Monday, April 11, 2011

Girls going to camp

This is me in my house, waiting for girls going to leadership camp.

Peace Corps Worldwide holds camps for girls' empowerment.  The camps are called Camp GLOW (Girls Leading Our World) and are held annually.  This year I nominated four of my students and all are now at Pwani University for a week-long "camp".  They are staying in dorm rooms with lights and running water...which in itself encourages them to want to go to the university.  So, I was waiting in my house and decided to take a snap of me in my cool dotted sundress that I found in Malindi.  HERE ARE THE GIRLS!!!

From left to right:  Alvine, Joyce, Purity, Selina
The picture above is in Malindi as we were on our way to the matatu stage (the "stage" is what we might call the terminal e.g. bus terminal).  They are so excited to go and of course we are all excited for them!  They will be at Pwani University campus for a week, participating in leadership activities and those related to HIV/AIDS awareness.  Should be fantastic!  Here we are on the campus of Pwani University....I'm the one with the graying hair (yikes!)!  
UNRELATED OBAMA comment:
This is totally unrelated to our trip to "camp" but I've been wanting to post this for a long time, so now I will.  Of course, we often get comments here about being from "the land of Obama", or asked things like "How do Americans like having a Luo (kenyan tribe) for president?" and there are many things like Obama pens, Obama shirts, Obama's family pictures, etc... But, this was the best!  I was reading in the newspaper a story about extended longevity of life and how science may now be able to use things like gene therapy to extend life.  The story was especially focused on the extending of the lives of "exceptionally gifted persons" who could be around longer so that society could benefit from the investment of their talents.  [Side comment -- As if the only measure of exceptional life is the "perceived benefit" to the society...which I suppose would leave out most of us who may have positively affected the life of an individual but not necessarily "benefited society"...I digress].  So, you can see where I'm going with this but I know you can't guess or expect this quote from the journalist's story:  "The prospect of Einstein, Issac Newton, or Barack Obama being alive for hundreds of years would make any progressive minded person cringe with excitement." Of course, I chuckled to myself.  Now, whether you love, like, or dislike Obama....is he really on the level of Newton and Einstein who pretty much redefined our understanding of the workings of the universe??  And what about Mozart or Michelangelo?  Or, it could be that I'm just not progressive-minded enough!??  Nice day!