Girls Camp

Girls camp this year was amazing! The Donga regional girls camp is definately a highlight of my service.

The girls arrived eager and excited to start the week. They were all put into small groups, or teams. Each volunteer and tanti (Beninese camp counselor, their name is directly translated to aunti) were assigned a team to be with for the week. I was with a woman named Amina and we were the leaders of Team Green. This was a great idea because each volunteer was able to get to know a smaller group of girls. Every day the girls would start their day off with a game in their group and then go on to have a group meeting. The girls would have discussion questions relating to the topics of the day. Some sessions were about realizing your own individuality and embracing it, encouraging leadership, healthy relationships, sexual health, and a panel of professional women also came. After their morning meeting the whole group would come together for the days activities. some were arts and crafts related, others were more informative. After dinner certain girls were awarded points based on participation, leadership, and positive attitude.

The girls really enjoyed the camp and you could tell by their enthusiasm during the sessions. The whole atmosphere of camp was positive and energetic. Come the end of camp we gave them all new school uniforms and a bag to put their note books in. At the end of the closing ceremony there were many of the girls crying because they liked camp so much. I also shed a tear or two in responce to how much they appreciated what was given to them. I gave each and every one of my girls a hug and more than half were crying.

Thank you all so much for donating to this camp, the time spent there couldn't have been possible without you. It is most definately a worth while cause, and it shows that it had an impact on the girls.