Las Mariposas

Regina and I just led a three day camp for young Dominican girls ages 12-17. The camp, called Campamento Mariposas, is the start of a year-long all girls Peace Corps initiative. I have participated in various camps before (including the weeklong Camp GLOW (girls leading our world) last July), but this was the first one that I was actually in charge of coordinating and organizing. And let me tell you, planning large scale events in a third-world country without internet access and with little cell phone service is difficult!

We picked a gorgeous venue for the camp, a retreat center called Blue Moon, located in Sabaneta de Yásica. Instead of the normal dormitory setup, the girls slept in small cabañas. The space was very intimate (with room for only 20 girls and 10 volunteers), but on a mountaintop surrounded by lush greenery. It was away from the noise of the highway, and we thought it would be a great place for reflection. The only difficulty with the small space was that our eating area was also the only area to give charlas and do activities. So before and after every meal, Regina and I were busy pushing together tables and setting up chairs.

I was a little nervous about our agenda because I had heard about the success of the previous regional conference in the south. All of the volunteers raved about the amazing camp they gave based on gender roles, and even my boss suggested we copy their whole agenda. Since her idea came approximately four days before our conference was scheduled to start, we already had our agenda, which was based on self-esteem and self-confidence, organized.

Regina and I set up the three-day agenda based on the volunteers’ strengths. Jenie (a tai-kwan-do competitor) gave a self-defense demonstration. Iris (a youth volunteer in Sanchez) has an HIV-support group in her site, so she and a member of the support group gave a charla on HIV/AIDS. This charla was a huge success because the girls could relate to this woman’s real life experience living with the illness. Eva (a youth volunteer in Rincon Hondo and an amazing artist) led the girls in making plaster-of-paris masks of their faces so the girls could talk about the uniqueness of everyone’s faces. Our two male volunteers Andrew and Jacob gave a charla on gender roles, and I think it was more effective for the girls to hear males say that its ok for men to work in the kitchen and do chores than if just us female volunteers gave the same charla. And Regina (the dancer of the group) gave a great charla on nutrition and then led the girls in yoga and dance-exercise.

And of the course the girls loved all of the extra activities. There was plenty of time for the girls to relax and enjoy being away from the stresses of doing household chores and studying for classes and plenty of time for the girls to get to know each other. They loved swimming in the pool, and the last night we had a dance party and a bonfire (complete with s’mores). On Sunday morning, none of the girls wanted to leave and everyone was exchanging phone numbers and making plans to keep in touch.

With the success of Campamento Mariposas, I have decided to help lead the weeklong Camp GLOW this July. Alison and Mariel (two youth volunteers from the south) and I are planning everything, so Ill be sure to let you all know how that goes. Hopefully it all runs smoothly and we don’t have any flashfloods like last year!