facial exfoliator made from locally obtainable items. We also did some glamor and nail painting. Each girl got to keep her eyeliner and lip gloss.

The camp had a few problems. Mainly the emperor scorpions and horse spiders. Also it became very tiring to volunteers who stayed multiple days. Some are there all week. Trying to cook for all of them was a challenge. We wanted to introduce American  foods but also didn't want them to starve. Just as much as I don't like some of their foods they don't like all of ours. No one can resist mac and cheese though.

For one day we took a boat ride. The camp was in the delta wetlands. We saw the second larget mangrove forest in the world. The girls learned about the wildlife there and the danger that it is in. We brought in a speaker who had specific knowledge  on the area to educate them. Then we took a little break on an island and went for a swim. That is something many of these girls have never done before and will  have little opportunity to do again, UNLESS they took away all the knowledge we tried to instill in them.

I also helped in sessions to help the girls describe their environment and what kinds of nature and man made things are around them. This was fun to see all the things they drew. The last thing I did before leaving was mainly for girls who live in the city. We taught them to use trash as containers to grow plants in. There is trash everywhere he it just gets scooped into piled and burned or left where it falls. So we taught them to make use of it and grow some veggies or herbs at the same time. We used mint as an herb and water bottles for containers. They were really into it and they all got to keep their bottle.

I hope that each of these girls understands more about the world they live in now. I especially hope that they can use this knowledge to succeed beyond their highest expectations. Thank you to everyone who sent care packages and donated for the camp to run. Mom thank you for the marshmallows they LOVED smores :)