Meet My Campers

Ehetemarium Belestie, female, grade 11, age 18
Essay Topic Choice: Are condoms a good choice to protect against HIV? Why or why not?

Condoms are not a good choice to protect HIV.  Because we have other good choices for protecting HIV.  The first choice is 1 to 0.  It means you haven’t ferand.  This is a good choice for as a student because our country losses some thing about us and we have a responsible to pay something.  The second choice is one to one.  You looking for carfully and select your best choice.  The last and theered choice is using condom.  The is the dangerous method to protect ourselves.  But it is the good choice for the person don’t use condome.
My best choice is the first choice is mine.
Poem
Please Cool down
you are a young person
you are a new for things and sences
don’t fast to know a new thing
you must be cool down
the time is hot
all things waight for you
don’t find HIV
HIV is do not find you
don’t walk for find HIV
Please cool down
all things are waight for you

My comments: Ehetemarium really impressed me with her appropriate explanation of condom usage and other ways of preventing against HIV.  But most of all, I loved that she wrote down this poem! I’m not sure where she got the poem from—I assume it isn’t her original.  I also assume this isn’t a word-for-word rendition, but I really liked her creative approach!

Yonas Zeleke, male, grade 9, age 16
Essay Topic Choice: Are condoms a good choice to protect against HIV? Why or why not?

First we have to know that condom is not the only method to protect HIV.  As I know we have three main methods to protect against HIV.  The 1st one is to be totally free from sex.  But this method is not acceptable by many peoples b/c it is difficult to be free from sex.  I am also accept it.  Lets go to the 2nd method.  This method is to be free from sex until having marriage.  In my opinion this method is the best rather than the two. b/c when you get marriage you have to test whether you have within your blood or not. Then you can continue your life make protected.
Secondly people didn’t realize that condom is not 100% to protect against HIV.  The main important thing is that How can protect our self from HIV? If we couldn't do the above two methods it is better to use condom properly otherwise we go to face our disaster.  Generally condom is not 100% protect against HIV but it is successful.  If we use properly. let me return to my aim.  The better methods are the above two.  I want to rise something “life is greater than one minit happyness.”
In general condom is helpful if we use properly but it is not a good choice.  As I said earlier condom the last method but not the best. The reason it is better to be facefull for the cupple, (wife & husband). So condom is not the good choice rather than the two but it protects us from HIV if we use properly.

My comments: This was the very first essay I read and immediately knew he would be a finalist.  While reading the rest of the essays I kept thinking none was quite as good as the first.  His thoughts were well thought-out and he clearly expressed clever insights about condom usage and other HIV prevention methods.  The highlight for me definitely has to be “life is greater than one minit happyness.”  A close second was the quote, “If we couldn’t do the above two methods it is better to use condom properly otherwise we go to face our disaster.”

I think we could all learn a little something from these essays!

Choosing My Campers

This past spring Peace Corps informed all the volunteers in country that there is funding for us to host summer camps in each region!  We all teamed up in our respective regions and began throwing around ideas for fun and creative summer camps.  Fast forward a few months later… the camp is next week!  While most people were on top of their camper recruitment, I was not so organized.  Each volunteer is able to bring two campers, which we decided could be either one girl and one boy, or two girls.  The camp is about gender equality and leadership (among other things) so we wanted to ensure at least an equal-gender ratio, if not slightly skewed toward girls.

With school final exams taking up most of June, the Dangila school directors asked if I could host my essay competition to choose my campers on June 26 after exams had finished.  That left just one week between the essay competition and the day we leave for camp! Time crunch! Last Saturday I arrived an hour early for the essay competition, which 140 students had signed up for (from grades 9 and 11), and was pleasantly surprised to find a group of eager students had already arrived.  The vice-director of the high school was kind enough to help me organize the 100 students that showed up into four classrooms, each with a teacher to proctor the exam.

One hour later I had a stack of essays to grade.  The exam had gone surprisingly smoothly and I really enjoyed the students’ enthusiasm about this opportunity.  I had given each student a half-sheet of paper to write on to limit the over-achievers and they were told to choose between the following four topics:
1.    Who is your role model? Why? What have they taught you?
2.    What will you do to change Ethiopia for the better?
3.    Are condoms a good choice to protect against HIV? Why or why not?
4.    How have you shown leadership skills? How can a leader combat gender inequality?

The camp is going to be in English mainly, so one of the major things I was looking for was their confidence in writing and comprehension.  Thanks to a PC neighbor who helped me narrow down the field of competition, we were able to choose the top seven essays within a couple hours.  Four boys and three girls all seemed to rank equally well, so I decided to call them back for an interview to decide who my campers would be.

Tuesday I had three girls and two boys show up for the interview, and after a short five-minute discussion with each, I chose my campers! What a relief to have the selection process finished!  I did run into the other two boys later on the street confused about where the interview was held, but seeing as I’d already announced the winners and everyone else didn’t seem to have a problem finding my office, I took it as a sign they weren’t suppose to be the chosen ones. I will also add that I was very happy to find out that all three girl finalists were my students from the English Girls’ Club I teach at the high school and prep school.  And just to ensure you that I am not biased, I’ll admit that I’m so bad with names that I didn’t know who any of them were before they arrived for the interview.  Can’t claim causation with that one, but it was nice to see familiar faces!

Read the soon-to-be-posted blog “Meet My Campers” to read their winning essays!

This afternoon I arranged a meeting with my two campers and their parents.  I had permission slips from Peace Corps for them to sign, I informed them of the basic camp logistics, and we arranged a meeting time to leave on Saturday.  And then it hit me: These parents are sending their teenagers away with me for a week.  Who am I to answer their pressing questions about safety?  Who I am to claim responsibility for their children? It feels like just yesterday that I was on the opposite side of those parent permission slips.  It was like I could hear those exact same worrisome questions coming out of my own father’s mouth.  I assured them with confidence that we would watch over their children for the week.  Strong words coming from this white girl they just met, especially when she still feels like a child herself most days.

It made me realize that I am responsible here, and I am a grown-up.  I have a real job and I am respected in the community.  Moreover, I will do everything in my power to keep those kids safe next week, and to have one hell of a good time!