Thought I would post the article I wrote for our monthly Peace Corps Uganda newsletter. It was a write up of the girls' empowerment camp I initiated at my site in Busia Town Council. I submitted it for the November 2008 newsletter.
BUSIA IS GLOWING
Over the past three months I have been involved in the planning and implementation of a weekly girls’ empowerment camp. It’s been something I have wanted to put into action at my site for almost a year now, and to finally have an outlet for girls in my community to come and express themselves is, I feel, quite an achievement.
My site is located in Busia Town Council, a town that shares its name with its Kenyan counterpart as the border of the two countries splits the town through the middle. Busia is a town that never sleeps. It is the main border crossing for the East African Highway in Uganda. As a result, the town is a conglomerate of truck drivers, migrant workers, immigrants, refugees and IDPs. Due its demographics, Busia is also home to rampant smuggling, prostitution and a very high HIV/AIDS rate.
This was a daunting scene for me when I first arrived to my new home last year. I so desperately wanted to do some good during my time in Uganda but I had a hard time seeing how one person could be beneficial standing up against such ingrained issues. However, as time went on my outlook began to change. Instead of only seeing the large issues mentioned above, I started to see the little ones that maybe a PCV could devote her time to.
One of the issues foremost in my mind was the absence of any direct programming to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS or the risk of commercial sex work among the community’s young women and girls. With such a high HIV/AIDS rate, most of the programs being initiated by the numerous organizations in town were focused on testing, treatment and care of the disease among adults. Though these programs have made a significant difference in the quality of living of community members, the lack of prevention programming seems to breed an air of lost hope; as if there is nothing to be done to prevent the spread of the virus. Along the same lines, I saw a few programs working with commercial sex workers to improve or change their lives yet I saw no programs in place to give young women and girls the skills and information needed to avoid such work.
So I got down to business. I started by researching prevention programs for youth and children which led me to a Peace Corps program that has been implemented all over the world called Camp GLOW(Girls Leading Our World). Throughout the world the camp’s main focus has been promoting leadership among young women through self-esteem development, life skills education, and goal setting exercises. When reading past success stories of the camp in other countries, I felt inspired. The program just fit my site and my capabilities as a volunteer. Yet for Busia, I knew that I needed to include some camp activities to help girls understand the transmission of HIV/AIDS and their rights to education, health care, and a safe career.
In order to develop the proposal for Camp GLOW Busia properly, I contacted women in my community in leadership positions for advice. Enlisting women in local government and in local CBOs aided me in comprehending the issues young girls face as well as the possibilities open to them in the future. With the help of a few key female community leaders, we developed the camp to cover 11 different topics specific to young girls and women in Busia. Some of these topics include positive peer relationships, premature sex and its consequences, HIV/AIDS transmission, personal hygiene and child/women’s rights. All camp days include activities that are centered on creating long term goals and avoiding risky situations. Volunteers from the community and I engage the campers in these topics through the use of art therapy and life skills education. The final day of the camp included a career fair highlighting the careers available to women and how to pursue them, as well as a question and answer session between the campers and successful women in their community.
The camp has been received by my campers and the community with open arms. Over the course of the last two months, my campers have become more outspoken, empowered individuals. They use the information we discuss to advise their peers, avoid dangerous places, and some have even chosen to go for VCT to know their HIV status. Through the art therapy exercises, many girls have expressed themselves in a positive way that was not available to them before the camp.
Yet with such beautiful successes also come difficulties. It’s hard to promote girls’ empowerment when parents are unwilling to continue educating their daughters and it’s devastating when some of the girls go for VCT and receive sad news. These are things that I am powerless to change but I hope that through empowering young women with knowledge about prevention I can promote advocacy and information sharing among the female community. If I can’t pay school fees or provide HIV/AIDS treatment for every girl, I can at least instill in them a desire to see a different world for their sisters and daughters. I think I have also changed as a result of Camp GLOW. Through learning more about the Ugandan and Kenyan women in my community I’ve gotten to know first hand against what women in East Africa have to struggle. I cannot even begin to fathom the strength it takes to live with such adversity. But they do it, and most of them have a smile on their face while they’re at it! , through their struggle I am empowered. How could I not be?
