BE Camp

Boys Excelling Camp is a camp for boys (the girl equivalent is GLOW Camp-Girls Leading Our World) between the ages of 14 and 18 to get together and learn about several topics, with a focus on HIV/AIDS prevention because the funding comes from PEPFAR. While many Rwandans can recite to you facts about HIV/AIDS they’re not always accurate and sometimes contradictory to what’s been proven. Some people honestly believe that if you have sex with a child/virgin that you can be cured of HIV/AIDS. Others believe that the virus was created in a laboratory in the US. Some claim to know someone who knows someone who went to see a witchdoctor and is now cured of the disease. The list goes on and on. This camp is an opportunity to educate boys (and girls) about the facts and to help dispel any myths they take as truth.

Apart from HIV/AIDS lessons we also taught campers about some other important things. The camp was held at my school, which is located in Rusizi district. This district has the highest malaria death rate in the country. Again, like HIV/AIDS, students can recite facts about malaria that people in the US couldn’t do even if they tried. However, facts don’t prevent disease and the death rate from malaria is a result of inaction so we tried to educate the campers about cheap, easy things to do to prevent transmission (washing their mosquito nets every three months with a certain type of soap, sewing up holes, clearing up stagnant water, etc). These quick and easy things have been shown to reduce the spread of the disease, and as Rwanda is trying hard to rid the country of malaria altogether, it’s important for everyone to act together because without at least 80% compliance (what’s been agreed to be acceptable for a community to have ‘universal coverage’) from everyone eradication is near impossible.

We also had several lessons about what it means to be good leaders and role models in school, in their communities, and in relationships. It’s undeniable that in Rwanda men hold the power. Everyone jumps at the opportunity to claim gender balance and gender equality but in practice they are very much like America in the 50s. The women are quick to serve and the men are quick to give orders. What we tried to do is give campers the skills necessary to be good leaders, not dictators. To treat people with respect. To understand that yes men and women are biologically different but gender roles are concepts from society, not actual limitations determined by biology. In Rwanda, women cook. In America, some of the most famous chefs are men. If they can move beyond stereotypes and societal norms then they can truly be effective leaders because they can help a person reach his, or her, full capacity.

Here’s a quick layout of how the camp was run. There were seven Peace Corps Volunteers. Claire and I were admin (chief and boss, respectively) and Caitlan, Joey, Kari, Luke and Matt were all Facilitators (teachers). We invited ten students who were over 18 and couldn’t come as campers and had them be Junior Facilitators, as a way of increasing their skills and knowledge. This also worked to incorporate some semblance of sustainability and had a third bonus of incorporating peer education. One PCV was paired with two JFs and each group (five total) had ten campers. Each group stayed together for all lessons and the PCV and JFs worked together to determine who would teach what. There are many different models that PCVs use but this is the one I liked most (thanks Megan and Christine for this model!). It’s maybe not the most sustainable model because it doesn’t involve Rwandan staff but it incorporates more youth, which to me is more important and sustainable in a different way, and as I was the grant writer and primary organizer of the camp, it was my call for good or bad. Each day had a different theme. The first day was Leadership, the second was HIV/AIDS and the third day was Healthy Relationships. After lessons we had activities: decathlon, jeopardy, s’mores over a bonfire, tie-dyeing, malaria activities, dance party (called BOOM in Rwanda), skits and a talent show.

For the decathlon we had:

§  crab walk

§  4 x 400 meter relay

§  rice sack race

§  wheelbarrow

§  egg toss

§  three legged race

§  400 meter dash

§  discus throw

§  shot put

§  tug of war

The decathlon was a huge success and really helped bring campers together and create a good camp culture. Each group created a name (names and spellings were camper generated) and a group chant. We had the Holly Eagles, the Special Ones, Fire, the Winners, and Super Power.

I had one blowup. We were making s’mores and I would call one group up at a time but like 20 or more people would come and they would crowd around, cut in line, claim they hadn’t gotten one yet, and switch nametags to get another one. It was pretty much all my fault for not delegating well and not explaining things well. Instead of acting calmly I yelled at everyone to go to bed. Kari was great and explained how it’s better to get them together and explain why they were being punished, speaking for me because I was too flustered to make a coherent sentence. But in the whole week that was the only bump. We had a student show up uninvited but two didn’t show so it was no problem. My school was phenomenal with cooking the food (some students said they had never eaten as well as they had for that week).

Breakfast - 1 banana, 1 piece of bread with butter, 1 hardboiled egg, 2 passion fruit, 1 cup of tea, 1 bottle of water

Tea Break­ - 1 cup of soy milk, 1 sambusa

Lunch - Mélange (rice, beans, French fries, plantains, sweet potatoes, pasta, cabbage, meat with sauce) 1 bottle of water, 1 Fanta

Dinner - Mélange, 1 banana, 1 bottle of water

I also had an amazing group of Junior Facilitators and PCVs. Without them it would have been a disaster and I am so thankful for their help and support in making it a huge success. This was my third, and final, camp and I would say it was the most successful. All the students at my school talk about it, even the ones who weren’t there. It’s great to know that on some level we made some modicum of difference to these boys’ lives. It was the first BE Camp in my region and hopefully it will continue to generate excitement and positive change even after I am gone.