peacecorps.gov
“With help from a Peace Corps Small Projects Assistance grant, we started a recycling competition called ‘We Win When We Recycle’ with eight schools in and near Moldova’s second largest city, Bălți. The results exceeded everyone’s hopes.”
- Volunteers Katrina and Bartosz
“This picture was taken in early March 2014 in Guatemala. For the Peace Corps Week Classroom Challenge, my Spanish teacher from High School in Washington and I organized a Skype chat for her 9th graders to talk to some of the kids I work with. It was a beautiful opportunity to share across cultures. It is hard to see what is going on here, but it is a bunch of youth all crowded around my laptop. When you don’t have a large screen or a projector, you have to make due!”
The UN works to empower youth around the world.
Want to get involved and help serve young people? Get ideas here: http://j.mp/1CaeaoF
Interested in youth development? Become a Peace Corps Volunteer: http://www.peacecorps.gov/openings/
“This photo was taken while leading rural Salvadoran youth in a group discussion after the first performance of “A Mi Manera,” an original musical promoting life skills, gender equality, and reproductive health. Over 100 rural youth from Peace Corps volunteers’ communities came to see the performance that day which featured actors from Centro Bartolome de las Casa in San Salvador. The musical went on to tour seven more departments in El Salvador, reaching over 800 rural youth in total.”
“I took this photo during a Diversity camp held by myself and my fellow volunteer during June in Lankaran, Azerbaijan. The photo shows students playing a form of tag where teamwork is essential. Both boys and girls join hands in this photo (which can be a rare occurrence here) along with PC Volunteers- and laugh and smile while working together to play the game.”
“The members of the Preschool Committee moved 10,000 bricks to the location of the preschool site in the Northern Province in Zambia. Over 25 adults and 25 children helped to begin laying the foundation of the school with their own two hands, panono panono (bit by bit). The excitement, passion and motivation was incredible!”
Happy National Best Friend’s Day!
“Meet the boy who changed how I viewed the world. When I first got to my village, I was uncertain of what to do or where to go. This small boy, Kofi, took my hand, looked up at me, and led me to my house. He spoke no English, and I spoke little Ewe (the local language), but that did not matter. From that first day on, we were best friends. This is picture was taken while i was waiting for local transport to arrive (tro tro). He came and sat with me, to keep me company and to continue our language lessons. When I was away from my village, he was one of the main reasons I wanted to get back as quickly as possible. When things went wrong, and I needed a pick me up, he was there for me…just an easy smile and quick laugh.”
“This photo was taken in Guatemala, in October of 2013. It was a school field-trip to the beach to celebrate the graduating junior high students. This moment gave me so much joy because it was the student on the far right’s first time seeing the ocean.”
Happy World Oceans Day!
Camp GLOW Wendo Genet 2014.
Girls&Guys Leading Our World.
last photo: only my crew from ALETA WONDO (;
(Source: nico1ette)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game - Peace Corps Volunteer Amanda Pratt
I am already sure that Camp GLOW is one of the defining moments of my Peace Corps service. As stressful and crazy as executing a camp for 80 teenage girls can be, the chance to be there and experience it with them is an ultimate reward.
I have not been to a camp in years. I forgot how much I love to sing and dance and be youthful. Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) is about these things and so much more—it gives young women from all different backgrounds a chance to express themselves freely in a safe, encouraging environment. Campers make new, lifelong friends and meet fellow rising leaders from throughout Macedonia, who they can identify and connect with on a deeper level. They spend a week discussing important issues, learning new skills and knowledge, and brainstorming future projects to implement in their home communities.
GLOW is all about leadership development. We seek to support young women as they discover their own capacity to be strong leaders in Macedonia and beyond. The camp has a multi-faceted approach that includes community time spent in teams (8 campers, 2 counselors, 1 counselor-in-training); large group functions with the entire camp that showcase creativity and teamwork; and experiential courses that range from emotional discussions to fun electives.
Everyday was jam-packed with courses such as:
Cultures of the World, Relationships and Social Health, Team Building, Our Effects on the Environment, Tie-Dye, Self-Esteem and Body Image, Origami, Human Rights and Diversity, Interpersonal Violence, Learning to Lead, Public Speaking, Yoga, American Relay Races, CPR and First Aid, Stereotypes and Iceberg Theory, Nutrition, Portrayal of Women in the Media
Each night, at least five electives were offered including:
Korean, Mnemonics, Acting, Karaoke, American Line Dancing, Powerful Women in History, Comic Strip Art, Leave No Trace, Stargazing, Charades
Being on the leadership team kept me quite busy, but I was able to co-teach Card Games, Kickboxing, and Self-Defense! I was also on the team to organize Field Day, during which all the teams competed in various activities (much like an American field day competition).
There is so much more I could say about Camp GLOW: We had an awesome Disco Night. We lit candles and shared kind words. And made SMORES! We also had a visit from the US Ambassador and Deputy Chief of Mission (special thanks to the US Embassy Skopje for their generous grant in support of Camp GLOW this year!)
In summary, I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR!!!
If you have any questions about Camp GLOW Macedonia or are interested in supporting this project, please contact me.
Camp LION (Leaders In Our Nation) - Uganda
Camp Sky!
So Camp Sky finished a couple weeks ago, but I’m still excited about it. It was mos def the best week of my Peace Corps service, and the most rewarding. Personally, I was taking pictures and videos for our blog to share with the world (campskymw.tumblr.com if you haven’t checked it out yet!) and I taught a lesson about poetry vs. prose using my ukulele and songs by Simon & Garfunkel, Bon Iver, and T. Swift. Oh also, I cleaned a lot. If you want to know more about the week, look at the blog or feel free to ask me anything about it. Camp Sky was real amazing and inspiring and made my whole service! From cleaning up in the beginning, to watching kids shine creatively, to watching them get super into activities like flip cup (with water!), scavenger hunts, the Macarena, asking questions to guest Malawian professionals, singing songs, creating songs in 30 minutes, and engaging in lessons, to seeing some use a computer for the first time, to watching them also try spaghetti for the first time (some enjoyed more than others), to hearing some students recite lines while watching the Romeo and Juliet, to saying goodbye…for now. Thanks to everybody involved…no matter how. That week was tremendous, and while our goal was to do it for the students it also did a lot for us PCV’s involved. YEWO CHOMENE
