I am not forget until the end of my life

I walked towards the center of town to meet my two campers feeling the weight of my heavy backpack and the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. I assured the camper’s parents that everything would be alright one last time as we hopped aboard a mini bus headed for Bahir Dar. I realized the campers must be feeling nervous too so I talked to them in basic English for a short while but then we sat for the remainder of the ride in silence, although my head was buzzing with thoughts of things to come.

We met the other campers in Bahir Dar and then loaded aboard our camp bus destined for Gondar where we would be staying for the next 6 nights. I felt a weight lifted as I met up with the other Peace Corps volunteers knowing we were all in this together; it wasn’t just me and the teenagers! But I watched around me as the campers sat quietly next to strangers knowing their nervousness still sat upon their shoulders.

The bus full of campers heading towards Gondar.

Five nights later I watched the same group of campers circle around to decide how to keep their friendships strong after they departed from camp and I watched tears roll down their faces as they hugged goodbye. I’m not sure if the 16 of us volunteers will ever fully grasp what kind of impact we had on those 29 students in five short days, but we won’t soon forget the experience.

Logistically things went about as smoothly as we could have hoped for the first summer camp any of us had organized from scratch. The five full days of camp were divided by theme: Independence Day, Gender Day, Leadership Day, Health Day and Lifeskills Day. Labor was divided as well and we all jumped in to help where we could. Each morning started off with yoga at 7am which was a new type of exercise for the campers but they really loved it. Sessions throughout the day were split between classroom activities and more lively activities to keep them energized. Every night a few counselors (PCVs) were “on duty” until midnight to check for lights off (and make sure campers were in their own rooms!). Overall, the days were long and by the end we were all exhausted!

All of the campers and Peace Corps volunteers.

I could write an entire blog entry for each day but I won’t bore you with the details. I'm hoping these pictures can show you a piece of summer camp, which will tell you more than my blog ever could. I can only accurately account for that week with a cliché: it was life-changing. I know that 29 young Ethiopians never forget how to “peel the banana” (if you don’t know, don’t ask) or give out “firecrackers” or do mountain pose, but I pray they’ll never forget that they can be leaders, and that men and women are equal, and that they can never say “I can’t.” I’ll leave you with my favorite quote from camper evaluations: “I love you more than me the American Peace Court; I am sorry because you are leave me tomorrow; I am not forget until the end of my life.”

Me with my campers from Dangila.