Being
a Peace Corps Volunteer requests not only that we work on our primary project
(mine being education/teaching) but also taking on secondary projects.
Secondary projects vary from volunteer to volunteer. Some volunteers choose to
plant a community garden, some like to run workshops for health, teen
pregnancy, fitness, languages, etc. Some join Peace Corps clubs such as Girls
Leading Our World (GLOW) or YEAH! (Youth Exlopring and Achieving in Health),
and the list can go on and on.
One
of my secondary projects is in relation of being a member of YEAH! (a lot more
infor about YEAH! To come *wink
wink*). One part of being a YEAH! member
is also establishing clubs in your host community/school. I have started a
Girl’s Club at my school and am hoping to get a Boy’s Club up and running soon.
A typical Girl’s Club meeting is
held every Wednesday from about 2:30pm till 4:00pm. We start club by “Sharing
sweets” meaning we each say something nice about ourself, and something nice
about the member sitting to our right. I typically also try to bring some sort
of sweet treat to spoil ourselves. After that each club has a theme such as
safe sex practices, mental health moral boosters, heathy diet choices, exercise
ideas, decision making, and all that fun stuff. We also try to have different
conversations about how we can respond to common situations we face in day to
day life. E.g. should I have sex or shoud I wait? If I do have sex should I use
a condom/make my partner use a condom? What if my partner says no to condom
use? Teen pregnancies and HIV/AIDS rates are very high, especially in the
Kavango region so it’s a topic in need of discussion.
A couple weeks ago (in big thanks to my good
friend Josie sending art supplies) we made intension bracelets. With each color
of bead we setting an intention/promise we were making to ourselves. The
bracelets serve as a visual reminder of things we are promising to ourselves.
For example, red represents that I’ll use a condom everytime I have sex, yellow
means I’m not going to be friends with people who make me feel bad about
myself, and so forth. Each color means somethng different to each person. My
hopes are that if the learners make these promises to themselves, that
hopefully it will be something they keep. The bracelet serving as a reminder. We
had a blast making them. And it made me thrilled to see [almost all] the girls wearing the braceletts everyday
since. Not to mention boys asking when I’ll start Boy’s Club because they want
some too.
Sometimes being a Peace Corps
Volunteer can be frustrating as can be, but at times like this, it makes every
difficult day worth it! These moments, are what happiness means.
The day we made the bracelets :)
Two week later we began exams, you can see the first two girls still wearing their bracelets
If you would like to sponsor/make a donation for Girl's Club (via sweets, school supplies or art supplies) feel free to send them to me at:
Jamie Torres
Peace Corps Volunteer 42
PO Box 114
Rundu Namibia 9000
That's so awesome! Doing great things!
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