Girls, Girls, Girls

The whole group

After passing a week with my fellow volunteers and almost 50 Senegalese tweens I can happily say it was a great camp and everyone had lots of fun. It was a week long camp with a different theme for each day, like our environment, our health, or our money. During the day we did a mix of learning session and hands on activities, with lots of crafts sprinkled in. There were a few hiccups along the way, but like the pro are we roled with the punches, changing up the schedule if we had too and adding new activities when meals were running late. We were blessed with 3 senegalese counselors that really kept the energy flowing, because after our travels and the first day, even the perkiest of PVCs wilted. Even though only one of them had previous camp experience, they all knew loads of camp songs and games to play. They were also great at bridging the lanquage gap, super important when teaching business, and we just indispensable. To make them even more amazing, the were all volunteers, which is quite rare to find.

Since there was a lot that happened and it's impossible to recap it all, I will mention some of my favorite parts.

1. the 7 girls I brought from my area. I was probably as scared of them as they were of me. Not surprisingly, my girls were awesome, I made 7 new friends and am excited to start a girl's club.
2. The Q&A sessions, we had one with a nurse and another with a panel of working senegalese women (my mother was a proud participant). Both of these sessions went amazingly. It was so interesting to hear their questions and the womens' responses. It really gives you some more insight into their lives.

3. 

   Boy did we love collages

   Crafts!!! we made all types and I forgot how fun kids craft were. I was in charge of the “My Future Collage” activity, which meant of course I needed to make an example. Making a collage was so much fun, that it caught on like wildfire amongst the PCVs. Not joking collage making was a good 2-3 night long wind down activity for us (the PCVs).
4. Water balloon fight...this started as a toss, but we had way too many left so one mischievous PCV suggested we ambush the girls. Commence water balloon fight! It was so much fun...even when the girls over took us and got us sopping wet.
5. La rouge...He was the male counselor who had helped the previous year. Besides his vast array of fun songs and games, he also delighted us with a nice speech about communism. He's the local communist leader of Tivauan, hence why he goes by la rouge. The speech was harmless and we figured if 30 mins of a communism speech, that is going over everyone's heads, is what we have to pay for his participation...it's worth it. Even though I was raised on anti-commie 80's movies, I still enjoyed La Rouge and listening to his ideas.

Those were some of the highlights. Definitely check out these pictures that my fellow PCV Andrew posted. We took loads more, but they give a good overview of the camp. As I mentioned before, it was a great camp. Not that I was expecting a disaster, but it went so much better than I expected. The girls learned so much, and it was so gratifying to see them having so much fun. It almost makes me want to work as a camp counselor when I get back...don't worry mom and dad I said almost.

Now it's on to my environmental camp. After the girls' camp I am feeling pretty good about all the activities I have planned for the environmental camp. I also got quite a few new ideas for additional activities. I just hope that my counterparts will be as great counselors as La Rouge. It's next weekend so I am in the middle bit of organizing. It's coming together, but i'll admit the slow senegalese fashion is starting to stress me out. However, that's how it goes here...slow, slow, then it all comes together at once. Wish me bonne courage and till next weekend.