Camp G.L.O.W.

So after 6 months of preparation that involved everything from proposal writing to color-coded name tags, Svay Rieng’s very first Camp G.L.O.W. took place March 25th-27th. I will share some more details about what the camp consisted of, but first, true to my tangential nature, I must answer the following question: How did this all begin?

It all began back in September when Jeremy, Kellee, Kristin and I were sitting at Java, our favorite cafe in Phnom Penh. While discussing the normal Peace Corps banter (what food we wanted to eat, our irregular bowel movements, our host families and school frustrations), someone tossed out the idea of doing a Camp G.L.O.W. in our province. What is Camp G.L.O.W.? It stands for Girls Leading Our World, and as you might guess by the title, it is a camp designed to promote leadership amongst girls. Various Peace Corps volunteers around the world conduct Camp G.L.O.W.’s in their respective communities and while united in their effort to encourage young women to become leaders, you can imagine the amount of variation Camp G.L.O.W.’s around the world boast. Volunteers have a lot of latitude in designing the structure and content of their camp, as community needs vary from community to community.

So there we were at Java, discussing what would be good topics to cover in our own camp. We came up with the following: leadership, public speaking, nutrition, self-esteem, body awareness, HIV/AIDS prevention and promoting the idea of community development. We sat there for a few hours and hammered out a rough schedule. We started talking logistics: how many girls? Who would lead the sessions? How would we pay for this? We had many questions, which took many months to figure out. But it all started with an idea at a little coffee shop in Phnom Penh...

Throughout the following months, we dived into the not-so-fun parts of project planning- the dreaded proposal. Kristin really spearheaded the proposal preparation, but we split up different sections of the proposal, which we each were responsible for writing. We applied for a SPA proposal (Small Project Assistance), which is funded by USAID (US Aid for International Development, a major player on the international development scene) and requires that one-third of the total cost come from community contributions. We were able to get space at the Provincial Health Department donated, and a few other areas which enabled us to reach the 33% threshold. Because our relationship with the Provincial Office of Education (P.O.E) is a bit shaky for reasons I am hesitant to go into here, we went through the Provincial Health Department (P.H.D.) to get support, as I teach classes there and have a close relationship with the vice director. We decided to each select 5 girls from our schools (another volunteer, Dillon, selected 5 girls as well), for a total of 25 girls. We each selected a female Kmai counterpart to help be chaperons and lead certain sessions. Everything would be done in Kmai and we would need one main Kmai female who could be the liaison between us and the female counterparts (our Kmai is good, but it’s not at the point where we can discuss extremely advanced topics like those being covered in the camp; well, clearly at least). We were looking for a Kmai woman with strong leadership skills, an enthusiastic personality, and effective English skills to minimize communication inaccuracies. We lucked out when Vanny, a former language cultural facilitator (LCF) who has worked with Peace Corps training for three years, agreed to take on the role. Once she signed on to help, a lot of pressure was lifted and we had an inkling that things were going to be great.

The camp began on Friday when girls started streaming in to the guesthouse in Svay Rieng town. As I live in the provincial town, I made all the reservations for everything; the guesthouse, restaurants for lunch and dinner, and arranging a screening of a movie at Svay Rieng’s very own movie theater! From the beginning, things were running very smoothly, which was very good indicator of how things would run for the rest of the camp. We put five girls in one room- one from each district. For most of these girls, it was their first time sleeping away from home and they were SUPER excited and terrified, all at the same time. After check in, we had our first lunch together and then headed to the health department to begin sessions. We began with a few icebreakers, as it was apparent that the girls were nervous and we wanted to get them to feel comfortable with us and with their fellow camp attendees. We tried an ambitious version of the human knot game, splitting into two groups of 12-15. Although neither group was able to “unknot” themselves, everyone had a blast and it was a great way to kick things off. We followed with another icebreaker and then dug right into the sessions.

