We're here to GLOW!

"1! We're here to GLOW!
2! We wanna show...
3! that we can be...
4 more More MORE MORE!!"

This is what we had 60 young Rwandan girls chanting as they walked from class to class, at meal times, and every morning in the past week. It seems simple and even silly but I truly think this has been one of the most significant things I've done in the past 7 months.
Camp GLOW was this past week. I've mentioned this previously but it stands for Girls Leading Our World. I spent this time with my fellow volunteers from the Eastern Province, 9 Rwandan facilitators and the girls. We gave them lessons on sexual and reproductive health, HIV/AIDS prevention, biology & myths/facts as well as goal setting, decision making and career planning. While all these lessons I think did benefit the girls greatly, the most valuable part of the week as giving these girls a place to be comfortable, a place to be themselves, a place where no one is telling them to cook or look after a baby or go fetch water or sweep the dirt. We were there with bead-making and friendship bracelets and tie-dying t-shirts. We had dance lessons and time for them to play soccer and a carnival night and a talent show. This is just like any summer camp in the states BUT that idea doesn't even exist here and especially for girls to be with just girls and be themselves. And no one is telling these girls that what they say is important or even that they should be speaking up.
One of the more powerful moments for me was the "I can't" funeral. The girls had to write something that people have told them they can't do on a piece of paper. Then the girls would tear up the paper, throw it in the fire and say "I CAN." Now, the powerful part for me wasn't the affirmation itself but more so the subjects of their "I can't." They were saying things like, "I can't make decisions for myself." "I can't decide what I want to do with my life." We would be told things like, "you can't be an astronaut cause you suck at science." But these things seemed so simple and possible that I hated that people had been telling them they couldn't. I liked that we gave them the chance to be themselves and not be guarded, to speak up and have someone actually listen to them. This, I think was the true power of the camp.
I loved it.