Want to Help?

When I left Cleveland, many of you asked what you could do to help me with my work in Peace Corps. Here is a chance for you to do something for some Burkinabè young people. Peace Corps volunteers and Burkinabè men and women are going to be running week long summer camps for girls and for boys in four locations around the country.  These camps are based on a model that has been used in other Peace Corps countries to develop leadership among girls.  It was originally called Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World). The name has been change here in Burkina Faso to Camp G²low (Girls and Guys Leading Our World). That is, there will be sessions for guys as well as for girls. It is important to educate boys as well as girls about gender equality, good decision making, and leadership in a patriarchal society such as Burkina’s.

These week long camps will be for boys and for girls in the equivalent of 7^th and 8^th grade.  There will be 4 girls from each of 15 communities attending each of the girls’ camps, and 4 boys from each of those communities attending each of the boys’ camps. That means there will be 60 boys and 60 girls in the camps at each of the four locations, for a total of 480 students attending in all. The communities that send students to the camps will help in selecting the students who will come, will send adult leaders to be part of the adult leadership teams, and will pay for the transportation to and from the camp.  The communities where the camps will be held will be donating space and other support for the camps.  We hope to raise about $6400 (about $50 per student) in donations for each camp so students can come at no cost to their families.

You can read more about the goals of the camp at http://pcburkina.org/camp-glow. If you are moved to make a donation, or an organization you belong to would like to contribute, go to that web address and click on the bottom picture on the left hand column, for the Leo camp. That is the one where I will be working.  (If that camp has already received full funding, feel free to select one of the other camps.  I have been told this is unlikely to happen, but one can hope!) The donations can be made by credit card.  Your contribution will be sent through Peace Corps directly to the financial officer for the camp, who has to turn in recipes for all expenditures.  I hope some of you will be interested in assisting with this project.