The next few days were jam packed. Each of us worked with our Kmai counterparts ahead of time to go over what each would present. My counterpart, Ratha, conducted sessions on leadership and self-esteem. Jeremy’s counterpart, Saray, presented on public speaking. Kellee’s counterpart, Soksara, presented on nutrition, body awareness and HIV/AIDS. Kristin and Vanny teamed up to explain designing community projects. The girls were learning A LOT of information, but it was clear that they were really eager to learn about everything. Some of us were talking about how if we had conducted this camp in the states with American 10th-11th grade girls, it wouldn’t be nearly as successful, as we’d get tons of attitude and plenty of eye-rolling. But here in Cambodia, this was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience for these girls. They rarely have an opportunity to even get out of their districts, let alone engage in a leadership camp full of information and activities. We were all so proud of how hard they all worked, and how engaged they all were, especially as each session progressed. Some of my favorite moments:

*The body-awareness session: This involved Kellee wearing an apron displaying the female anatomy, courtesy of her health center. Soksara discussed the female anatomy and handed out copies of diagrams in Kmai and fielded what seemed to be never-ending questions about “girl stuff:” periods, pregnancy, cramps, hygiene, etc. There are so many false ideas surrounding menstruation in Cambodia, and these girls were intensely curious to learn more about these urban legends, such as: Are you really not supposed to bathe during your period? Can you eat spicy food? And many other things that my kindergarten Kmai couldn’t catch quickly enough. After dispelling the rumors, the real awkwardness began: Soksara brought out wooden penises, in order to show women how to properly put on a condom. Pre-marital sex is NOT common here; in fact, if a woman engages in pre-marital sex, she is often abandoned by her family, as she has shamed the family name. However, once these girls get married, the chance that their husbands will visit brothels during their marriage is VERY high. Women here are still struggling to gain an equal footing. After all, how progressive can a society be when they have the following saying: “Women are like cloth, men are like gold.” If you didn’t catch the meaning of that, basically once women are dirty (like cloth), they are ruined forever. But men (like gold) can be dirty and then simply wipe themselves clean. So condom education is essential for these girls, because they or someone they know will eventually be at risk for contracting an STI, most likely from their own husbands. There is no such thing as sex education here, and these girls are way too embarrassed to ask these questions on their own. But by providing girls with a safe and encouraging environment where they could ask as many questions as they wanted without fear of repercussions, their self-consciousness quickly faded, replaced by an insatiable inquisitiveness that surely accompanies teenagers worldwide. I really believe that this is an important area of education that girls need in order to prevent future sexual health risks.

*Traditional Kmai games in the park at night: After our first dinner, we took the girls to the park to hang out and get to know each other more. We ended up playing traditional Kmai games, which (true to Kmai culture) involved singing, dancing, screaming and holding hands. Probably the most fun I’ve had playing games in a park (definitely the most fun in my “adult” years).

*Svay Rieng meets Hollywood: These girls have never been to a movie theater and we were able to rent it out just for them to screen a movie called “Palace of Dreams,” a soap-opera style movie that discusses HIV/AIDS prevention in Kmai with English subtitles. Little did we know almost every girl had seen the movie several times before, but they certainly acted like it was the first time they had seen it! And they certainly loved the movie theater ‘ambiance.’

*The last day when we all showed up wearing our Camp G.L.O.W. t-shirts. We were like a solid troop marching through town, proudly showing off our shirts and reveling in our exhilaration. Pictures were also a blast as was saying goodbyes, knowing these girls would be imparting their new-found knowledge with their friends and family.

*Community projects: The last session involved girls from each district getting together and planning a community project. My girls (as I think all the other districts did as well) chose to teach a leadership session at our high school to 30 girls on May 5th. They were super excited to take on this project and use their leadership skills to train other students! It was really inspiring to see their excitement in planning these projects for their respective communities.

Whew, that was a lot to write and barely captures the sheer awesomeness of everything. We all had a great time and we were super happy everything went so seamlessly. The most amazing part of everything was seeing an idea that began at a coffee shop gradually become a reality. And not only a reality, but a reality better than anyone could have predicted! Oh the lessons I keep learning in the Peace Corps...absolutely wouldn’t trade this experience for anything!

After all my hard work in March, I am sitting at the airport in Kuala Lumpur waiting for my flight to Sumatra! I am desperately in need of a vacation, so looking forward to this...