BUSIA IS GLOWING
Over the past three months I have been involved in the planning and implementation of a weekly girls’ empowerment camp. It’s been something I have wanted to put into action at my site for almost a year now, and to finally have an outlet for girls in my community to come and express themselves is, I feel, quite an achievement.
My site is located in Busia Town Council, a town that shares its name with its Kenyan counterpart as the border of the two countries splits the town through the middle. Busia is a town that never sleeps. It is the main border crossing for the East African Highway in Uganda. As a result, the town is a conglomerate of truck drivers, migrant workers, immigrants, refugees and IDPs. Due its demographics, Busia is also home to rampant smuggling, prostitution and a very high HIV/AIDS rate.
This was a daunting scene for me when I first arrived to my new home last year. I so desperately wanted to do some good during my time in Uganda but I had a hard time seeing how one person could be beneficial standing up against such ingrained issues. However, as time went on my outlook began to change. Instead of only seeing the large issues mentioned above, I started to see the little ones that maybe a PCV could devote her time to.
One of the issues foremost in my mind was the absence of any direct programming to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS or the risk of commercial sex work among the community’s young women and girls. With such a high HIV/AIDS rate, most of the programs being initiated by the numerous organizations in town were focused on testing, treatment and care of the disease among adults. Though these programs have made a significant difference in the quality of living of community members, the lack of prevention programming seems to breed an air of lost hope; as if there is nothing to be done to prevent the spread of the virus. Along the same lines, I saw a few programs working with commercial sex workers to improve or change their lives yet I saw no programs in place to give young women and girls the skills and information needed to avoid such work.
So I got down to business. I started by researching prevention programs for youth and children which led me to a Peace Corps program that has been implemented all over the world called Camp GLOW(Girls Leading Our World). Throughout the world the camp’s main focus has been promoting leadership among young women through self-esteem development, life skills education, and goal setting exercises. When reading past success stories of the camp in other countries, I felt inspired. The program just fit my site and my capabilities as a volunteer. Yet for Busia, I knew that I needed to include some camp activities to help girls understand the transmission of HIV/AIDS and their rights to education, health care, and a safe career.
In order to develop the proposal for Camp GLOW Busia properly, I contacted women in my community in leadership positions for advice. Enlisting women in local government and in local CBOs aided me in comprehending the issues young girls face as well as the possibilities open to them in the future. With the help of a few key female community leaders, we developed the camp to cover 11 different topics specific to young girls and women in Busia. Some of these topics include positive peer relationships, premature sex and its consequences, HIV/AIDS transmission, personal hygiene and child/women’s rights. All camp days include activities that are centered on creating long term goals and avoiding risky situations. Volunteers from the community and I engage the campers in these topics through the use of art therapy and life skills education. The final day of the camp included a career fair highlighting the careers available to women and how to pursue them, as well as a question and answer session between the campers and successful women in their community.
The camp has been received by my campers and the community with open arms. Over the course of the last two months, my campers have become more outspoken, empowered individuals. They use the information we discuss to advise their peers, avoid dangerous places, and some have even chosen to go for VCT to know their HIV status. Through the art therapy exercises, many girls have expressed themselves in a positive way that was not available to them before the camp.
Yet with such beautiful successes also come difficulties. It’s hard to promote girls’ empowerment when parents are unwilling to continue educating their daughters and it’s devastating when some of the girls go for VCT and receive sad news. These are things that I am powerless to change but I hope that through empowering young women with knowledge about prevention I can promote advocacy and information sharing among the female community. If I can’t pay school fees or provide HIV/AIDS treatment for every girl, I can at least instill in them a desire to see a different world for their sisters and daughters. I think I have also changed as a result of Camp GLOW. Through learning more about the Ugandan and Kenyan women in my community I’ve gotten to know first hand against what women in East Africa have to struggle. I cannot even begin to fathom the strength it takes to live with such adversity. But they do it, and most of them have a smile on their face while they’re at it! , through their struggle I am empowered. How could I not be?
No comments:
Post a Comment