GLOW/BRO Camp 2017

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So, a lot of you like to ask me what I'm doing here. Fair enough question; most people don't leave their homes and families for two years without the idea of accomplishing something. Well, buckle up, ladies and gentlemen, because almost eight months into my Peace Corps service, I finally have a good answer to anyone who asks me what I've accomplished here in Ghana.

Me with some of the students at the camp. 
Two weeks ago, a group of volunteers and I brought some of our best students to a GLOW/BRO camp in the Eastern Region of Ghana. GLOW/BRO stands for Girls Leading Our World and Boys Respecting Others. The program was started by Peace Corps volunteers in Romania back in 1995, and since then, it's spread across the world and become one of Peace Corps' most reliable and successful girl's empowerment programs. In our version, each PCV (Peace Corps Volunteer) living in the Eastern and Volta Regions of Ghana sent between two and four students to camp, where they spent a week learning about everything from how to set a budget to how to recognize and prevent child trafficking.

I live in an extremely small community, so small that I wasn't even sure I would find qualified students to attend the camp. I ended up bringing a boy and a girl with me, and I was so incredibly proud of the way they participated throughout the week. When they weren't in sessions, they were playing soccer and having conversations with people they otherwise would never have met. Even though we were only drawing from two regions of Ghana, the students who attended had different native languages and cultures. Some of them came from tiny communities and others come from big towns. Watching them form strong bonds and friendships within the small span of a week was moving and encouraging.

Some of the girls playing soccer, or "football." That's my closest PCV neighbor and friend chilling in the background. Hey, Kristen!


I also need to give a shout out and thanks to my family and friends at home. A couple of months ago, I was begging you all for donations to make this camp a reality, and I know a lot of you stepped up. Your generosity to complete strangers created a potent, motivating week that I know will stick with these kids for a long time. I'm already talking with one of my students and making arrangements for him to give a presentation about what he learned at his school, so hopefully what we've started won't end here.

Here are a few of the activities we did and topics we covered over the course of the week:
  • How to have healthy relationships and say no to romantic partners
  • How to earn money for things like attending school, buying clothes, and supporting a family
  • Tie-dying!
  • Preventing the spread of HIV and other STIs
  • Child trafficking (the region I'm living in has the highest rate of child trafficking in the country)
  • Keeping the environment clean (definitely a big problem in Ghana--there is no government provided trash pick up, so most garbage ends up getting burned at home or just tossed wherever).
  • A career panel with women who have succeeded in careers that are not considered "typical" for women.
Hard at work.


Honestly, a list of activities can't really come close to describing the value the kids got out of the week. So much of it was about the energy and excitement they brought to every single session and activity. They barely had a moment of downtime, and many of them were up before the sun every morning cleaning--but they were so engaged and passionate throughout.

I am so grateful to have been given a chance to be a part of this week--grateful to you, to my fellow PCVs, to the students, to the speakers who took part. And I'm happy I finally feel like I've accomplished something here in Ghana. Eight months down--nineteen to go!

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