Camp GLOW!

My group of beautiful girls!!

I was lucky enough a few weeks ago to be able to attend Camp Glow with 5 deaf girls from Masaka School for Children with Special Needs.  I took 2 Ugandan counselors with me (my two best friends, Sarah and Judith) and we set out for Entebbe.  I was placed as a camp counselor with a group of girls and our team name was the crested cranes.  3 of the girls in my group were deaf and the other two were in Sarahs group.

 

All of the Camp GLOW counselors.

The week long Camp, funded by a grant from the US government, focused on girls empowerment.  GLOW stands for Girls Leading Our World.  We had sessions on everything: lifeskills, healthy living, saving money, teambuilding, malaria, HIV/AIDS and crafts.  Every night the girls were able to participate in activities of their choice like a nature walk to the lake, Frisbee time, bracelet making, sign language lessons and dance classes.  They loved every minute of it.

My group was the "crested cranes".

One of the coolest things was being able to see my deaf girls interact with hearing girls in a positive way.  In the past, everytime I had brought my deaf students into the community I had been let down by the way they were treated.  People were rude and uncomfortable.  At Camp Glow it was explained at the beginning that they were deaf and if girls wanted to communicate they should try using sign language.  It was amazing to see young girls attempting and succeeding at communicating with my deaf girls.

Interpreting during the final day.

Because we were only 3 counselors it became very clear from the beginning that I was going to have to interpret at some point.  Interpreting is tiring and on top of that I had NEVER done it before.  (I teach my own classes at the school using sign language, but always have time to prepare the signs before hand.  Interpreting requires a person to listen to what one person is saying and then figure out how to teach it to the girls.  Talk about a CHALLENGE.) But you all know that I love a challenge so I embraced it and tried my hardest.  By the end of the week I was feeling more confident in my sign language than ever before.  It was so great to be able to communicate with my girls on a totally different level than I ever have.

I discussed with the girls what they enjoyed the most about the week.  Most said they liked meeting new friends and learning new things.  They also loved that we treated them as equals, they are used to being treated very badly by their teachers.  They enjoyed lessons on self-defense and learning hip hop dancing.  They loved the food and making up camp cheers (I translated our cheer into sign language so the deaf girls in our group could feel included).  They loved watching movies and the team building exercises.  They really liked that a woman speaker came to camp every day to inspire them to be all they could be.  Overall, Camp Glow was a major success and yet another pinnacle of my Peace Corps experience.

Our group flag!