YOLO Camp!

Lumelang kaofela!

Shana Tovah to all my friends and family who celebrated the high holidays. I was sad to miss the holidays this year, but I celebrated in my own way. Yom Kippur was on my birthday, so that was surely an interesting day! It’s been a while since I gave an update on the work being done at my site, so that’s what this post will be about!

In Lesotho, October 4^th is Independence Day. This day memorializes the British granting autonomy to Lesotho, which was ratified on October 4^th, 1966. Before Lesotho gained its independence, it was referred to as Basutoland- a name coined by the British. The name of native people in Lesotho are called Basotho (ba-soo-too), hence the name prior to Lesotho. In Lesotho now, Independence Day is celebrated by schools closing for a week- Independence Day Break. During this time, Peace Corps Volunteers plan camps across the country for youth. In the North this year, volunteers put on GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and BRO (Boys Respecting Others). These camps are separated by gender, obviously GLOW being for girls and BRO being for boys. In the South, (that’s me!) we put on YOLO Camp (Youth Optimizing Leadership Opportunities) which was a co-ed camp about youth leadership. YOLO Camp was a huge highlight of my service, and I want to fill you all in on what a camp in Lesotho looks like! As you can see, I’ve included some pictures from the camp in this blog post. We received permission from all campers and their parents (since they are minors) to use their pictures on social media, via the camp permission slip.

Members of the YOLO Camp Planning committee were volunteers from all over the south of Lesotho, all four districts of the south (Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek, Quthing, and Qachas Nek). Our fearless leader was an 87 volunteer (the cohort before mine) who was involved with the planning and running of camp last year. We started planning in April and had regular meetings (maybe once a month on average) leading up to the camp which was the last week of September/ first week of October. Last year was the first time in which YOLO camp was held, unlike GLOW and BRO whose presence has been around in Lesotho for almost 10 years. Before last year, the South didn’t have an annual camp for Independence Day break. However, the volunteers in the south are committed to making YOLO Camp an annual event so youth from all over Lesotho have the ability to go to camp.

During planning meetings, we all had different roles like budget and grant writing, logistics, and big and small picture planning. To prepare, we had to create lesson plans, write a grant, plan for our venue, reach out to student groups, get permission slips, and plan food, to name a few. The Peace Corps model for camps used to be the Camp to Club model. This means that the students who attended the camp, would then take the teachings of the camp home to create an extracurricular club. However, this year, Peace Corps has switched to a Club to Camp model, the rationalization being that this model is more sustainable. We needed proof that we were inviting already existing clubs to the camp, to strengthen the club. This was a challenge since YOLO had only been around for a year. Many volunteers in the south, who weren’t involved with the camp at all, were asked to help us recognize clubs from their schools, clinics, or organizations who would be interested in attending. Luckily, so many schools and student groups from all across Southern Lesotho were interested (mostly groups who had a PCV in their community), and we invited all the schools from last year as well. We also invited three Junior Counselors from each school who had been in attendance last year. The goal of this is to give those students a leadership role in the camp. Even my youth club with my counterpart Thabita were able to go, which was very exciting since our club was so new. From each club, they could send six campers, three girls, three boys.

The camp was to be held over five days. The first day and a half was for the ToT (Training of Trainers). This was for the club advisors and junior counselors. Every club is run in the community by a Basotho counterpart. Most of the advisors were teachers, but some were community peer educators, youth advisors, or clinic staff. All of the advisors were informed about their role at camp, which would be facilitating sessions and assisting during the camp. During the ToT, we discussed the format of the camp, the schedule, safe spaces, informal teaching, and effective communication styles. All the advisors picked the lesson plans they were interested in facilitating, and each junior counselor was asked to assist the advisors with one lesson plan. Three of the advisors present were trained in GRS (Grassroots Soccer), which took place after lessons each day. I’ll get back to this! The camp was being held at a high school in Mohale’s Hoek. The students, advisors, and volunteers slept in classrooms, (we rented mattresses for everyone) and the activities took place in the large hall or the lawn on the campus.

<- advisors learning an energizer during the ToT

<- The mattress arrival, very reminiscent of The Princess and the Pea

Overall, we had about 120 people in total at the camp, 84 of which were campers! The campers arrived the day after the ToT. The first day was all about sign in, getting settled, and the pre-test. We also made a set of rules for the camp which the campers came up with themselves. This is a model for most Peace Corps activities because then the participants have autonomy over their own behavior, and it can be referred back to by facilitators as rules they created for themselves. They all “signed” in agreement by outlining their handprint on the banner we had created for YOLO Camp 2019. Then we had dinner, a nighttime activity, where they got to hang out and mingle, and then the real fun began the next day. Each day had a theme as follows:

Day 1: Welcome!

