I’ve been meaning to write about my Gender and Development (GAD) Camp experience for now two months. My apologies for the delay! GAD Camp was a weeklong seminar for junior high and high school students from Peace Corps communities. The camp has grown so much that coordinators divided Panama into two regions for two camps, East and West. My GAD Camp, West GAD Camp, hosted the regions of Bocas del Toro, Chiriqui, and the Comarca Ngabe-Bugle. We had 53 teenagers and about 10 or so Peace Corps Volunteers (PCVs) in San Felix for the week.
For most, this trip to San Felix, which is just an hour and half from David and approximately 7 hours from my community (if every transportation connection goes your way), was the farthest they had been away from home. And, for one girl who lives on Bastimentos Island in the Bocas del Toro Archipelago, this was her first experience riding in a bus. Simply put, this camp was a huge adventure that meant a great deal to both the participants and the communities from which they came.
The key purpose of the camp is develop young leaders within Peace Corps communities. So, the camp followed a program that started with the participants thinking about their auto-imagen (self-image), or who they saw themselves as. Then, the second subject was auto-estima (self-esteem), and the PCVs presented skits to show how others can both positively and negatively affect one’s self-esteem. Afterwards, the participants evaluated their valores (values) to understand what they viewed as important to them. The fourth subject was establecer las metas (establishing goals) and built upon the previous theme by using the participants’ values as a foundation and reasoning for their goals. At the same time, the teenagers thought of different professions they want to be. Next, the PCVs introduced pensando en el futuro (thinking about the future), and for many they may only see their boyfriend and family as their future. Like many sex ed classes in the States, the camp provided an imitation baby, and in our case an egg. Each teen colored an egg and glued on yarn for hair, and each had the responsibility of guarding their egg as if it were a baby. Let’s just say that many “babies” were cracked or stolen by PCVs if left unguarded. During this activity we also presented toma de decisions (making decisions) with a tool that will allow the participants to weigh their options in the future. Then, the seventh theme was conocer mi cuerpo (know my body), because many of these junior high and high schoolers lack the education to know what is going on in their bodies as they go through puberty. With a better understanding, the hope is that they will be able to control their decisions. Finally, como protegerme (how to protect myself) ended the camp with an explanation of how to protect themselves from STDs and how to avoid pregnancy.
While these subjects were the important take-home messages, we also had down time for movies, runs to the tienda (store), introductory computer classes, and a half-day of sports competitions. Quite frankly, seeing the difference in levels of education between the Chiriqui participants (manily Latino) and the Bocas and Comarca participants (mainly Ngabe) was a bit disheartening, but seeing the mixing and sharing of knowledge and culture was reassuring. And, ultimately, the participants were given the assignment to carry out a project within their community. Previous example had included trash collection days, general community cleaning projects, youth artisan classes, sports clubs, and reforestation projects. Nicely put by the GAD Coordinator, “The goal of the camp is to offer the youth knowledge and skills to help them make healthy life choices and for them to share their knowledge and experience upon return to the community via the implementation of a community project!”
So, the week of camp was great, grand, and wonderful. Then, Thursday night arrived, and protests in San Felix along the Interamericana Highway threatened our departure. To fully understand the situation, I would recommend looking at Regional Leader Ian’s blog ("Protest II") at this link: http://lirobbins.blogspot.com/2012/02/protests-ii.html He does a great job of explaining the political situation that has led to Ngabe communities protesting foreign mining in the Comarca.
Midday Friday, we got the news that we should leave San Felix, where the protests started, and head to David. We essentially walked through three roadblocks, and with the help of other PCVs along the Interamericana, we transported the westward participants by bus between each roadblock (as some regional transportation buses had gotten trapped between the roadblocks as well). By Friday evening the Chiriqui teens were in their homes while the Bocas and some Comarca participants landed in hotels or hostels with their PCV chaperones. So, this is when I would say that GAD Camp Part 2 began. Upon hearing that they would not be going home, some girls cried, but upon stepping foot into the hotel, one girl said she wanted to live there for three years. GAD Camp Part 2 taught me how to feed 13 Ngabe teenagers and 3 PCVs with $6.50/person/day while living in a hotel without a kitchen and how to entertain the participants for five days. As a group we went to a movie, played soccer on a nearby field, made beaded bracelets, and played cards and dominoes. Because we were in the Standfast Phase of the Emergency Action Plan (EAP), other Volunteers were also stuck in the city, so we were lucky to recruit new help. While the five days were a bit of a test in patience, I appreciated the learning experience and the resulting friendships. In the end, the five day experience in the city set another goal for the participants as well, so I would always say, “You can always attend college in David.”
To conclude this post, I want to say that I’ve been very proud of the two girls I took. A month after we returned, the three of us plus last year’s participant hosted a community-wide meeting to share what they had learned. Essentially, we went through the eight subjects presented at the seminar and sprinkled in dinamicas (energizing activities that are similar to icebreakers). The meeting was a huge success, and at the end they proposed their plan for a trash collection project. Since then, I have asked Autoridad Nacional del Ambiente (ANAM) to donate trash bins, and the three teens have participated in the Saturday workdays. Couldn’t be happier with the results of GAD Camp 2012!
To check out a video of the camp created by PCV Matt Tansey (he did a great job!), click on the following link:
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