GLOW-rious

I’ve been waiting for the camp video to be released to the public before sharing this post so take a few minutes and watch this video first. Complete credit for that goes to Hayley, who is a technological magician as far as I’m concerned.

Almost all our girls, on the final day. pc: Hayley?

 

A quick run-down:

We had fifty participants and sixteen counselors holed up in a campsite in a small town in Rivne oblast for a week. Every day had a topic and four lessons that broke down that topic into smaller sections. In the evenings, we had a movie or a disco or a bonfire.

Cabin 8! They came up with a “super” banner design.

It was a wonderful, exhausting, exhilarating week.

If you don’t want a play by play, you can skip down past the picture of the giant uterus (but with a statement like that, you know you’re missing out on some good stuff!).

We started off with a day on gender equality, with a group lesson introducing the topic, then broke up into small groups to discuss women in the media, women in politics, and stereotypes. Although US and Ukraine are pretty similar at first glance, there are definitely differences and it was a great way to start off to help me gain a better, if still basic, understanding of the gender worldview of Ukraine.

Friday was on women in the world, and we were lucky enough to have a guest speaker from International Organization for Migration to discuss human trafficking with the girls. There were also lessons on intersectionality, diversity and multiculturalism, and empathy and tolerance. The speaker on human trafficking spoke in Ukrainian which meant that the American counselors didn’t get much out of it, but in feedback surveys many of the girls listed it as one of the highlights.

In a perfectly unplanned coincidence our sports day, Glolympics, fell on the same day as the opening ceremonies in Rio. We broke up into teams and decorated banners, created cheers, and sported our little hearts out, courtesy of the incredible Katie who introduced us all to Ultimate Frisbee.

We started off Sunday with a quick rendition of Let’s Talk About Sex, just to make sure the girls knew what was up for the day. I’m a firm believer in knowledge is power, and that everyone should know enough to make the correct decisions for themselves, whatever that decision will be. Cristina did an amazing lesson on the female reproductive system that included a larger than life model taped onto the floor.  We were lucky enough to have representatives from UNAIDS and All Ukrainian Network of People Living with AIDS to drop some serious knowledge bombs. A not-so-fun fact is that approximately 1% of the population aged 15-49 of Ukraine is living with AIDS, so it is a real risk for sexually active individuals here. The girls got a lesson on consent, along with some entertaining plays (thanks, Tania!) and a dinner break before starting into the real fun of the day- condom application! To lighten the mood a bit, we blew them up and had a disco to finish the night off.

Our final day of lessons was on self love and featured lessons on self esteem, peer pressure, body image, and a culminating lesson from the magnificent Kathleen called Glorious Me. After an inspiring presentation, the girls made paper versions of themselves, wrote things they like about themselves, then on each other’s cut outs, and we put them up on the wall, stood in front of them and watched Glorious together. It was a moving way to close out the lesson portion of camp.

The final night also included a talent show, followed by an introduction to a vital part of American culture- bonfires and s’mores!

The next day we said a series of good-byes and took probably a thousand pictures as groups of girls set off on their treks home. There were hugs and tears and a lot of selfie sticks.

A very true to life reenactment of sperm searching for an egg from a stellar lesson.

My happiest moments throughout the week were the ones spent in small group conversations after meals or hanging in my hammock, discussing feminism, politics, power, choice, and potential with the campers and with my fellow counselors.

I hope each of the girls walked away with an increased belief in their ability to influence themselves, their communities, and the world at large for the better. They are strong and powerful and smart and creative and glorious and can do hard things and make decisions for themselves that aren’t based solely on the expectations of society. I heard their hopes and dreams for the future and am completely confident that they can go and achieve, and I can’t wait to see it happen.

Mad, mad, mad props to our incredible director Kristie who wrote the grant and pulled the whole camp together in less than half the time that it normally takes. She dealt with all sorts of surprises and came through alive and smiling. I’ll be checking back to make sure she survives closing the grant in a few months after the girls’ projects are finished. ❤ ya, Labs.

Another big thank you and cheesy energizer cheer to all of the other counselors who impressed me with their lessons, their willingness to step in, to quietly make sure things get done (I see you, Sierra!) and their general awesomeness. Tanya, Lina, Katya, Vika, Ira, Olya, Oksana, Maria: ВИ ЧУДОВІ ЖІНКИ. I genuinely cannot imagine a greater bunch of women to do camp with. You so fine.

Finally, although I’m 99.9% she won’t read this lowly blog post: thank you to our incredible First Lady Michelle Obama for Let Girls Learn and Camp GLOW. This March 2015 initiative works with multiple governmental and private organizations to increase girls’ access to education throughout the world to empower them to reach their full potential. Our camp was partially funded through a Let Girls Learn grant, but also through generous donations from friends and family back in the States. A giant Дякую to all who donated!