Day 2: Who are you?

Day 3: Becoming a Better Leader

Day 4: What’s In Your Future?

Day 5: Take it Home!

The format of the camp was the same every day. Wake up and bathing from 5-7:30am. This was particularly fun because every day, PCVs had to wake up at 4:00am to boil water for the students and advisors bathing water (we did switch off every day but still, it was a tiring start to the day). All campers and staff brought their own buckets for bathing. Breakfast was from 7:30-8:30, and again, all students and advisors brought their own Tupperware and utensils for meals. Morning assembly was 8:30-9:00, and then there were morning sessions until morning snack, usually around 10:00. Then mid-morning sessions were after snack until lunch, which was 1:00-2:00. After lunch, we had GRS Sessions outside until afternoon snack, and then more GRS until dinner at 7:00. After dinner, they had a little free time until the evening activity which changed every night (we had a movie night, a dance party, and a talent show). Then lights out was at 10:30, which was enforced by us, to much contempt by the campers. We all rotated night duty, which entailed staying up to quiet the kids down if they were making too much noise late at night. Not fun!

<- The girls learning how to do a "power pose" for confidence during the girls/boys gender breakout. On the right is my counterpart Thabita!

The sessions during the day related to the theme, so for example, the second day was all about self- confidence and self-esteem, what is a leader, etc. The third day was about respect, sessions on gender, consent, and effective communication. The fourth day, we had a career panel and student panel (with the junior counselors), planning for clubs, and financial literacy. Of course, we also needed to have an HIV and AIDS related section which was why we did GRS in the afternoons. GRS is a comprehensive HIV/AIDS curriculum which uses activities and sports to teach youth about healthy sexual behaviors. Since I have been trained in GRS, I worked with one of the advisors who was a different volunteer’s GRS counterpart to lead sessions in the afternoons. It was my first GRS intervention, and I really enjoyed getting to see it in action!

<- It was also Rosh Hashanah during camp, so myself and other Jewish PCV (whose boyfriend was visiting) had some apples and honey to celebrate!

Even though the camp was a huge success, there were some setbacks. There was a huge problem with the water taps not being on during the day, so we had to constantly check to see if there was water. We were running back and forth with huge barrels of water to make sure there was enough water to cook with, to drink, and for bathing in the morning. During the camp, there was also an issue with food, as many people were not satisfied with the way the food was being prepared by the chefs. However, we navigated these issues by finding other water sources, and trying our best to satiate the camper’s palates. There wasn’t much we could do about the food, but we sure encouraged everyone to be positive about it!

The last day of the camp, we had the post test, and then a graduation ceremony in which everyone was given certificates with their names on it, and had lots of group pictures. It was such a joyous day! Although I’ll speak for myself and the other PCVs when I say that we were TIRED. It drained every ounce of energy, and took me a couple days to recover from. But it was so worth it.

Here's me and Thabita on the last day of camp!

<- All campers at graduation

Overall, the camp went off without a hitch because we all worked incredibly hard, and the advisors absolutely crushed their leadership roles. All the sessions were taught in Sesotho by the advisors and junior counselors, which is a huge win. This means that every single student could completely understand the concepts taught. This was our second year of camp, and it was completely run by Basotho counterparts, whereas we did all of the work in the background, which is the best way to promote sustainability. Next year, we have a lot to improve, but we also now have a great picture of how a good, sustainable camp is run.

I’m especially proud of my counterpart, Thabita, who led two sessions in front of 84 kids, and did an amazing job. She also was part of the career panel as a lay counselor. The kids who came from our group were so well behaved and had such a great time. They are even encouraging other kids in our village to come to our weekly YOLO Club meeting. Last Friday, 22 kids showed up! Thabita is such an amazing counterpart, and is amazing at relating to and teaching the youth, and they all love her. I’m glad she was able to be part of this camp, because it really gave her confidence in herself, and the ability to see other advisors and how they relate to their students. The two of us have been planning sessions for YOLO Club every week. We are also really excited for YOLO Camp next year, and already talking about who will be junior counselors. It was pretty special to see how this event actually really impacted so many kids, and I cannot wait to be the one leading this camp next year!

That’s all for now! It’s starting to get really warm here, but still no pula (rain). We are hoping for a big rain storm soon! Water is becoming quite scarce, so we could really use the precipitation. It’s getting colder in the US, so feel free to send some of that cold and rain over to the southern hemisphere!

Until next time,

Salang hantle!

P.S.- The 87 cohort is about a week away from COS (Close of Service) which means the 88’s (my cohort) are going to be the big kids in town! The 89s have arrived and have already gotten their site placements, and are just getting back from visiting their new homes. Which is so crazy. 1 year to go!