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| Zaqatala Campers 2013 |
My friend and counterpart has been working with PCV's for 5 years "assisting" with summer camps. Our goal as PCV's is to transfer our skills and knowledge to our counterparts, so they in turn will teach others. I told Konul I will assist her and she will organize and lead this camp. As most of you know, I am a organizer and very pro active person, so it was very difficult for me not to jump in and take over. In this, I needed to learn patience and letting go. We started planning in January, I gave her some tips and we decided that we would complete the process around the middle of March. Well, I got Medevac and the mind set here is to wait until the last minute to do anything. When I returned, nothing had been done and it was the 1st of May and our camp was scheduled for the 3rd of June. After pushing a little harder the camp curriculum started to become a reality. I kept reminding Konul I was her assistant and I would not do her job but I did make a list of "needs accomplish". The last day was suppose to be a "camp out" in Car (pronounced Jar), so this list included tents, sleeping bags, food, transportation, etc. for this to happened. We also needed permission slips from the parents and I suggested no one under the age of 12 to be allowed camping because of the liability and the responsibility we would incur. She got the message and the understanding of how difficult and costly it would be (mission accomplished). The biggest hurdle was the venue, we have been holding the camp at the music school every year but this year it was not secured because Konul wanted it held at the compound behind the park. So because of this on the morning of the camp we still did not have the approval (we were suppose to start camp at 9:30 am), so Konul had all the children meet in the square at noon, at 11 am we finally got the approval. Whew..... Believe it or not we had over 60 students from every school in Zaqatala and surrounding villages. The ages were 8 - 15, so we had three workshops divided by age groups. With the help of IREX (an American organization) we had a video workshop where they learn how to film and edit video, an essay workshop where they took pictures and wrote about the environment and the last workshop was drama, where each group put on a skit. Each day the groups rotated so they all participated in each workshop. Konul, Kaylee and I went to the Bazaar after camp and bought T-shirts, Kaylee had made a screen that said "Zaqatala Art Camp 2013" with trees and birds that we spray painted that evening on the back of the T-shirts for the campers to decorate the next day. They played games and they learned a dance (it is on you tube Zaqatala flash mob 2013) and on Friday, an PCV came and gave a workshop on the environment and decomposing of trash. Afterwards they were given gloves and trash bags and they went out and picked up 8 bags of trash from the compound and the park. Then they were given tea and awarded prizes for the best essay and we sent them home HAPPY CAMPERS!!! Konul learned a lot and made mistakes (I definitely learned patience and happy to say I didn't kill anyone!!) but she worked hard and the camp was a success. I am very confident that she will be able to lead a camp or work with other Azerbaijani's to have a successful camp next year. I feel I have accomplish the Peace Corps goal of skill transfer. Here are some pictures of camp.
Life Challenge: Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.... Oscar Wilde
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